A CHROMATIC BEAR HUNT 



towards the right when I saw, over the edge 

 and not thirty feet away, a grizzled scruff of 

 hair looking like the back of a porcupine. 



"There he is!" I called, sharply. "Look 

 out for yourself ! ' ' 



I stepped to the edge of the bluff, for after 

 my first glimpse that angry fur had disap- 

 peared and looked down directly into the 

 countenance of the largest grizzly in the world ! 

 Halted by our approach, he had paused just 

 under the crest. 



I have seen several Alaskan bears at close 

 range, but I never saw one more distinctly 

 than this, and I never saw a wickeder face 

 than the one which glared up at me. His 

 muzzle was as gray as a "whistler's" back, the 

 silver hairs of his shoulders were on end like 

 quills, while his little pig eyes were bloodshot 

 and blazing. 



"What luck!" I thought, wildly, as the rifle 

 sights cuddled together, but in that fraction 

 of a second before the finger crooks, out from 

 the brush behind him scrambled another 

 bear, a great, lean, high-quartered brute of 

 cinnamon shade, appearing, to my startled 

 eyes, to stand as tall as a heifer. 



Now, I never happened to be quite so inti- 

 53 



