t this is a dangerous experiment. The bear's brain
is very small; and, unless you hit that, the bear does not mind a bullet
in his head; that is, not at the time. I remembered that the instant
death of the bear would follow a bullet planted just back of his
fore-leg, and sent into his heart. This spot is also difficult to reach,
unless the bear stands off, side towards you, like a target. I finally
determined to fire at him generally.

The bear was coming on.

The contest seemed to me very different from anything at Creedmoor. I
had carefully read the reports of the shooting there; but it was not
easy to apply the experience I had thus acquired. I hesitated whether I
had better fire lying on my stomach or lying on my back, and resting the
gun on my toes. But in neither position, I reflected, could I see
the bear until he was upon me. The range was too short; and the bear
wouldn't wait for me to examine the thermometer, and note the direction
of the wind. Trial of the Creedmoor method, therefore, had to be
abandoned; and I bitterly regretted that I had not read more accounts of
offhand shooting.

For the bear was coming on.

I tried to fix my last thoughts upon my family. As my family is small,
this was not difficult. Dread of displeasing my wife, or hurting her
feelings, was uppermost in my mind. What would be her anxiety as hour
after hour passed on, and I did not return! What would the rest of the
household think as the afternoon passed, and no blackberries came! What
would be my wife's mortification when the news was brought that her
husband had been eaten by a bear! I cannot imagine anything more
ignominious than to have a husband eaten by a bear. And this was not
my only anxiety. The mind at such times is not under control. With the
gravest fears the most whimsical ideas will occur. I looked beyond the
mourning friends, and thought what kind of an epitaph they would be
compelled to put upon the stone.

Something like this:

HERE LIE THE REMAINS

OF
----- -------

EATEN BY A BEAR
Aug. 20, 1877

It is a very unheroic and even disagreeable epitaph. That "eaten by
a bear" is intolerable. It is grotesque. And then I thought what an
inadequate language the English is for compact expression. It would not
answer to put upon the stone simply "eaten"; for that is indefinite, and
requires explanation: it might mean eaten by a cannibal. This difficulty
could not oc