LET US GO AFIELD 



hills. Discarding old and time-tried Kodiak meth- 

 ods, I used the Chicago system, which says that the 

 best way is to go out after business and not wait 

 for it to come to you. Kuroki grew pale at the 

 thought of climbing these mountains, but there was 

 no hope for him. He joined us on our first stroll, 

 twenty miles or so toward the summit of a pass far 

 back in the interior. By night he was sagging badly 

 but still smiling. He knew he was in the hands of 

 his loving friends. Also, he was scared to be alone. 

 No bears, no sign of bears, rewarded us at the 

 close of our first day's hunt; but we saw hundreds 

 of salmon skeletons, marks of last fall's fishing; and 

 we saw such bear trails as I never knew existed in 

 the world trails worn deep into the soil during 

 hundreds of years of use, perhaps, with prints in 

 them made apparently by doormats rather than 

 actual bare bear feet. Most of these older trails 

 were double, the bears being so wide in the chest 

 that they could not put their feet down in a single 

 trail. The reach from foot to foot was sometimes 

 longer than a man could step. I measured one track 

 in the snow which was as long as my rifle barrel 

 from front to back sight. From this island many 

 skins have come over ten feet in length, a few over 

 thirteen feet. One hide is said to have measured 

 sixteen feet and a half square when stretched. Of 



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