Old Ephraim. 309 



from behind the bank, and had probably been attracted 

 by the smell of the horses. After it made out what we 

 were it stayed round a short while, again uttered its 

 peculiar roaring grunt, and went off; we had seized our 

 rifles and had run out into the woods, but in the darkness 

 could see nothing ; indeed it was rather lucky we did not 

 stumble across the bear, as he could have made short 

 work of us when we were at such a disadvantage. 



Next day we went off on a long tramp through the 

 woods and along the sides of the canyons. There were 

 plenty of berry bushes growing in clusters ; and all around 

 these there were fresh tracks of bear. But the grizzly is 

 also a flesh-eater, and has a great liking for carrion. On 

 visiting the place where Merrifield had killed the black 

 bear, we found that the grizzlies had been there before us, 

 and had utterly devoured the carcass, with cannibal relish. 

 Hardly a scrap was left, and we turned our steps toward 

 where lay the bull elk I had killed. It was quite late in 

 the afternoon when we reached the place. A grizzly had 

 evidently been at the carcass during the preceding night, 

 for his great footprints were in the ground all around it, 

 and the carcass itself was gnawed and torn, and partially 

 covered with earth and leaves for the grizzly has a curi- 

 ous habit of burying all of his prey that he does not at 

 the moment need. A great many ravens had been feed- 

 ing on the body, and they wheeled about over the tree 

 tops above us, uttering their barking croaks. 



The forest was composed mainly of what are called 

 ridge-pole pines, which grow close together, and do not 

 branch out until the stems are thirty or forty feet from 



