HUNTING THE BEAR 253 



slipping, as I held the rifle with the other hand. Quickly 

 I lowered the butt of the rifle to the ground, slowly 

 moved my feet about, and fortunately felt some small 

 stones in such a position as to give me support an,d 

 allow me to release my left hand so that I could handle 

 the rifle. 



I must have made a slight noise, for just at that 

 moment the bear suddenly half rose, her head turned in 

 my direction. I quickly fired at her foreshoulder. With 

 a whoof and a jump she came to her feet, and I fired 

 again. In savage fury she slapped the point where 

 the bullet had struck, rushed a few feet in the direction 

 away from me, then a few up and a few down, all the 

 time whoofing in pain or fright, and looking for the 

 enemy in the opposite direction. The cub remained 

 in the spruces bawling. While the old bear was rush- 

 ing back and forth I fired three more times, and at 

 the fifth shot she dropped for a moment in some low 

 spruces. As I rapidly pushed in a fresh clip of cart- 

 ridges she began to roll downward, over and over, 

 bounding up and down with the increase of momentum, 

 until five hundred yards below, where the slope was 

 not so steep, she was stopped by thick salmon-berry 

 brush. I knew she was dead before she began 

 to roll." 



Another account of an adventure with a bear appears 

 in Mr. Charles Sheldon's volume of exploration in the 

 Upper Yukon. 1 It is specially interesting for the picture 

 it gives of the food-hunting methods of the bear. " I 

 had seated myself and turned my field-glasses toward 

 the south range. Suddenly within the field, two miles 

 distant, appeared four sheep feeding on the saddle 

 1 See Bibliography, 45. 



