180 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



would have nothing worse than the coyotes 

 to encounter. Every night after that, so 

 long as the hunters were in that camp, the 

 Basque came and sat at the fire until bed- 

 time, talking about los osos, and when the 

 grass and water gave out and the expedi- 

 tion was obliged to move camp about two 

 miles, the gentle shepherd packed his blan- 

 kets over the trail to Bakersfield, leaving 

 his flock in the care of a leathery skinned 

 bear-hardened Mexican. 



The bears were later this year than usual 

 in coming to the mountain, probably be- 

 cause the warm weather was longer de- 

 layed, and for many days the hunters 

 scanned the trails in the canyons in vain 

 for the footprints of grizzlies. The first 

 indication of their arrival was given in a 

 somewhat startling way to the correspon- 

 dent one evening as he was slowly toiling 

 through a deep, rocky ravine back to camp, 

 after a weary tramp over the foothills of 

 the big mountain. 



The sun had set and the bottom of the 



