298 The Wilderness Hiinter. 



side, and keeping a sharp look-out ahead. The bear was 

 going across wind, and this made my task easy. I walked 

 rapidly, though cautiously ; and it was only in crossing 

 the large patches of bare ground that I had to fear mak- 

 ing a noise. Elsewhere the snow muffled my footsteps, 

 and made the trail so plain that I scarcely had to waste a 

 glance upon it, bending my eyes always to the front. 



At last, peering cautiously over a ridge crowned with 

 broken rocks, I saw my quarry, a big, burly bear, with 

 silvered fur. He had halted on an open hill-side, and was 

 busily digging up the caches of some rock gophers or 

 squirrels. He seemed absorbed in his work, and the 

 stalk was easy. Slipping quietly back, I ran towards the 

 end of the spur, and in ten minutes struck a ravine, of 

 which one branch ran past within seventy yards of where 

 the bear was working. In this ravine was a rather close 

 growth of stunted evergreens, affording good cover, 

 although in one or two places I had to lie down and crawl 

 through the snow. When I reached the point for which 

 I was aiming, the bear had just finished rooting, and was 

 starting off. A slight whistle brought him to a standstill, 

 and I drew a bead behind his shoulder, and low down, 

 resting the rifle across the crooked branch of a dwarf 

 spruce. At the crack he ran off at speed, making no 

 sound, but the thick spatter of blood splashes, showing 

 clear on the white snow, betrayed the mortal nature of 

 the wound. For some minutes I followed the trail ; and 

 then, topping a ridge, I saw the dark bulk lying motion- 

 less in a snow drift at the foot of a low rock-wall, down 

 which he had tumbled. 



