OF WILD ANIMALS 57 



left untouched. And then followed a major operation in bear 

 trapping. A mile away there was a steep slope of smooth 

 rock, bounded at its foot by a creek. On one side was a huge 

 tangle of down timber, on the other side loomed some im- 

 passable rocks; and a tiny meadow sloped away at the top. 

 The half-fleshed carcasses of two dead elk were thrown half 

 way down the rock slide, to serve as a bait. On the two sides 

 two bear guns were set, and to their triggers were attached 

 two long silk fish-lines, stretched taut and held parallel to each 

 other, extending across the rocky slope. The idea was that 

 the bear could not by any possibility reach the bait from above 

 or below, without setting off at least one gun, and getting a 

 bullet through his shoulders. 



On the first night, no guns went off. The next morning it 

 was found that the bear had crossed the stream and climbed 

 straight up toward the bait until he reached the first fish-line; 

 where he stopped. Without pressing the string sufficiently to 

 set off its gun, he followed it to the barrier of trees. Being 

 balked there, he turned about, retraced his steps carefully and 

 followed the string to the barrier of rocks. Being blocked 

 there, he back-tracked down the slide and across the stream, 

 over the way he came. Then he widely circled the whole 

 theatre, and came down toward the bait from the little meadow 

 at its top of the slide. 



Presently he reached the upper fish-line, twelve feet away 

 from the first one. First he followed this out to the log barrier, 

 then back to the rock ledge that was supposed to be unclimb- 

 able. There he scrambled up the "impossible" rocks, ne- 

 gotiated the ledge foot by foot, and successfully got around 

 the end of line No. 2. Getting between the two lines he 

 sailed out across the slope to the elk carcasses, feasted sump- 

 tuously, and then meandered out the way he came, without 

 having disturbed a soul. 



All this was done at night, and in darkness; and presumably 

 that bear is there to this day, alive and well. No wonder Mr. 





