falls, hesitating but apparently making no attempt at
concealment, came from the bend of the trail beyond the wallow; and
the great white bull wheeled savagely to see what was approaching. As
he glared, however, the angry ridge of hair cresting his neck sank
amiably. A young cow, attracted by his calls and the noise of the
battle, was coming around the thicket.

At the edge of the thicket, not a dozen paces from the black ooze-bed
of the wallow, the cow paused coyly, as if doubtful of her welcome.
She murmured in her throat, a sort of rough allurement which seemed to
the white bull's ears extraordinarily enticing. He answered, very
softly, and stepped forward a pace or two, inviting rather than
pursuing. Reassured, the young cow advanced confidently and eagerly to
meet him.

At this moment, out from the heart of the thicket plunged a towering
black form, with wide, snarling jaw's agleam in the moonlight. It
seemed to launch itself through the air, as if from a height. One
great, taloned paw struck the young cow full on the neck, a crashing
blow, shattering the vertebrae through all their armour of muscle.
With a groan the stricken cow sank down, her outstretched muzzle
smothered in the ooze of the wallow; and the monstrous bulk of the
bear fell upon her, tearing the warm flesh hungrily.

In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the most hot-headed and
powerful bull of the caribou will shrink from trying conclusions with
a full grown black bear. The duel, as a rule, is too cruelly
one-sided. The bear, on the other hand, knows that a courageous bull
is no easy victim; and the monster ambuscaded in the thicket had been
waiting for one or both of the rivals to be disabled before making his
attack. The approach of the young cow had been an unexpected favour of
the Powers that order the wilderness; and in clutching his opportunity
he had scornfully and absolutely put the white bull out of the
reckoning.

But this bull was the exceptional one, the one that confounds
generalizations, and confirms the final supremacy of the unexpected.
He was altogether fearless, indifferent to odds, and just now flushed
with overwhelming victory. Moreover, he was aflame with mating ardour;
and the mate of his desire had just been brutally struck down before
his eyes. For a moment or two he stood bewildered, not daunted, but
amazed by the terrific apparition and the appalling event. Then a mad
fire raged through all his veins, his great muscl