My First Trip to the Selkirks 115 



— lock, stock, and barrel. An old grizzly had come during 

 our absence and had dragged the carcass into the cedars. 



As it was quite beyond our combined strength to drag 

 it back, we went to camp, got a rope, and fastening this to 

 the feet of the horse, turned the body over. We then swung 

 the carcass around and, with the rope, once more turned it 

 over. And by repeating this operation we finally got it 

 back to its original position. We now determined to keep 

 an unbroken watch as long as there was light enough to 

 see by, and as it was near the first of June, and there were 

 only about four hours of real darkness, we had to leave our 

 beds soon after midnight, get our breakfast, and climb the 

 three miles of trail by lantern light, in order to reach the 

 blind by the time it was light enough to see our bait with 

 field-glasses. We would then watch until about nine 

 o'clock in the morning, when one of us would go to camp, 

 do the cooking, get a lunch, and return about noon. Then 

 the other would go away and return about three o'clock, 

 when both would watch until it became so dark that we 

 could not see the bait. 



For seven days we kept this up, and a good part of the 

 time it rained and was very cold, so that we had to carry up 

 blankets and rubber ponchos to wrap about us. When 

 thoroughly chilled, we took turns stealing down trail to a 

 hill behind which we would run back and forth until 

 warmed up, and all this time the bear never came, except 

 at night when it was so dark that we could not see to shoot, 

 and every time he came he dragged the remains of the old 

 horse to the cedars, and then we, in turn, would drag it 

 back again. And thus, finally, there remained nothing 

 but polished bones. 



