C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

140 THE LADIES , THE G WI C H'I N, A N D THE RAT''All That is Left of La PierreHouse, " c, 1921.From Mason, The ArcticForests (1924),0pp. [76].McPherson. There was nothing that we wanted and nothing that we needed, so wepaddled down towards the next bend to find level ground for a camp. As weopened up the next reach of the river we saw, on our left, the strangest object. Itwas creamy white, rather bulky and humped up in the middle so that it lookedlike a reduced but fattened camel. It had the curve of an archer's bow and it wasquite still and it was like nothing that we had ever seen before, but we both knew,with a swift, intuitive knowledge, that it was something alive."Wolf," said Jimmy, in a low tone of excitement. Jimmy had been brought upin a mission school and he knew little about wildlife and Lazarus would often sayscornfully: "Mission school no good, never teachJ immy live off the country,"Now he answeredJimmy's question with a hoarse whisper. "Bear," he said, andwe knew at once it was a grizzly,He had come down to the water' s edge to drink and his cream pallor in thatgreen world was very beautiful. Lazarus and I each took a shot with our rifles andmissed. I handed my rifle toJimmy who shot twice and wounded it, The bearstaggered away into the alders; we could hear it breathing heavily. The guideswent ashore, after telling us to paddle across to the opposite bank and to hold onto some overhanging tree boughs. A wounded grizzly can be dangerous, Lazarustold us, and he refused to let us come ashore with him. As we watched these twomen scramble up the bank with their rifles so as to stalk the bear from above, ourexcitement was intense. Every minute seemed like half an hour, but at last weheard two shots and then, after a pause filled with heavy silence, they appeared on