Adventures in Many Lands

t who had killed bears in India, came to me and said, "Let's go south.

d, teal, widgeon, and many other varieties) literally filled the lagoons and reed-beds, giving magnificent shooting as they flew in countless strings to and fro between the sea and the fresh water; whilst, farther

small game. At San Pedro, the port for Los Angeles (Puebla de los Angeles, the "Town of the Angels"), we landed, and after a few days' camping by some lagoons near the

perty, well grassed and watered, and consisting chiefly of great plains through which flowed a crystal-c

t, but who stuck with unwearying persistency to boiled pork and beans. And on boiled pork and beans he rang the changes, morning, noon, and night; that is to say, sometimes it was hot, and sometimes it was cold, but it was ever boiled pork and beans. At its be

ng, bubbling up in the scrub not one hundred yards from the house, and making a most inviting natural bath, coupled with the favourable reports of game of all kinds to be got, induced us to stop. And life was very pleasant there in the crisp dry air, for

he said to me one day, "this is all very well, you know, but why shouldn't we go after the deer amo

r are concerned, but hang your grizzlies. I

o, with a boy to guide us, up one of the numerous ca?ons in the mo

ing our shins over more boulders and big stones than one would have believed existed in all creation. Just before dawn, when the grey light was beginning to show us more clearly where we were going, we saw in the sand of

get the deer as they came to drink; and presently, on coming to a likely spot, where the ca?on forked, Halley said, "

ait behind a clump of manzanita scrub, clo

the ca?on sloped steeply up amongst the timber and thick undergrowth, and never the note of a bird broke a silence which seemed only to be emphasised by the faint sough of the wind in the tree tops. Minute dragged into minute, yet no deer ca

had no chance of escape. Lower and nearer came the sound of the something still to me invisible, but the sound, slight though it was, gave, somehow, the impression of bulk, and the stran

twenty yards buckshot would serve no end but to wound and rouse to fury such an animal as a grizzly, who, perhaps of all wild beasts,

ut rooted about sedately amongst the undergrowth, now and again throwing up his muzzle and sniffing the air in

sely concluding that this particular spot was, for the present, an unlikely one for deer,

n a grizzly, H

lled in his excitement.

coming modesty. "I'm going to see if I can't stalk a de

to himself, whilst I kept on my course downstream, over the boulders, certain in my own mind that no more would be

couple of deer browsing on the short grass, and I was on the point of starting what wou

avelling as if to "make time" were the one and only object of

ing mouth bred in me some of his panic, and then, after a hur

ly sorely hurt in one shoulder. But my flight ended almost as it began, for a boulder, more rugged tha

r the nearest big boulder, scrambling up and facing round just in time to see the bear, fury in his eyes, raise his huge bulk and close with Halley, who was struggling to his feet. Be

y, and he turned, wild with rage, and came at me. A miserably insignificant pebble my boulder seemed then, and I remember vaguely and hopelessly wondering why I hadn't

en refilled, and had, besides, been wet a few days before, and my hands were clumsy in my haste-and so, finally, I ha

hed on to the rock where I had stood, crashed and lay, furiously struggling, the blood pouring from his mouth and throat,

AT, RED, GAPING MOUT

ve anything to chance with such an animal-I put two more shots into his head, and he ceased to

my very ignorance made them seem the more terrible. I tore my shirt into bandages, and did what I could for him, succeeding after a time in stopping the worst of the bl

brandy from his flask, which revived him, and before long, after

find only the lifeless body of my friend; ever the fear was present that in the terribly rough bed of the creek I might sprain my ankle, and so fail to bring help ere it was too late. At times, too, my overstrung nerves were jarred by some sudden sou

the journey. Luck favoured me, too, to this extent, that almost as I got on to the road, or, rather, track, about a mile from the inn, I met, driving a buggy,

explained the matter to him during the drive to the inn, where he dropp

he landlady, in about three hours we had Halley in his room. But a hideous walk it was down the

uch and go for life, while the doctor at first had no hope of saving the arm. But youth, and time, and a strong constituti

tement, he fired both barrels into the bear's shoulder; and then the same thing happened that had happened to me-those refilled cartridges had jammed, and there was nothing for it but

I went out to see if it was possible to get the skin of the bear, but I found it

the pipe-rack by the fireplace in