Hunting in Many Lands 



while the bear was interested and occupied 

 with him, a good opportunity would be offered 

 for getting in a shot ; and as Portuguese were a 

 drug in the market in that part of California, 

 and grizzly bears, dead, a great rarity, he was 

 suffered to contribute his mite to the success of 

 la ckasse, and all went merrily. Not a thicket 

 or a den did he leave unprobed. 



An hour or two were spent in beating 

 up the gulch to its head. Then a barren 

 mountain side presented itself, three or four 

 miles of it, with no shelter. Leonard ran 

 the trail here like a dog, literally ran it, and 

 the pack of hunters tailed behind him for a 

 half or three-quarters of a mile. A bit before 

 sundown we were at the edge of the chaparral 

 — a tangle of bushes and quaking asp — rather a 

 baddish place in which to stumble upon her se- 

 rene highness. However, my companions did 

 me the honor to promote me to the " Portu- 

 gee's" place and function. With rifle across 

 the crook of arm, we stole as silently as might 

 be — the United States army would have made 

 more noise — into the jungle. Sunset overtook 

 us up on the far edge, with a stretch of open 

 forest in sight, and, I doubt not, with Madam 

 Bruin and her cubs miles ahead in some inac- 



208 



