With a howl of agony the bear recoiled and began scratching its belly furiously with its forward paws.
Angered, it dealt the Man a terrific blow, and Pomp saw that the crisis had come.
He threw another cartridge into the breech of his rifle and took aim.
The brute’s eye was within range.
Pomp’s aim was deadly, and the big brute went to the ground in a heap with a bullet in the brain.
The other grizzly seemed even more plucky than his mate.
He rushed upon the Steam Man and essayed to hug him.
But Pomp began to fear that some harm might be done the mechanism of the Man.
So he started the Man ahead a few feet, then took almost point-blank aim and drove a bullet into the bear’s vitals.
The brute rolled over in the throes of death.