There is no chance
of killing them by a single shot unless the ball goes through the brain,
and this is very difficult on account of two large muscles which cover
the side of the forehead and the sharp projection of the centre of the
frontal bone, which is also thick.
"Our camp was on the south, at the distance of sixteen miles from that
of last night. The fleece and skin of the bear were a heavy burden for
two men, and the oil amounted to eight gallons."
The name of the badly-scared Bratton was bestowed upon a creek which
discharges into the Missouri near the scene of this encounter. Game
continued to be very abundant. On the fourteenth, according to the
journal, the hunters were hunted, to their great discomfiture. The
account says:--
"Toward evening the men in the hindmost canoes discovered a large brown
(grizzly) bear lying in the open grounds, about three hundred paces from
the river. Six of them, all good hunters, immediately went to attack
him, and concealing themselves by a small eminence came unperceived
within forty paces of him. Four of the hunters now fired, and each
lodged a ball in his body, two of them directly through the lungs. The
furious animal sprang up and ran open-mouthed upon them.
"As he came near, the two hunters who had reserved their fire gave him
two wounds, one of which, breaking his shoulder, retarded his motion
for a moment; but before they could reload he was so near that they
were obliged to run to the river, and before they had reached it he
had almost overtaken them.
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