8 



no idea that a wild animal would come near the fire to attack 

 a man even under cover of night for fire usually has the ef- 

 fect of frightening wild beasts. However almost before the 

 four hunters knew what had happened they saw their unfor- 

 tunate companion dragged into the woods by a bear followed 

 by her two cubs. She held Bouvier in her claws and struct 

 him savagely on the face to stun him. As soon as she jaw 

 the four men in pursuit she redoubled her fury against her 

 prey, tearing his face with her claws. M. Lajimoniere, who 

 was an intrepid hunter, bated her with the butt end of his 

 gun to make her let go her hold as he dared not shoot for 

 fear of killing the man while trying to save him, but Bouvier 

 who felt himself being choked cried with ail his strength, 

 " Shoot; I would rather be shot than eaten alive." 



M. Lajimoniere pulled the trigger as close to the bear as 

 possible, wounding her mortally. She let go Bouvier and be- 

 fore her strength was exhausted made a wild attack upon M. 

 Lajimoniere, who expected this and as his gun had only one 

 barrel loaded he ran towards the canoe where he had a second 

 gun fully charged. He had hardly seized it before the bear 

 reached the shore and tried to climb into the canoe but fearing 

 no longer to wound his friend M. Lajinmoniere aimed full 

 at her breast and this time she was killed instantly. 



As soon as the bear was no longer to be feared Madame 

 Lajimoniere, who had been trembling with fear during the 

 tumult, went to raise the unfortunate Bouvier, who was cov- 

 ered with wounds and nearly dead. The bear had torn the 

 skin from his face with her nails from the rots of his hair to 

 the lower part of his chin. His eyes and nose were gone — in 

 fact his features were indiscernible — but he was not mortally 

 injured. His wounds were dressed as well as the circum- 

 stances would permit and thus crippled he was carried to the 

 Fort of the Prairies, Madame Lajimoniere taking care of 

 him all through the journey. In time his wounds were suc- 

 cessfully healed but he was blind and infirm to the end of his 

 life. He dwelt at the Fort of the Prairies for many years, 

 but when the first missionaries reached Red River in 1818 he 

 persuaded his friends to send him to St. Boniface to meet 

 the priests and ended his days in Mr. Provencher's house. 

 He employed his time during the last years of his life in mak- 

 ing crosses and crucifixes blind as he was, but he never made 

 any chefs d'oeuvre. 



To return to our travellers, they resumed their journey 



