fired. Bang!

It is difficult to kill a grizzly with a single shot, and as the smoke
drifted aside I saw the brute advancing on hind legs. His eyes were like
balls of fire, his open jaws dripped foam, and he roared horribly with
pain and anger. Blood was trickling from a wound close to the heart,
made by my bullet, and there was another bleeding hole in his neck.

I had no chance to reload, and there was barely time to flee. But my
temper was up, and it drove me to a reckless determination. I stood my
ground for an instant, while the grizzly shambled on, pawing viciously
at the air. Then I drew my long-bladed knife, darted out of the way, and
as swiftly turned and struck under the sheltered fore feet. It was a
foolish trick, and my agility barely saved me from a crushing blow. As
it was, I had to leave the knife sticking deep in the wound. But the
thrust had gone straight to the heart, and I gave a yell of delight as
the great beast came down with a crash. He lay quite still after a
brief struggle that churned the snow crust to powder.

The bear was dead, and my first step was to withdraw the knife and wipe
it clean. Then, having shouted to Baptiste, I approached the crevice
just as the Indian crawled out. Too weak to rise, he propped himself
against a rock. He was bleeding profusely from a dozen wounds. His shirt
of buffalo skin, his breech-clout, his fringed leggings of antelope, all
had been ripped to tatters by the grizzly's claws; his feathered
scalp-lock was half torn from his head, and one shoulder was mangled.

I was full of pity at first, but my heart hardened when I recognized the
savage. He was Gray Moose, a Sioux of much influence, and he and his
people were said to be carrying on underhand dealings with the Northwest
Company, which was the great and dangerous rival of the Hudson Bay
Company. We were known to each other, having met before on several
occasions. Whether the above rumor was true or not, I was aware to a
certainty that he held the Hudson Bay men in no favor; and I half
regretted that I had saved his life.

"How came you in such straits?" I asked coldly.

He explained in a few words, and in fairly good English. The grizzly had
come upon him unawares, and in his haste to fire he had inflicted only a
slight wound. Then he fled, and took shelter in the rock cranny as a
last resort.

"The red man is grateful to Pantherfoot," he concluded, addressing me by
a name which my skill at tracking game