Then Oscar saw, for the first time, that the bear’s trail led from that thicket to his den under the rock. The guide, whom the boy supposed to be a mile away at that moment, had found it and was following it up. He was running right into danger too. His eyes being fastened on the trail, he did not see the bear, which was as close to him as it was to Oscar. At least that was what Oscar thought; but, as it happened, the wary old hunter knew where the bear was as well as his employer did. The boy’s fears were greatly increased now. For a moment he seemed utterly incapable of moving or speaking; and then, his power of action and speech coming back to him as suddenly as it had deserted him, he sprang to his feet and raised a shout that could have been heard half a mile away. “Look out there, Thompson!” he yelled. “The bear is right in front of you!” There is nothing of which the grizzly stands so much in fear as the sound of the human voice. Numerous instances are on record bearing evidence to the fact that men who have been stricken down and seriously wounded by these fierce animals have saved their lives by setting up piercing shrieks of pain and terror. This grizzly proved to be as timid as any of his species in this respect. When Oscar’s shout awoke the echoes of the grove he turned quickly; and, giving vent to a hoarse “huff, huff!” which resembled, in everything except volume, the sound uttered by a wild hog when he is suddenly startled, made all haste to get around the rock out of sight; but before he had taken half a dozen steps he was floored by a bullet from Big Thompson’s rifle. Now it so happened that this veteran hunter was quite as much disconcerted at the sound of Oscar’s voice as the grizzly was. He never dreamed that the boy was anywhere in that vicinity; and if he had held his peace a moment longer the guide would have given a much better account of himself. As it was, Oscar’s shout of warning disturbed his aim; and instead of killing the bear outright, as he could have done under almost any other circumstances, he only succeeded in inflicting upon him a painful wound, which aroused all the ferocity in his nature at once. He got upon his feet in an instant, and, uttering growls of rage that made Oscar shiver all over, charged toward the hunter, whose coolness and courage were wonderful to behold. Having no time to recharge his muzzle loader, Thompson grasped the barrel with both hands, and, swinging the heavy weapon over his head, calmly awaited the onset. It was a picture for a painter; and on the brow of the hill a little distance away was another picture for that same painter, if he wanted something to represent “Fright.” There stood Oscar, with open mouth and staring eyes, watching all that was going on below him, and so utterly overcome with terror that he did not know he had a gun in his hands.