The men
killed them either with a little 32-calibre pistol or a hatchet. But
once did they meet with any difficulty. On this occasion one of them
incautiously approached a captured bear to knock it on the head with his
hatchet, but the animal managed to partially untwist itself, and with
its free fore-arm made a rapid sweep at him; he jumped back just in
time, the bear's claws tearing his clothes--after which he shot it.
Bears are shy and have very keen noses; they are therefore hard to kill
by fair hunting, living, as they generally do, in dense forests or
thick brush. They are easy enough to trap, however. Thus, these two men,
though they trapped so many, never but once killed them in any other
way. On this occasion one of them, in the winter, found in a great
hollow log a den where a she and two well-grown cubs had taken up their
abode, and shot all three with his rifle as they burst out.
Where they are much hunted, bear become purely nocturnal; but in the
wilder forests I have seen them abroad at all hours, though they do not
much relish the intense heat of noon.
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