f
fear. Involuntarily I threw my left arm about her and drew her to me
for an instant. It was an act of reassurance rather than a caress,
though I must admit that again and even in the face of death I thrilled
at the contact with her; and then I released her and threw my rifle to
my shoulder, for at last I had reached the conclusion that nothing more
could be gained by waiting. My only hope was to get as many shots into
the creature as I could before it was upon me. Already it had torn
away a second rock and was in the very act of forcing its huge bulk
through the opening it had now made.

So now I took careful aim between its eyes; my right fingers closed
firmly and evenly upon the small of the stock, drawing back my
trigger-finger by the muscular action of the hand. The bullet could
not fail to hit its mark! I held my breath lest I swerve the muzzle a
hair by my breathing. I was as steady and cool as I ever had been upon
a target-range, and I had the full consciousness of a perfect hit in
anticipation; I knew that I could not miss. And then, as the bear
surged forward toward me, the hammer fell--futilely, upon an imperfect
cartridge.

Almost simultaneously I heard from without a perfectly hellish roar;
the bear gave voice to a series of growls far transcending in volume
and ferocity anything that he had yet essayed and at the same time
backed quickly from the cave. For an instant I couldn't understand
what had happened to cause this sudden retreat when his prey was
practically within his clutches. The idea that the harmless clicking
of the hammer had frightened him was too ridiculous to entertain.
However, we had not long to wait before we could at least guess at the
cause of the diversion, for from without came mingled growls and roars
and the sound of great bodies thrashing about until the earth shook.
The bear had been attacked in the rear by some other mighty beast, and
the two were now locked in a titanic struggle for supremacy. With
brief respites, during which we could hear the labored breathing of the
contestants, the battle continued for the better part of an hour until
the sounds of combat grew gradually less and finally ceased entirely.

At Ajor's suggestion, made by signs and a few of the words we knew in
common, I moved the fire directly to the entrance to the cave so that a
beast would have to pass directly through the flames to reach us, and
then we sat and waited for the victor of the bat