142 THE MOOSE 



of the frozen heap in which he knew — none so well 

 — the bear was holed up, thrust the strong pole 

 deep into the shelter. 



The snow was too solid to cut through, and 

 resisted the most vigorous efforts ; but at last, in 

 sudden rush, the heavy bulk went down into the 

 hollow beneath. 



Pulling it out again, after a frantic swirl, the 

 unkempt man, not so very unlike a bear himself, 

 shouted down the aperture — shouted all manner of 

 strange things, working off the hideous ban of 

 silence in an odd admixture of American and 

 coast- Indian swear- words — surely the most potent 

 in all the world ! — bidding her come forth and bring 

 the cubs with her, telling her, too, with a cold 

 bloodthirstiness which made him chuckle to him- 

 self, just how much she would fetch in the trading- 

 post market. 



" Twenty dollars, I guess, and the cubs, darn 

 them I thrown in." 



All this sounds as though the Northern trapper 

 is wont to treat the ursine inhabitants of the 

 Alaskan wilderness very cavalierly. The opposite 

 is the case, especially where the big brown bears 

 and the grizzlies are concerned. In this particular 



