GRIZZLY COMES STRAIGHT AT US 99

never enough for a shoulder shot. At last she stopped
to think it over. Perhaps she was saying to herself,
“This is infernally hard work, and possibly I may have
made a mistake in the hole. Shall I stick to it or try
somewhere else ?’? But whatever her cogitations were
she knocked off work and turned broadside on.

Up to that time I had never seen the Major fire a shot,
but, knowing that he had done some big hunting and
had one or two rams to his credit, it never entered into
my head but that the bear would drop dead in her tracks.
So sure was I of this that I did not even take the trouble
to put my glasses up to see where the bullet hit. You
can therefore imagine my surprise when the shot only
caused the bear to make a couple of jumps. The Major
had made a clean miss! For possibly two seconds, but
not long enough for a second shot, the bear stood stock
still. Then things began to happen.

The first two or three jumps the bear made carried her
in the direction she was pointing, after which she made
a short right-handed turn and came as straight as a die
for us. To the Major it appeared as deliberate a charge
as a bear could make, but it was plain enough to me
that it was no such thing. Years before, when I used to
hunt bear with hounds, it was a common occurrence for
the hounds to be charged, and when such a thing happened
the expression of the bear’s face was just the same as that
of a vicious dog; the head would be stretched out, the
ears back, and the teeth showing. Our bear had its
head up, its ears were cocked, and I could see no sign
of a vicious look; rather was there one of wonder and
fear.

Of course the Major was going to shoot again at once;
in fact, had been trying to get a sight on her. But as our
quarry seemed bent on running right on to the point of
his rifle and committing suicide, it seemed to me the
proper thing not to thwart her, so I whispered, ‘‘ Do not
shoot now; let her come.”

Now that grizzly was covering the ground at a record
clip. The surface was almost as level as a tennis-court,

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