Other attacks are of a much more explicable nature. Mr. Huffman, the
photographer of Miles City, informed me once when butchering some
slaughtered elk he was charged twice by a she-bear and two well-grown
cubs. This was a piece of sheer bullying, undertaken solely with the
purpose of driving away the man and feasting on the carcasses; for
in each charge the three bears, after advancing with much blustering,
roaring, and growling, halted just before coming to close quarters. In
another instance a gentleman I once knew, a Mr. S. Carr was charged by
a grisly from mere ill temper at being disturbed at mealtime. The man
was riding up a valley; and the bear was at an elk carcass, near a clump
of firs. As soon as it became aware of the approach of the horseman,
while he was yet over a hundred yards distant, it jumped on the carcass,
looked at him a moment, and then ran straight for him. There was no
particular reason why it should have charged, for it was fat and in
good trim, though when killed its head showed scars made by the teeth
of rival grislies. Apparently it had been living so well, principally
on flesh, that it had become quarrelsome; and perhaps its not over sweet
disposition had been soured by combats with others of its own kind.
In yet another case, a grisly charged with even less excuse. An old
trapper, from whom I occasionally bought fur, was toiling up a mountain
pass when he spied a big bear sitting on his haunches on the hill-side
above. The trapper shouted and waved his cap; whereupon, to his
amazement, the bear uttered a loud "wough" and charged straight down on
him--only to fall a victim to misplaced boldness.

I am even inclined to think that there have been wholly exceptional
occasions when a grisly has attacked a man with the deliberate purpose
of making a meal of him; when, in other words, it has started on the
career of a man-eater. At least, on any other theory I find it difficult