HUNTING THE GRISLY, 87 



this case the wounds were mortal, and the 

 bear died before reaching the edge of the 

 thicket. 



I spent much of the fall of 1889 hunting on 

 the head-waters of the Salmon and Snake in 

 Idaho, and along the Montana boundary line 

 from the Big Hole Basin and the head of the 

 Wisdom River to the neighborhood of Red 

 Rock Pass and to the north and west of 

 Henry's Lake. During the last fortnight my 

 companion was the old mountain man, already 

 mentioned, named Griffeth or Griffin I can- 

 not tell which, as he was always called either 

 "Hank" or "Griff." He was a crabbedly 

 honest old fellow, and a very skilful hunter ; 

 but he was worn out with age and rheumatism, 

 and his temper had failed even faster than his 

 bodily strength. He showed me a greater 

 variety of game than I had ever seen before 

 in so short a time ; nor did I ever before or 

 after make so successful a hunt. But he was 

 an exceedingly disagreeable companion on 

 account of his surly, moody ways. I gener- 

 ally had to get up first, to kindle the fire and 

 make ready breakfast, and he was very quarrel- 

 some. Finally, during my absence from camp 

 one day, while not very far from Red Rock 

 pass, he found my whisky-flask, which I kept 

 purely for emergencies, and drank all the con- 

 tents. When I came back he was quite drunk. 

 This was unbearable, and after some high 

 words I left him, and struck off homeward 

 through the woods on my own account. We 

 had with us four pack and saddle horses ; and 



