Hunting the Grisly 97 



When the shadows began to lengthen, I 

 shouldered my rifle and plunged into the 

 woods. At first my route lay along a moun- 

 tain side ; then for half a mile over a windfall, 

 the dead timber piled about in crazy confu- 

 sion. After that I went up the bottom of a 

 valley by a little brook, the ground being car- 

 peted with a sponge of soaked moss. At the 

 head of this brook was a pond covered with 

 water-lilies; and a scramble through a rocky 

 pass took me into a high, wet valley, where 

 the thick growth of spruce was broken 

 by occasional strips of meadow. In this 

 valley the moose carcass lay, well at the up- 

 per end. 



In moccasined feet I trod softly through 

 the soundless woods. Under the dark branches 

 it was already dusk, and the air had the cool 

 chill of evening. As I neared the clump 

 where the body lay, I walked with redoubled 

 caution, watching and listening with strained 

 alertness. Then I heard a twig snap; and 

 my blood leaped, for I knew the bear was at 

 his supper. In another moment I saw his 

 shaggy, brown form. He was working with 

 all his awkward giant strength, trying to bury 

 the carcass, twisting it to one side and the 

 other with wonderful ease. Once he got an- 



VOL. III. e 



