BEAi; lirXTING 277 



[>r()\(jd cli'ccLiuil, and iii a cjuarter oi" an liour one of lliuiu 

 had rccovorod tlic l)l()od-staiiR'd ti'ack. and, following it 

 up, had found the bear, (juite dead, at the foot of 

 the cliff. The only disenchantinij' tliino- about it was 

 that it proved to be a mere hobbledehoy of a bear 

 after all. 



1 did not have an opportunity of revisiting that country 

 for a good many }'ears, and when 1 did so, I learned that 

 the bears had left their old haunts, and this information 

 was completely confirmed by a search of all the favourite 

 places. There was no sign of a bcai- having been there for 

 years. It was difficult to account for this for they had 

 been little hunted. Perhaps it was a bad year for fruit. 

 1 daresay they are back there by now. and if an}' of my 

 readers should be tempted to visit the place, 1 hope he 

 will let me know ihe result. 



1 will conclude this chapter with a story which was 

 told me by an Enixlishman, lono- resident in Scandinavia, 

 and for whose veracity I will vouch. It shows that though 

 liruin almost always runs away, accidents do sometimes 

 happen. Two poachers, Nils and Lars, were out after elk 

 in the winter. The dog in Lars's charge was drawing on 

 something. Nils kept some way to the left on a parallel 

 course. Suddenly Lars saw something gray in a chimp ol 

 fir-trees and fired. Tonfident of havino; held true, he ran 

 forward to ascertain the effect of his shot. Instantly a large 

 bear charged him, and, before his frienil couhl intervene, 

 had so mauled him that he dieil the same evenino-, A\ ild 

 with grief for his friend, Nils started with a dog to avenge 

 his death. The task should be ensy, tMr ihc bear had gone 

 ulf leavinii blood \' iracks in the ,^iiow. J>ut Nils never 



