s trial of cool courage to lie there,
with an arrow on the string, and bide his time.

"Now! Ugh!"

The arrow went truly to its mark, but the hide of a grisly is a tough
shield, and the shaft did not go as deeply as it might have gone into a
deer or bison. Arrow after arrow sped in swift, unerring succession, and
the bear received them with roars of fury, struggling upward as his
wrath and pain aroused him to greater efforts.

"My last two arrows. One for that leg, just above the claw."

Cool and correct again, and the last brace of shafts did their work to
admiration. They did not kill the grisly nor even loosen the gripe of
that great forearm and claw upon the rock, but the next struggle of the
bear brought him upon smooth stone, gently rounding. He reached out over
it with his wounded limb, and the black hooks at the end of it did not
work well. His game was within a length of him, but it was game that
held a long Mexican lance in its ready hand. Under other circumstances
Bruin could have parried that thrust and closed with its giver, but not
now. It went through his other forearm, and his gripe with that loosened
for a second or so--only for an instant, but that was enough. Slip,
slide, growl, tear, roar, and the immense monster rolled heavily to the
ground below, full of rage and arrow-wounds, and altogether unfitted for
another steep climb.

Two Arrows drew a great breath of relief, but he well knew that he had
not yet escaped. There were oceans of hate and fight in the wounded
grisly, and there was no use whatever in going down for a fair match
with him upon the grass. He was in his most dangerous state, and the top
of the rock would have to answer all purposes for a season. There was no
telling how long that would be, for even when the bear arose and limped
all the way around the bowlder, his ferocious growls plainly declared
his purpose. He had not the least idea of letting the matter stop there.
He meant to stay and watch it out. Perhaps more grislies would come to
help him and keep guard while he should doctor himself. It was a most
remarkable trap for a young explorer to get caught in, and he well knew
that a grisly will take more killing and die longer and harder than any
other known animal. Besides, he had no idea how much or how seriously
his shafts had touched the vitals of his enemy.

He must stay where he was, and now he felt something like a sensation of
mortification. One-eye had deserted him.