PIGEONS AND BEAR 69 



ing too much alkali — "alkalied," as the people 

 say here — and could eat no breakfast, but was 

 determined not to miss the hunt, which I had 

 looked forward to with much anticipation. At 

 dawn we were of! with the pack, all mounted 

 upon strong, able horses from Coleman's ranch. 



We rode several miles through a compara- 

 tively level stretch of barren country, then en- 

 tered a rough, thinly wooded region broken by 

 gulches and canons, up and down over trailless 

 hills, until the dogs at length took a scent in 

 a rocky canon and were off. 



We followed at a good pace, keeping well 

 within hearing of the working dogs. "It's a 

 bear," said Coleman at length, and sure enough 

 on the side of a canon opposite us, high up 

 near its rim, we presently saw the animal for a 

 moment — a big brown fellow. Coleman and 

 Jaques each took long range shots with their 

 30-30's, but missed. 



Then the chase began in earnest. At a 

 lope we pushed our horses through thick brush, 

 over rocks, up and down canon sides, where I 

 doubted the ability of the animals to keep their 

 footing, until, at last, scratched and bruised 

 from contact with brush and rocks, we heard 

 the dogs baying, and knew they had treed the 

 bear, 



