274 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



tically, many times ; but he saw them not, and of course 

 made no signals. They were desperately eager to know 

 whether the bear had moved, and if so, whither. They 

 scolded, and waved, and fumed, and waved some more; 

 but Charlie sat with his binoculars glued to his eyes, as 

 impassive as Farragut on his pedestal. With all his faith- 

 ful watching, Charlie says, " I never saw hair nor hide 

 of 'em until after the ball opened! " So the hunters had 

 to proceed without the aid of their semaphore station; 

 and this was Mack's final growl : 



" From the way Smidty's glued to them glasses, you'd 

 think he'd never seen a b'ar afore! It's up to us to find 

 and kill that b'ar, wherever it is." 



They steered southeast through the green timber, 

 keenly observant of everything in sight, hoping to dis- 

 cover the bear before it saw them. Vain hope! It had 

 moved westward into the timber islet, passed through it 

 and out into the slideway that bounded its western side. 

 It was heading for the large tract of timber, and was 

 almost in it, when it detected the on-coming hunters. 

 Whether it saw them, or heard them, or smelled them, 

 no one can say; but I suspect that it both saw and heard 

 them. Charlie says that suddenly it wheeled about, and 

 raced back toward the island of green timber. When 

 the hunters in the timber first caught sight of the bear, it 

 was running from them at full speed, and was half way 

 across the brush-covered slideway. Mr. Phillips, who 

 was leading, caught sight of it, through the overhanging 

 spruce boughs, and instantly fired. The bear flinched 

 slightly, but ran the faster. Immediately he sent forward 



