A COLORADO BEAR HUNT 71 



mal was his known superior in prowess. Some of the 

 younger dogs would now and then run deer or coyote. 

 But the older dogs paid heed only to bear and bobcat; and 

 the pack, as a body, discriminated sharply between the 

 hounds they could trust and those which would go off 

 on a wrong trail. The four terriers included a heavy, 

 liver-colored half-breed bull-dog, a preposterous animal 

 who looked as if his ancestry had included a toadfish. 

 He was a terrible fighter, but his unvarying attitude tow- 

 ard mankind was one of effusive and rather foolish 

 affection. In a fight he could whip any of the hounds 

 save Badge, and he was far more willing than Badge to 

 accept punishment. There was also a funny little black 

 and tan, named Skip, a most friendly little fellow, espe- 

 cially fond of riding in front or behind the saddle of any 

 one of us who would take him up, although perfectly 

 able to travel forty miles a day on his own sturdy legs if 

 he had to, and then to join in the worry of the quarry 

 when once it had been shot. Porcupines abounded in the 

 woods, and one or two of the terriers and half a dozen 

 of the hounds positively refused to learn any wisdom, 

 invariably attacking each porcupine they found; the re- 

 sult being that we had to spend many minutes in removing 

 the quills from their mouths, eyes, etc. A white bull-ter- 

 rier would come in from such a combat with his nose 

 literally looking like a glorified pincushion, and many of 

 the spines we had to take out with nippers. The terriers 

 never ran with the hounds, but stayed behind with the 

 horses until they heard the hounds barking " bayed " or 

 " treed," when they forthwith tore toward them. Skip 



