A CHROMATIC BEAR HUNT 



our comfort and our enjoyment, affairs of 

 secondary importance. And when we de- 

 scribed to him the tints of our wall paper and 

 rugs we got the impression that, whether we 

 needed bears lavender, bears mauve, or bears 

 cerise, it was thenceforth a religion with him 

 to see that we found them. 



As to guides, there were no regular guides 

 in this neighborhood, since there were no 

 tourists every resident had to earn his money 

 honestly. But there were fellows about who 

 knew the woods Joe Ibach, for instance. He 

 had just come in from a prospecting trip and 

 might care to go a-bear hunting. So we de- 

 scended upon Joe. Certainly he'd go. He 

 didn't care to guide, however, as he had never 

 "gid" any, but he'd show us a lot of bears, 

 and carry the outfit, and row the boat, and 

 do the cooking, and chop the wood, and build 

 the fires, and perform the other labors of the 

 camp. As for regular guiding, though, he 

 guessed we'd have to see to that ourselves 

 until he learned how. When we spoke about 

 wages, he said he didn't think that sort of 

 thing was worth money, showing conclusively 

 that he was not a real guide. He had a long, 

 square jaw and a steady eye, which looked 



45 



