the valleys the growth was more open. Though the sun was behind the
mountains there was yet plenty of light by which to shoot, but it was
fading rapidly.

At last, as I was thinking of turning towards camp, I stole up to the
crest of one of the ridges, and looked over into the valley some sixty
yards off. Immediately I caught the loom of some large, dark object; and
another glance showed me a big grisly walking slowly off with his head
down. He was quartering to me, and I fired into his flank, the bullet,
as I afterwards found, ranging forward and piercing one lung. At the
shot he uttered a loud, moaning grunt and plunged forward at a heavy
gallop, while I raced obliquely down the hill to cut him off. After
going a few hundred feet he reached a laurel thicket, some thirty yards
broad, and two or three times as long which he did not leave. I ran up
to the edge and there halted, not liking to venture into the mass of
twisted, close-growing stems and glossy foliage. Moreover, as I halted,
I head him utter a peculiar, savage kind of whine from the heart of the
brush. Accordingly, I began to skirt the edge, standing on tiptoe and
gazing earnestly to see if I could not catch a glimpse of his hide. When
I was at the narrowest part of the thicket, he suddenly left it directly
opposite, and then wheeled and stood broadside to me on the hill-side, a
little above. He turned his head stiffly towards me; scarlet strings of
froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.

I held true, aiming behind the shoulder, and my bullet shattered the
point or lower end of his heart, taking out a big nick. Instantly the
great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the
blood foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs;
and then he charged straight at me, crashing and bounding through the
laurel bushes, so that it was hard to aim. I waited until he came to a