Hunting American Big Game 



cost to get out of my cramped position, I 

 sung out to Woody to lend a hand, as I 

 proposed descending ; and as he came up 

 I came down, and then we discussed the 

 situation. The proximity of the wounded 

 bear was not pleasant, but then the dead 

 one must be opened in order to save the 

 skin. But what if the latter were not 

 dead 1 Hang this night work ! Why can't 

 the bear stick to daylight ? But to work ! 

 There was the motionless form to be oper- 

 ated on. Inch by inch we crept up, with 

 our rifles at full cock stuck out ahead of 

 us, until they gently touched the inanimate 

 mass. It was all right, for the bear was 

 stone dead. Hastily feeling in the dark, 

 as neatly as possible the necessary opera- 

 tions were nearly concluded, when simul- 

 taneously we both dropped our knives and 

 made for the open. ... It makes me 

 perspire even now when I think of that 

 midnight stampede from an enraged and 

 wounded grizzly. 



46 



