A hunter's life. 177 



and kill liira outside, for he seemed to be in a perfectly 

 f^ood Imnior ; for I knew that the moment he was hurt, 

 evorythiti<>; would depend on hard fi}2;hting. I tried to 

 draw him out with the candle, which snielled like honey, 

 of which bears are exceedingly fond. I would put the 

 candle near his nose, and when he would reach after it, I 

 would pull it from him ; and in that way I succeeded iu 

 raising him upon his feet. Then I kicked the rope, and 

 Charley tried to pull me out ; but being not only too far 

 from him, but also around a corner, he could not succeed. 

 What was worse, when I would get on my knees to shove 

 myself backwards, he would pull at the rope, and down I 

 would fall again ; so I shouted to him not to pull the rope, 

 and succeeded in getting out without his help, 



I waited for the bear to follow ; but as he did not ap- 

 pear inclined to do so, I relighted my candle and again 

 entered the hole ; where I found my old friend seated pre- 

 cisely in the place he had occupied when I first went in. 

 I passed the light of my candle over him ; and finding how 

 his body lay, I thought I could send a ball to his heart. 

 Looking closely how and where to put the ball, I leveled 

 my rifle, and let fly ; when such a stunning report never 

 before rang in my ears. My candle was put out, I was 

 enveloped in midnight darkness, and I heard a snorting 

 and thundering around me such as I had never heard be- 

 fore. Scrambling back, as best I could, till I reached the 

 mouth of the hole, I made my way out safe. We waited 

 a long time ; and, though we could hear the bear making 

 a great fuss, he would not come out. 



At length, all having again become quiet, I went down, 

 and found him still alive, but so badly wounded that he 

 took no notice of me ; so I put the gun to his head and 

 finished him. 



But the worst job yet remained to be done ; and that 

 was, to get him out of the den. We took our rope and 



M 



