passes on without stopping to bite him. If while sleeping or resting in
thick brush some one suddenly stumbles on him close up he pursues
the same course, less from anger than from fear, being surprised and
startled. Moreover, if attacked at close quarters by men and dogs he
strikes right and left in defence.

Sometimes what is called a charge is rather an effort to get away. In
localities where he has been hunted, a bear, like every other kind of
game, is always on the look-out for an attack, and is prepared at any
moment for immediate flight. He seems ever to have in his mind,
whether feeding, sunning himself, or merely roaming around, the
direction--usually towards the thickest cover or most broken ground--in
which he intends to run if molested. When shot at he instantly starts
towards this place; or he may be so confused that he simply runs he
knows not whither; and in either event he may take a line that leads
almost directly to or by the hunter, although he had at first no thought
of charging. In such a case he usually strikes a single knock-down blow
and gallops on without halting, though that one blow may have taken
life. If the claws are long and fairly sharp (as in early spring, or
even in the fall, if the animal has been working over soft ground) they
add immensely to the effect of the blow, for they cut like blunt axes.
Often, however, late in the season, and if the ground has been dry and
hard, or rocky, the claws are worn down nearly to the quick, and the
blow is then given mainly with the under side of the paw; although even
under this disadvantage a thump from a big bear will down a horse or
smash in a man's breast. The hunter Hofer once lost a horse in this
manner. He shot at and wounded a bear which rushed off, as ill luck
would have it, past the place where his horse was picketed; probably
more in fright than in anger it struck the poor beast a blow which, in
the end, proved mortal.