ii6 The Grizzly Bear 



All this time nothing had happened at the deadfall. 

 After there was nothing more to pick from the horse's bones 

 at the blind, we came to the conclusion that we had had 

 enough, and as we were now out of supplies, we decided to 

 take a last look at the deadfall, spring it, walk out and get 

 the pack-horses, and give it up until the next year. Cole- 

 man, as a last attention, had placed the bones in a neat pile, 

 and the next morning on our way up the canon we were 

 astonished to find that the bear had again been there and 

 that the bones were gone. We went on up to the deadfall, 

 and here another surprise awaited us. The bear had been 

 there also. He had climbed up by the back way, had torn 

 out the logs, had hurled them to the four winds, had taken 

 the head and neck of the horse, and had left for parts un- 

 known. When Coleman looked at the wreck, he sat down 

 on one of the logs and, rubbing his head, said, "Let's go 

 home. We are babes in the wood, compared to these 

 bears." So once more we fastened up our tent door and 

 took our guns and walked out of the country. We had 

 seen twenty-one grizzlies and had never fired a shot. We 

 had only once been near enough to shoot at one, and that 

 was the first one we had seen. So we went home to think 

 it over, and plan and scheme until another spring, when 

 we were determined to try it again. 



