TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 153 



CHAPTER XIV. 



VARIOUS INTERESTING MATTERS First kill bear in a herd of buff alos ad- 

 ventures with buffalo and mountain lion something about Hiram 

 Steward. 



Upon one occasion when Steward and I had a contract 

 to supply meat to Hoskins and McGirl,. at Baker's battle- 

 ground, our camp was situated on the headwaters of Razor 

 Creek. For three days we had wandered around, through 

 the foothills, looking for bears. The signs were plentiful, 

 but we succeeded in getting only one bear, which Steward 

 insisted upon calling a mongrel, and surely it was not of 

 pure blood. We were returning to camp late in the evening, 

 when we heard stones rattling down a bluff, and, pausing 

 to listen, we saw a bear about two years old, of a yellowish 

 brown color, climbing along the hillside. 



In an instant, bang, bang, went our rifles and down he 

 came with a roar. As he tumbled over,. I gave him two more 

 shots and he delivered up the ghost. We skinned him and 

 Steward added the skin to his bedding. We arrived in 

 camp, worn out with our day's tramp, and Steward fleshed 

 his bear robe while I got supper. After a hearty meal we 

 discussed the advisability of moving camp. We had been 

 burning pitch-pine knots and my hair was so stiff it would 

 scarcely bend, so I set about washing out the pitch. First 

 I used bear's grease to cut the gum, then soap, with which 

 I scrubbed and washed for half an hour, and quit in disgust, 



