IN THE LOUISIANA CANEBRAKES 377 



bear coming straight toward us ; and noiselessly I cocked 

 and half-raised my rifle, waiting for a clearer chance. In 

 a few seconds it came; the bear turned almost broad- 

 side to me, and walked forward very stiff-legged, al- 

 most as if on tiptoe, now and then looking back at 

 the nearest dogs. These were two in number Rowdy, 

 a very deep-voiced hound, in the lead, and Queen, a 

 shrill-tongued brindled bitch, a little behind. Once or 

 twice the bear paused as she looked back at them, evi- 

 dently hoping that they would come so near that by a 

 sudden race she could catch one of them. But they were 

 too wary. 



All of this took but a few moments, and as I saw the 

 bear quite distinctly some twenty yards off, I fired for 

 behind the shoulder. Although I could see her outline, 

 yet the cane was so thick that my sight was on it and not 

 on the bear itself. But I knew my bullet would go true; 

 and sure enough, at the crack of the rifle the bear stum- 

 bled and fell forward, the bullet having passed through 

 both lungs and out at the opposite side. Immediately the 

 dogs came running forward at full speed, and we raced 

 forward likewise lest the pack should receive damage. 

 The bear had but a minute or two to live, yet even in 

 that time more than one valuable hound might lose its 

 life; when within half a dozen steps of the black, an- 

 gered beast, I fired again, breaking the spine at the root 

 of the neck; and down went the bear stark dead, slain 

 in the canebrake in true hunter fashion. One by one the 

 hounds struggled up and fell on their dead quarry, the 

 noise of the worry filling the air. Then we dragged 



