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
to account for an attack which once came to my knowledge. I was at Sand
point, on Pend'Oreille Lake, and met some French and Meti trappers, then
in town with their bales of beaver, otter, and sable. One of them, who
gave his name as Baptiste Lamoche, had his head twisted over to one
side, the result of the bite of a bear. When the accident occurred he
was out on a trapping trip with two companions. They had pitched camp
right on the shore of a cove in a little lake, and his comrades were off
fishing in a dugout or pirogue. He himself was sitting near the shore,
by a little lean-to, watching some beaver meat which was sizzling over
the dying embers. Suddenly, and without warning, a great bear, which had
crept silently up beneath the shadows of the tall evergreens, rushed at
him, with a guttural roar, and seized him before he could rise to his
feet. It grasped him with its jaws at the junction of the neck and
shoulder, making the teeth meet through bone, sinew, and muscle; and
turning, tracked off towards the forest, dragging with it the helples