LET US GO AFIELD 



that way. All this country is very open and free 

 from cover at the summit, and the glasses saved us 

 many a mile. 



At last we found our game. High up on a 

 little snow-field at the top of a distant peak 

 beyond our valley they were lying, all three the" 

 old bear motionless, one of the cubs moving feebly. 

 So then we could end it, after all. A sudden revul- 

 sion came over me. I was done with hunting for 

 the time. I did not care to make the long climb 

 for the sake of skinning a dead bear or killing a 

 crippled cub. So I detailed the two natives to go 

 across and end the business, while I waited for 

 Barnes. I was rather sick of the affair. 



I lay back in the sun, alone, and watched the 

 wide panorama before me, on which the only sign 

 of life was the two antlike figures which after a 

 time appeared slowly toiling up the opposite face 

 of the mountain. I half repented not going, was 

 disposed to go on after. Had I done so I should 

 have missed the most exciting bear hunt I ever knew 

 one in which I had no active part. 



The two brown men crawled on up, skirting a 

 long rent in the rocks, dodging low behind some 

 cover as they reached the exposed summit. I saw 

 them at last reach the rock-rim above the game, 

 and knew how Czaroff proposed to make the ap- 



234 



