l cover. After
waiting for a couple of hours Rogers risked the shot, in despair of
getting nearer, and wounded the bear, though not very seriously.
The animal made off, almost broadside to, and Rogers ran forward to
intercept it. As soon as it saw him it turned and rushed straight for
him, not heeding his second shot, and evidently bent on charging home.
Rogers then waited until it was within twenty yards, and brained it with
his third bullet.

In fact bears differ individually in courage and ferocity precisely as
men do, or as the Spanish bulls, of which it is said that not more than
one in twenty is fit to stand the combat of the arena. One grisly can
scarcely be bullied into resistance; the next may fight to the end,
against any odds, without flinching, or even attack unprovoked. Hence
men of limited experience in this sport, generalizing from the actions
of the two or three bears each has happened to see or kill, often
reach diametrically opposite conclusions as to the fighting temper and
capacity of the quarry. Even old hunters--who indeed, as a class, are
very narrow-minded and opinionated--often generalize just as rashly as
beginners. One will portray all bears as very dangerous; another will
speak and act as if he deemed them of no more consequence than so many
rabbits. I knew one old hunter who had killed a score without ever
seeing one show fight. On the other hand, Dr. James C. Merrill, U.
S. A., who has had about as much experience with bears as I have had,
informs me that he has been charged with the utmost determination three
times. In each case the attack was delivered before the bear was wounded
or even shot at, the animal being roused by the approach of the hunter
from his day bed, and charging headlong at them from a distance of
twenty or thirty paces. All three bears were killed before they could
do any damage. There was a very remarkable incident connected with the
killing of one of them. It occurred in the northern spurs of the Bighorn
range. Dr. Merrill, in company with an old hunter, had climbed down
into a deep, narrow canyon. The bottom was threaded with well-beaten elk
trails. While following one of these the two men turned a corner of the
canyon and were instantly charged by an old she-grisly, so close that
it was only by good luck that one of the hurried shots disabled her and
caused her to tumble over a cut bank where she was easily finished.
They found that she had been lying directly acros