The old grizzly, once more suspicious, had again sat up on her haunches, and turning her head from side to side began to sniff as though she scented danger. Her shaggy hair shone silvery now in the sun, and she seemed enormously large. Rob’s heart leaped to his mouth, but suddenly dropping to his knee, and calling out to the others “Now!” he fired without longer hesitation.
The sound of the other two rifles followed at once. The great bear gave a hoarse roar which seemed to make the hair prickle on the boys’ heads; but even as she roared she dropped and floundered in the mud of the bank, up which she strove to climb. Again and again the rifles spoke.
“Now the little ones—quick!” cried Rob, half springing to his feet, and continuing to fire steadily. Some one’s shot struck the first cub square through the spine and killed it instantly. The second cub stood but a moment longer. These boys had used rifles many times before, and although not every shot went true, perhaps half of them struck their mark; and it was as Rob had said—the rifles shot as hard for them as for a grown man.
The great she bear, possessed of enormous vitality, was not easily disposed of. The magazines of all the rifles were emptied the second time before Rob would allow them to go a foot closer, and even so, the great gray body retained life enough to roll half down the bank as they approached. This time Rob finished the old bear with a shot through the head, at a distance of not more than thirty yards.
The game was down and dead—three great bears, one of them huge beyond the wildest dreams of any of them, and unbelievably large even for the most widely experienced sportsman. Indeed, any sportsman might have been proud of this record. Rob turned to look at his friends.
Suddenly he himself sat down, and to his surprise found that he was trembling violently all over. Jesse and John were both doing the same. He saw that their faces were deathly pale.
“I’m—I’m—I’m sort of—sort of sick at my stomach!” said Jesse.