Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year. E. C. Hartwell

       off the wall, where it lay in a deer's-horn rest, a large horse

       pistol. With this in hand she ran to meet her children.

       Some hunter had broken the bear's fore leg with a bullet

       a few days before, which accounted for its strange, waddling

       gait; but it was almost within reach of the hindmost child

       when the mother arrived. The bear at once turned its

       attention to the newcomer, and with a terrific snarl rushed 5

       at her. On sped the children, screaming and crazy with

       fright. It was a moment of imminent peril to the mother,

       but she was equal to the occasion. She leveled the pistol

       and fired. Six leaden slugs struck the bear in the head

       and neck, knocking it over. 10

      Not very far away in the woods at the time, the man

       heard the loud report, and fearing that Indians were murdering

       his family, he ran home to find his wife just reviving

       from a swoon. She had fainted immediately after seeing

       the effect of her shot. 15

      The bear was not yet dead, but a ball from the rifle finished

       him. He was a monster in size. Doubtless the

       wound in his fore leg had made it difficult for him to get

       food, and he had attacked the children on account of sheer

       hunger. But had he not been in that maimed condition, 20

       his attack would have been successful and the hindmost

       child would have been torn to pieces and eaten up in the

       shortest time and with little show of table manners.

      —Stories of Indiana.