Fortunately, close to Mr
Tidey was a large clump of rose bushes, behind which he immediately
sprang, when the bear, missing him, rose up on her hind-legs, and,
looking about, came towards me. I knelt to receive her, knowing that,
were I to run, I should be overtaken and destroyed. She was within
thirty yards when Mr Tidey, having reloaded, fired and hit her on the
back. She stopped and began to turn round and round, snapping at her
side and tearing at the wound with her teeth and claws. Expecting to
gain an easy victory I advanced a few paces and fired, but so rapid were
her movements, that my bullet missed.

"Quick, quick! reload, Mike!" cried Mr Tidey, who saw what had
happened.

The warning did not come too soon, for at that instant the bear rose
again on her hind-legs, with a furious growl, preparatory to springing
on me. Mr Tidey was still too far off to fire with any certainty of
mortally wounding the bear, and, should his bullet miss her, it might
hit me. My life depended, therefore, on my next shot; should I miss,
one blow from her tremendous paw would bring me to the ground, and the
next instant I should be torn to pieces. I loaded as rapidly as I
could, while I kept my eye on my antagonist. Scarcely had I time to ram
down the ball when she was close up to me. I dared not look to
ascertain what help Mr Tidey was likely to afford me. As the bear
approached I lifted up my rifle to my shoulder and fired. The bear gave
a tremendous growl, but still advanced. With a desperate bound I sprang
on one side, when over she rolled, and lay struggling on the ground.
She might be up again, however, at any moment, so I ran off to a
distance to reload, catching sight, as I did so, of Mr Tidey, who,
coming up, fired at the bear's head, and, greatly to my relief, her
struggles ceased. Having thrown some sticks and stones at the creature
to ascertain that it was really dead, we approached, and found that she
measured no less than seven and a half feet in length, with claws four
and a half inches long. I shuddered as I thought of the dreadful wounds
she might have inflicted with them. We skinned her, and as we were
already heavily loaded, we hung up the hide and part of the flesh to the
branches of a neighbouring tree, carrying only a little of the meat for
our supper. We had got close to our camp, when Mr Tidey exclaimed--

"Holloa! our hut has been broken into; some rascally wolverine has paid
us a visit."