It was now Pouchskin’s turn; and in a second after the loud report of the grenadier’s gun went booming over the lake, while the ball splashed the water right into the eyes of the bear. Though it did not hit any part of his body, it had the effect of half-turning him—so that he now swam towards Alexis, stationed at the bottom of the bay.
Alexis took the matter more coolly. There was a convenient tree behind—to which he intended to retreat in case of missing—and this influenced him to hold his ground, till the bear should come near enough to ensure a certain aim.
The bear swam straight on, until within some ten yards of where Alexis was standing; when all at once he appeared to take the rue, and was turning off to one side. This was just what Alexis desired: it brought the head of the animal broadside towards him, and, taking steady aim, he planted his bullet a little under the left ear.
It was a dead shot. The huge creature, loaded with fat, sank instantly to the bottom; but fortunately the water was shallow; and the Indian now coming in with his canoe, soon fished up the carcass, and towed it out upon the beach—where its fur coat was stripped off in a trice.
Chapter Forty Eight.
The Great Grizzly.
The grizzly bear (ursus ferox), the fiercest and most formidable of the ursine family, was the next to be captured and skinned.
The range of the grizzly, though wider than that of the Barren Ground bear, is still not so extensive as that of the ursus americanus. The great chain or cordillera of the Rocky Mountains may be taken as the axis of his range—since he is found throughout its whole extent, from Mexico to its declension near the shores of the Arctic Sea. Some writers have asserted that he is confined to these mountains, but that is an error. To the west of them he is encountered throughout all the countries lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast—wherever circumstances are favourable to his existence; and to the east he extends his wanderings for a considerable distance into the great plains—though nowhere so far as to the wooded countries near the meridian of the Mississippi. In these the black bear is the only forest-ranger of the family.