56 A SPORTSMAN'S EDEN. 



them out from the mountains, amongst which 

 they appeared to have had no sport, and to have 

 been lost. But they were philosophers, ' could 

 not expect anything better the first time/ ad- 

 mitted that they had shot badly, and altogether 

 took their bad luck in a way which augured well 

 for their success should they ever try again. The 

 one thing that stuck in their throats was that in 

 the last ten miles they had been walking with 

 Chance ahead of their train, without their rifles, 

 when, of course, they met a black bear sunning 

 herself on the trail. When she saw them she 

 moved off very leisurely to the woods, w T hile they 

 went back for their shooting-irons, old Chance 

 going on slowly. On their way to rejoin him 

 they met Chance, very anxious indeed to see 

 them again, having run up against a ' bald-faced ' 

 grizzly directly after they left him. Being 

 anxious to go by, he shouted and threw a ' rock ' 

 at the bear, who came down on all fours, and 

 trotted quietly towards the trapper, rather in a 

 spirit of careless inquiry than of anger. As 

 Chance put it, ' When I saw him climb down, 

 you bet I climbed up and put for camp,' where 

 he arrived scared and out of breath. I don't 

 know whether the Englishmen with Chance quite 

 believed his story, but I frankly confess I did 

 not ; and when he advised me to climb a tree if I 



