cleared, it revealed the grizzly seated in a moving 

 mass of snow, coasting swiftly down. 



The snow went to pieces on a nearly hidden 

 rock-point and spilled the coaster. He rolled, then 

 slid, first on his stomach head first, then on his 

 back feet first, but collected himself at the bottom. 

 Rising and bearing away from the deep snow, he 

 climbed up again and appeared to look with inter- 

 est at the gully he had made in the slope as he 

 coasted and also at the scattered marks where he 

 was spilled. 



Just beneath the cornice he waded into the 

 snow. He shook himself, kicked the snow, went 

 through swimming motions but still did not start 

 to slide. The slope was not steep enough. Wallow- 

 ing down a short distance, he rose, then rolled for- 

 ward over and over — cartwheeled. After three or 

 four turns he began to slide. This stirred up so 

 much snow-dust that I could get only dim glimpses 

 of him and could not tell whether he was sliding 

 head first or tail first. On the thin snow at the bot- 

 tom the dust-fog cleared, and the grizzly rolled over 

 and over down the slope like a log. Getting on his 

 feet, he walked away and disappeared behind the 

 storm-battered trees at timber-line. 



145 



