With Gun ^ Rod in Canada 



not mean any harm, but it was fascinating to pat them 

 and see them fall. Our early training teaching us never 

 to waste food, we had to stuff ourselves on mutton 

 for several weeks after this day's sport. Mutton 

 becomes quite tender if exposed to the sun a few 

 days. It was a good thing for us that the sheep-herder 

 had no gun. 



Although it is delightful to have oneself well thought 

 of, and to be given a good character, there are times 

 when we grizzlies just have to chase annoying human 

 beings out of our way, the magazine article to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. I recall one incident back 

 in 1901; and although I do not often lose my temper, 

 I think you will agree with me that this particular mis- 

 adventure justified my actions. I was having a pleasant 

 evening drink out of a mountain brook, and a man had 

 the audacity to dip water in a coffee-pot out of the same 

 brook, not fifteen feet away. It was lucky for him that 

 he was a good tree-climber. He was too quick for me, 

 consequently I succeeded merely in getting hold of a 

 piece of his shirt. Another man came running with one 

 of those guns, and hurt me so badly that I had to climb 

 up the mountain and lie in the snow until my wounds 

 healed. If it hadn't been for this second man I could 

 have just waited around under the tree. 



The author of the magazine story tells about me playing 

 with a floating log and coasting down the mountain. 

 He should have seen me a few years ago romping with 

 a bunch of saddle-horses in a small corral. Those ponies 

 were pretty quick and made great fun for a little while, 

 but their backs were weak. I gave half a dozen or so 

 a playful slap, and they would lie down and be right in 

 the way of our tag game. I saw a man coming with a 

 gun, and so had to stop playing the ponies. 



I do not get down among the ranches often, but one 



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