236 The Grizzly Bear 



any success, we decided to move up near the head of the 

 creek in the mountains, as we knew that the bears lived 

 up there and came down at night to feed on the fruit. 

 We accordingly took our camp outfit, which consisted 

 of a frying-pan and our blankets, together with a little 

 "grub" and the saddle horses, and, going as far up the 

 mountains as we could with the horses, bivouacked near 

 the headwaters of the stream. We hunted the mountain 

 all day and, while we did not get a shot, we saw eleven 

 bears, and at night we returned to where we had left the 

 horses, built a small fire close to the creek, ate such food 

 as we had brought along, and then rolled ourselves in 

 our blankets and were soon asleep. 



Some time in the night I was awakened by the plung- 

 ing and snorting of the horses, and, as I listened, I could 

 hear the breaking of small twigs beneath the low bank 

 of the creek, which was not more than twenty feet away 

 from where we were lying. Then I heard the horses 

 break their picket ropes and lope away into the night, and 

 I lay there, wondering if any of the other fellows were 

 awake. There were four of us in the party, all sleeping 

 against a fallen tree, but no two of us under 'the same 

 blanket. The first sound passed away down the stream, 

 and soon, far up the creek, I heard more snapping of 

 limbs, then an interval of silence, then the scuff-scuff of 

 some heavy animal as it came along down the trail. 

 And the shuffling feet among the pine needles came nearer 

 and nearer until it passed not more than ten feet from me. 

 I drew a long breath of relief and started listening again, 

 and soon I heard another. And there I lay while four 

 bears passed, and as I was on my first hunt for grizzlies, 



