If a bear means mischief and charges not to escape but to do damage, its
aim is to grapple with or throw down its foe and bite him to death. The
charge is made at a gallop, the animal sometimes coming on silently,
with the mouth shut, and sometimes with the jaws open, the lips drawn
back and teeth showing, uttering at the same time a succession of roars
or of savage rasping snarls. Certain bears charge without any bluster
and perfectly straight; while others first threaten and bully, and even
when charging stop to growl, shake the head and bite at a bush or knock
holes in the ground with their fore-paws. Again, some of them charge
home with a ferocious resolution which their extreme tenacity of life
renders especially dangerous; while others can be turned or driven back
even by a shot which is not mortal. They show the same variability in
their behavior when wounded. Often a big bear, especially if charging,
will receive a bullet in perfect silence, without flinching or seeming
to pay any heed to it; while another will cry out and tumble about, and
if charging, even though it may not abandon the attack, will pause for a
moment to whine or bite at the wound.

Sometimes a single bite causes death. One of the most successful bear
hunters I ever knew, an old fellow whose real name I never heard as he
was always called Old Ike, was killed in this way in the spring or early
summer of 1886 on one of the head-waters of the Salmon. He was a very
good shot, had killed nearly a hundred bears with the rifle, and,
although often charged, had never met with any accident, so that he had
grown somewhat careless. On the day in question he had met a couple of
mining prospectors and was travelling with them, when a grisly crossed
his path. The old hunter immediately ran after it, rapidly gaining, as
the bear did not hurry when it saw itself pursued, but slouched slowly
forwards, occasionally turning its head to grin and growl. It soon went