i 4 2 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



current having swept us around the curve into an un- 

 favorable wind, and before I could step out of the canoe, 

 the bear threw up its head, sniffed once or twice, then 

 turned and ran into the woods. 



About dark, I arrived at an abandoned trapper's cabin 

 on the river bank opposite Plateau Mountain, and found 

 Rungius and Osgood installed in it. Selous came soon 

 after, and that evening, while the rain beat down outside, 

 there was a delightful reunion. They had hunted in the 

 Russell Mountains, and Rungius had killed a bull moose 

 with fine antlers, two cow caribou, a small female grizzly, 

 a black bear, and a wolverine. The last three had been 

 shot while feeding on the carcasses of his moose and cari- 

 bou. Osgood had devoted his time mostly to trapping 

 small mammals (which were very scarce) and in trying to 

 find sheep. They had not found sheep, and very few of 

 their tracks had been seen in the Russell Mountains. 

 Osgood had killed both a bull and a cow moose near the 

 bank of the river a short distance above that cabin. 

 While floating down the river, they had seen four bears, 

 and the day before two had appeared on the bar opposite 

 the cabin, but had run off in the woods before Osgood 

 could get a shot. Both had hunted on Plateau Mountain, 

 where Rungius had killed an old bull caribou with fine 

 horns, and Osgood a smaller bull. Since they thought 

 that other caribou were about there, Selous and I decided 

 to go up and hunt for them. 



September 28. It rained so hard the next day that all 

 of us stayed about the cabin in the morning. In the after- 

 noon I crossed the river in a canoe and tramped about the 



