Hunting the Grizzly 49 



took to flight, calling " peep, peep " as they 

 disappeared to the other side of the lake; but 

 to my surprise they were back in a short time, 

 and alighted again within 50 feet of me. In 

 the meantime the sun became obscured behind 

 a cloud, and while waiting for the sunlight to 

 reappear for my camera, I was entertained 

 quite nonchalantly by the seven little sand- 

 peeps. By waving a red handkerchief, I was 

 permitted to come very close to them, they ap- 

 pearing to be confiding and sociable, and un- 

 suspecting of danger. Occasionally one would 

 scratch its head, or another would stand on 

 one foot or stick its head underneath its wing. 

 Altogether they seemed to enjoy my company 

 as much as I did theirs, and we were together 

 for more than an hour before I finally decided 

 to leave them. 



The following day we hunted the snow- 

 slides in search of the quarry, but signs were 

 few, so we decided to descend the Columbia 

 River some 10 or 15 miles below the confluence 

 of Brush River. We had made but a few 

 miles of this descent, when a six-mile portage 

 had to be made round some very swift rapids. 



4 



