A COLORADO BEAR HUNT 91 



rest of us went down to the valley, where the snow was 

 light and the going easier. The bear had travelled hither 

 and thither through the woods on the sidehill, and the 

 dogs became scattered. Moreover, they jumped sev- 

 eral deer, and four or five of the young dogs took after 

 one of the latter. Finally, however, the rest of the pack 

 put up the three bears. We had an interesting glimpse 

 of the chase as the bears quartered up across an open 

 spot of the hillside. The hounds were but a short distance 

 behind them, strung out in a long string, the more power- 

 ful, those which could do best in the snow-bucking, tak- 

 ing the lead. We pushed up the mountain-side after 

 them, horse after horse getting down in the snow, and 

 speedily heard the redoubled clamor which told us that 

 something had been treed. It was half an hour before 

 we could make our way to the tree, a spruce, in which 

 the two yearlings had taken refuge, while around the 

 bottom the entire pack was gathered, crazy with excite- 

 ment. We could not take the yearlings alive, both be- 

 cause we lacked the means of carrying them, and because 

 we were anxious to get after the old bear. We could 

 not leave them where they were, because it would have 

 been well-nigh impossible to get the dogs away, and be- 

 cause, even if we had succeeded in getting them away, 

 they would not have run any other trail as long as they 

 knew the yearlings were in the tree. It was therefore 

 out of the question to leave them unharmed, as we should 

 have been glad to do, and Lambert killed them both with 

 his revolver; the one that was first hit immediately biting 

 its brother. The ranchmen took them home to eat. 



