294 



RECREATION 



motion, he whipped out his keen-edged 

 bowie knife, and, snatching one of my 

 cartridges, he severed the shell neatly 

 between the two wads which separated 

 the powder and the shot ; this left one 

 wad over the powder and the other over 

 the shot ; that is, a wad in each piece 

 at the ends exposed by the cut. 



Guided by the faint longitudinal seam 

 where the edges of the colored paper 

 covering join on the shell, Big Pete 

 carefully fitted the two pieces of cart- 

 ridge together exactly as they were be- 

 fore being cut apart. 



Breaking my gun, he slipped the mu- 

 tilated ammunition into the unchoked 

 barrel. 



"Thar," he grunted, "tha' better than 

 a bullet at short range, an' '11 tar a hole 

 in ole Ephraim big enough to put your 

 arm through." 



He cut two more in the same manner, 

 saying, "Be darned careful not ter get 

 excited and put 'em in your choke bar- 

 rel, or there'll be trouble." 



Hunting a grizzly with a shotgun and 

 bird shot was not my idea of sport, but 

 1 was too much of a moral coward to 

 acknowledge to Pete that I was fright- 

 ened. 



"Well, Darlinkel, you remember your 

 promise," I said with my best effort at 

 coolness, while my heart was thumping 

 against my ribs at a terrific rate ; "I 

 am to have the first shot, if we meet 

 a grizzly." 



Pete nodded his head, examined his 

 gun, ran his finger over the cartridges 

 in his belt, and went through all the 

 familiar motions w T hich with him were 

 unconscious but always foretold danger 

 ahead. 



"You drap on your prayer hinges be- 

 hind that tha' nigger head," said Pete, 

 "and you will have a dead shot at the 

 brute, an' Ell go up and roll a stone 

 down the mountain side and foller it as 

 fast as I kin, so as to be ready ter help 

 you if you need it ; but you oughter 

 drap him first shot at such short range. 

 You must drap him, now mind ; yet- 

 must or I allow there'll be a right smart 

 of a scrap here, and don't yer forget it ! 



"This is no Christmas turkey shooting, 

 young feller, so look sharp," and with a 

 noiseless tread Pete vanished among the 

 trees, while I, with beating heart and 

 bulging eyes, watched the thicket at the 

 end of the ledge. I had not long to 

 wait before I heard a blood-curdling 

 yell and then crash ! crash ! crash ! came 

 a big boulder, tearing down the moun- 

 tain side. It reached a point just over 

 the thicket, struck a small pine tree, 

 broke the tree, and leaped high into the 

 air, then crashed into the middle of the 

 brush. Following with giant leaps 

 came Big Pete Darlinkel down the 

 rocky declivity, but I only looked that 

 way for one instant, then my eyes were 

 again fixed on the thicket and in my ex- 

 citement I arose to a standing position. 

 There was but a momentary silence af- 

 ter the fall of the boulder before I heard 

 the rustling of sticks and leaves, saw 

 the tops of the bushes sway as some 

 heavy body moved beneath, then there 

 appeared a head, and what a head it 

 Avas ! bigger than all outdoors ! I aimed 

 my gun, but my body swayed and the 

 end of m-y shot gun described a large cir- 

 cle in the air. I knew that my position was 

 serious, and my nerves played me false. 

 I had never before faced a grizzly. I 

 heard Big Pete's voice calling to me to 

 drop behind the rock, but I only stood 

 there with a dogged stupidity, trying to 

 aim my piece at a mark as big almost as 

 a barn-door. I heard Pete give a sud- 

 den cry, then there was a rattle of 

 stones and dirt on the ledge in front 

 of the mountain of brownish hair that 

 was advancing in sort of side leaps or 

 bounds like a big ball. To those of mv 

 readers who are accustomed to hear of 

 the shambling gait and clumsy form of 

 these animals, and whose only experi- 

 ence with live bears consists in viewing 

 the mangy specimens confined in cages, 

 the surprising nimbleness of the wild 

 grizzly in his native haunts can but be 

 a source of astonishment and alarm. 

 The bear came to a stop, and, to my 

 horror, I saw the form of my friend 

 shoot over the edge of the overhanging 

 rock right in the path of the grizzly. It 



