302 The Wilderness H^i,nter. 



such swift and silent footsteps that its bulk seemed unreal. 

 It was very cautious, continually halting to peer around ; 

 and once it stood up on its hind legs and looked long 

 down the valley towards the red west. As it reached 

 the carcass I put a bullet between its shoulders. It 

 rolled over, while the woods resounded with its savage 

 roaring. Immediately it struggled to its feet and stag- 

 gered off; and fell again to the next shot, squalling and 

 yelling. Twice this was repeated ; the brute being one of 

 those bears which greet every wound with a great outcry, 

 and sometimes seem to lose their feet when hit although 

 they will occasionally fight as savagely as their more silent 

 brethren. In this case the wounds were mortal, and the 

 bear died before reaching the edge of the thicket. 



I spent much of the fall of 1889 hunting on the head- 

 waters of the Salmon and Snake in Idaho, and along the 

 Montana boundary line from the Big Hole Basin and the 

 head of the Wisdom River to the neighborhood of Red 

 Rock Pass and to the north and west of Henry's Lake. 

 During the last fortnight my companion was the old moun- 

 tain man, already mentioned, named Griffeth or Griffin 

 I cannot tell which, as he was always called either " Hank " 

 or " Griff." He was a crabbedly honest old fellow, and a 

 very skilful hunter ; but he was worn out with age and 

 rheumatism, and his temper had failed even faster than his 

 bodily strength. He showed me a greater variety of game 

 than I had ever seen before in so short a time ; nor did I 

 ever before or after make so successful a hunt. But he 

 was an exceedingly disagreeable companion on account of 

 his surly, moody ways. I generally had to get up first, to 



