CARBINE -AND "KADIAK" 



283 



A. M. WALKER AFTER HIS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. 



turned and walked slowly up the moun- 

 tain. 



"Crawling from under the log, I tore 

 strips from my shirt, bound up the 

 wound in my neck, and as soon as I had 

 gained strength, returned to camp. Al- 

 though no bones were broken, my left 

 shoulder swelled badly, and the flesh on 

 that side of my body as far down as my 

 waist was black and blue. Aside from 

 being a painful flesh wound, the gash in 

 my neck gave me no trouble. Had the 

 bear's tooth entered an inch further to 

 the right, it would have severed the jug- 

 ular vein. 



"At the end of three days I 

 was able to return with Gans 

 to the scene of the struggle. 

 We found the bear dead about 

 fifty yards from where the 

 fight had occurred, and in the 

 soft mild at the roots of the 

 fallen tree were the tracks of 

 cubs. The old bear must have 

 been asleep, or nursing her 

 young, when I suddenly ap- 

 peared around the tree trunk, 

 and she attacked me." 



The wound in Walker's 

 neck was nearly healed when 

 I saw him. Together with 

 the bear's skin, I secured the 

 remains of the rifle, and the 

 cartridge that was in the mag- 

 azine at the point where the 

 bear's teeth came together. It 

 is bent almost at right angles 

 and in the nose of the bullet 

 are several deep scratches 

 made by the animal's teeth. 



Note. — Mr. Loring is not un- 

 known to the readers of this mag- 

 azine as the young man who went 

 to the North country to capture 

 live mountain sheep for the New 

 York Zoological Park. 



But outside of the hairbreadth 

 escape of the man in Mr. Loring's 

 story, and the unexpected power 

 •developed by the monster bear's 

 jaws, there is another topic indi- 

 cated by the narrator which is of 

 scientific interest to the public, and 

 that is : What part of the body 

 does a bear strive to reach with 

 his- teeth? Certain large apes, if 

 they can do so, grasp a man's 

 wrists and bite their enemy's fingers. It is 

 interesting to note that this bear evidently 

 tried to bite the man on. the neck, and the 

 question is, What part of the neck was he 

 seeking? A prospector whom I met in Koote- 

 •nay Lake region had had an encounter with 

 a "bald-faced" grizzly which he thought he 

 could conquer with a prospector's pick. The 

 pick has not yet been found, and the man es- 

 caped by rolling under a log, but not before 

 the bear had bitten him frightfully around 

 the neck and shoulder. From all the infor- 

 mation I can gather, the neck at the base 

 of the skull, right under the ear, seems to be 

 the point sought for by the bear. We would 

 like to hear from our bear-hunting readers 

 on this point. 



Editor. 



