26o WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



intense interest their actions during the process of 

 spawning. 



Close to the two Douglas firs a deep well-worn bear 

 trail led down from the mountainside right to the 

 edge of this brook, and from the bank at my very feet 

 a bear had been catching salmon and eating them on the 

 grass, as the partly eaten salmon heads scattered over 

 the ground proved beyond a doubt. When the rain 

 commenced on Tuesday night, we trusted that by the 

 morning the cloudburst would be over, but the morning 

 came with the rain just as steady as it had fallen dur- 

 ing the night. 



Then I thought of the Douglas firs a thirty-foot 

 umbrella. Neil having a coyote to skin, I had him 

 paddle me up the little brook to the foot of the first 

 beaver dam and sent him back to the cabin to finish 

 his work. In front of the dam hundreds of dead salmon 

 floated upon the water, or were settled at the bottom, 

 while fifty or sixty live ones were spawning among the 

 gravelly stones. 



I hoped that by maintaining a day's watch under the 

 sheltering arms of the pair of firs I might see one or 

 more bears come down the trail and get a shot at close 

 range ; so I scooped out a bed among the fir spills and 

 cones, where I could lie in perfect in fact luxurious 

 comfort for as long as I liked. 



With a copy of a monthly magazine a year old to 

 read, I settled myself for a long watch. From the bed 



