174 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



for a challenge, the largest one at once made a charge at 

 Leavitt, and before he had any chance to shoot or run, she 

 seized him by the shoulder, and together they fell over the 

 ledge and then rolled for fifty or more feet down the steep 

 incline to the bottom. The men had no chance to fire at the 

 bear for fear of hitting Leavitt. Smith ran or slid down 

 the hill and as soon as there was a chance, putting the rifle 

 close to the bear while it was biting away at Leavitt, shot it 

 dead. There were two other bears that followed the first 

 one out, and these started at once to run off. 



And now a singular thing happened. As the two bears 

 were running away the one in the lead was shot in the body 

 — this did not bring it down, but did make it mad, and turn- 

 ing about it charged the other bear with great fury. It is 

 said that this is not a very unusual thing for a bear to do 

 when hit by a bullet if in company with other bears. The 

 two bears were easily killed. The large bear that had at- 

 tacked Leavitt was an old she one, the other two much 

 smaller, and were supposed to have been a year old the pre- 

 vious spring, as they were much too large for mere cubs. 



Leavitt was seriously hurt, having been bitten hard and 

 badly clawed up, but no bones were broken. It is a wonder 

 he was not killed outright. Probably the bear had little 

 chance to do any fighting while rolling down the hill, and 

 Smith came on in good time to save the man's Hfe. It seems 

 incredible that a man would be so rash as to do as Leavitt 

 did in front of a bear's den. 



These bears were grizzlies, the most dangerous animal 

 on the American continent, excepting only the white bear of 

 the Arctic regions, or perhaps also the great bear of western 

 Alaska and of the Alaskan islands, which is a first cousin of 

 the grizzly. 



Some time after the bear hunt described above, Mr. 

 Smith with the aid of his dog killed a mountain lion. These 



