THE BEAR "MONARCH." 179 



protection of three rifles. The Basque had 

 never been on the mountain before, but 

 he had heard about the bears and their 

 audacious raids, and he was not at all 

 enamored of his job. When the campfires 

 were started, and the forest became an en- 

 closing wall of gloom, behind which lurked 

 all the mysteries and menaces of the moun- 

 tains, the Basque came shyly into camp, 

 bringing a shoulder of mutton with which 

 to establish friendly relations, and under 

 the mellowing influence of a glass of some- 

 thing hot he became confidential and 

 as communicative as his broken jargon of 

 French and California Spanish would per- 

 mit. 



He had come to the mountain reluct- 

 antly, and having been told about the 

 herder whose hand was torn off by a grizzly 

 last year, he was still more unwilling to 

 remain. He would stay as long as the Ex- 

 aminer party remained near him, but when 

 the hunters went away he proposed to quit 

 and hasten back to the plains, where he 



