and in the heights above, the bears sometimes 

 fatten themselves before retiring for their long 

 winter's sleep. 



While I was up in the tree, out of the woods 

 below a mother grizzly and her two cubs ambled 

 into an opening and made their way slowly up 

 the slope toward me. Mother Grizzly stopped 

 near my tree to dig out some mice. Just after 

 this operation she evidently caught a faint 

 scent of me and instantly stood on tiptoe, all 

 concentration. Motionless as a statue, she 

 looked, listened, and gathered information 

 with her nostrils; but just one whiff of danger 

 was all that came to her through the calm air. 



Presently she relaxed and stood for a moment 

 on all fours before moving on. One of the cubs 

 concluded to suckle. Either this violated an 

 ancient grizzly custom or else it was something 

 that in the face of danger was too thoughtless 

 to be excused ; at all events the mother knocked 

 the cub headlong with a side swing of her left 

 fore paw. He landed heavily some yards away 

 and tumbled heels over head. The instant he 

 rolled on his feet he sniffed the earth eagerly, 



200 



