Old Ephraim, the Grisly Bear 57 



hither and thither at will, in burly self-confi- 

 dence. Then he cared little for cover, unless 

 as a weather-break, or because it happened to 

 contain food he liked. If the humor seized 

 him he would roam for days over the rolling 

 or broken prairie, searching for roots, digging 

 up gophers, or perhaps following the great 

 buffalo herds either to prey on some unwary 

 straggler which he was able to catch at a dis- 

 advantage in a washout, or else to feast on the 

 carcasses of those which died by accident. Old 

 hunters, survivors of the long-vanished ages 

 when the vast herds thronged the high plains 

 and were followed by the wild red tribes, and 

 by bands of whites who were scarcely less sav- 

 age, have told me that they often met bears 

 under such circumstances; and these bears 

 were accustomed to sleep in a patch of rank 

 sage brush, in the niche of a washout, or under 

 the lee of a bowlder, seeking their food abroad 

 even in full daylight. The bears of the Upper 

 Missouri basin which were so light in color 

 that the early explorers often alluded to them 

 as gray or even as "white" were particularly 

 given to this life in the open. To this day 

 that close kinsman of the grisly known as the 

 bear of the barren grounds continues to lead 

 this same kind of life, in the far north. My 



