A CHROMATIC BEAR HUNT 



flung from his shoulders a great brown skin 

 the ends of which dragged on either side. 

 The fur was deeper than a man's wrist, the 

 ears were a foot apart, the nose was curled in 

 a ferocious snarl above the long yellow teeth. 



"See here!" He held up a cub skin. " There 

 was two other little fellers, but they got 

 away." 



"What did I tell you? " Fred groaned. The 

 fire of a consuming envy burned within us as 

 we bombarded Joe with questions. 



It seems he had struck a trail on the other 

 side of the range, and although it was twenty- 

 four hours old he had followed mile after mile, 

 running most of the way to cover, before dark, 

 the distance it had taken the mother and the 

 cubs two days to go. It was growing dark 

 when he overtook them, high up on a moun- 

 tain side covered with patches of gnarled 

 spruce and wind-flattened bushes. 



"When I see I was close to 'em I made a 

 circuit up the hill so's to head 'em off," he 

 explained; "but I under judged her, and she 

 must have snuffed me." He had told the 

 first part of his story graphically, but at this 

 point he closed his narrative in a sudden, 

 matter-of-fact way. 



65 



