the mud when he had ceased struggling.

For a whole day Black Bruin watched him, before he could overcome his
fear; then he crept cautiously out and sprang upon the bull's rear.
The great brute was by that time so spent that he hardly moved while
Black Bruin lacerated his flanks. The only sign of pain that he gave
was expressed in deep groans and sighs which seemed fairly to come from
his breaking heart.

Soon the conqueror crept along the back to his neck, and biting and
striking at the vertebrae, quickly extinguished the strong life in the
great frame and the huge head gradually sank in the mire. For several
days Black Bruin came and gorged himself upon the carcass and did not
desist until it had entirely disappeared in the bog.

CHAPTER XIII

THE BEAR WITH A COLLAR

It may interest the reader to know just how Black Bruin looked in this,
his seventh year, when he had acquired his full stature, which was
enormous for a black bear.

The California grizzly occasionally reaches a thousand pounds, while
the enormous brown Kadiak bears, the largest carnivorous animals in the
world, reach two thousand pounds; but the black bear usually averages
about two hundred. Black Bruin had far outstripped all his
contemporaries in size and prowess. In the fall of his seventh year he
weighed upon the scales four hundred and two pounds, which fairly
earned him the title of King.

His coat was long, thick, and glossy and black in color.

He was not as high upon the shoulders as one might expect for so large
a beast. A wolf that stands thirty or thirty-two inches at the
shoulder will weigh one hundred and twenty-five pounds and is a large
wolf. Black Bruin was probably thirty-five or forty inches high at the
shoulder, but considerably higher in the middle of the back, which also
sloped off at the rear, where he was quite rotund. His tail was so
insignificant as to be hardly noticed at all at a distance. His head
was rather small for so large an animal. His eyes were also small and
looked weak. His claws, which were non-retractile, were not rakishly
long as are the grizzly's, but protruded slightly beyond the long hair
upon his feet.

So altogether Black Bruin was most imposing for an eastern bear. He
was sleek and well-groomed, with the exception of two or three months
in the early summer when he shed his coat.

Living as he now did within easy reach of the abode of man, he went
more and more often to the farm