VI BETTER FORTUNES WITH GREAT BEARS 99 



and the bears were some 1000 feet or more above us. They 

 might go miles ere we could reach them. However, it was 

 worth a trial, and not hesitating to think of the cold, we 

 rushed down the bank of the river and plunged into it. It 

 was here a raging torrent about 60 yards wide and as cold as 

 the ice and snow from which it sprang in the mountains far 

 above. With some difficulty in keeping on our legs, we 

 crossed it ; then, running fast across the level plain, panting 

 and blowing, we started up the mountain side, still keeping 

 the bears in sight. By the irony of fate, it had now of course 

 turned very warm, and when half-way up, I thought I should 

 burst a blood-vessel. Throwing myself on the ground, I 

 asked Little, who was in better condition than I was, to go 

 ahead and try to keep the bears in sight, as they were 

 gradually going higher. This he did, and as I laboured 

 painfully after him, he located them in a hollow some 500 feet 

 higher than where we first viewed them. How I managed 

 to get over this last 500 feet I don't know, but I repeatedly 

 sat down utterly beat, and urged Little to go ahead and 

 shoot at the bears. This he refused to do, saying if I could 

 not get up to them, he would not take the honour of killing 

 our first bear. It was fortunate for us that the two beasts 

 were so occupied in their attentions to each other that 

 they did not travel very fast. It was soon obvious to us 

 that they were a male and she bear which had paired off, 

 and although the opportunity of studying them was freely 

 given us, I feared that ere long they would receive an 

 unexpected interruption to their amorous gambols. At last, 

 on reaching a ridge whence we could look down on a hollow 

 below, we saw the two bears about 80 yards away, and slightly 

 below us. We had previously arranged that Little should 

 take the dark- coloured animal, whilst I had a predilection 



