28 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



place, and listen most intently tor at least ten minutes; 

 but no, not a sound that brought the slightest encourage- 

 ment, and I was doubtless doomed to another punching 

 at the mess at breakfast for being such an incorrigible 

 tenderfoot. 



About five o'clock I reached the fork where the dry 

 bed of Wolf Creek began. Here were some signs of 

 game: deer tracks crossed to and fro in the white sand 

 of the bottom of the creek, or more abundantly imprinted 

 on the mud about the shallow pools where they had been 

 drinking. Most of the big timber had disappeared, and, 

 for an acre or so about, the place was filled in with a 

 rather dense growth of young, wild cherry trees. These 

 averaged some 

 eight feet in 

 height, and were 

 laden with ripe 

 rherries the very 

 thing I thought a 

 bear would appre- 

 ciate. Beyond and 

 about these trees 

 a scrubby growth 

 was present, dis- 

 appearing about a 

 hundred yards 

 further on where 

 the foothills com- 

 m e n c e d , upon 

 which latter were 

 scattered, and not 

 so far apart, dark 

 stone boulders, 

 most of them 

 large enough to 

 hide three or four 

 men. A magnifi- 

 cent morning sun 

 now illumined the 

 scene, the gener- 

 ous rays penetrat- 

 ing the less dense 

 masses of under- 

 growth. Although 

 there was no 



"swamp" about it, the plainsmen often called a place 

 like this a "cherry swamp," I suppose for the reason 

 that, in wet weather or during prolonged rains, it be- 

 came more or less flooded with water. This was not 

 the case now, however ; for the greater part it was as 

 dry as a powder-horn, and one could follow the labyrinth 

 of game paths running through it in all directions without 

 so much as dampening one's moccasins. 



This cherry swamp was my best hold now ; in a few 

 moments I was within its shadows, treading my way 

 slowly and cautiously through the game trails and the 

 old and more widened game paths. Hardly had I pene- 

 trated more than forty feet, when I caught sight, by 

 a very small puddle, of one of the biggest grizzly tracks 



A GRIZZLY IN THE BRONX PARK 



Figure 10. Our American zoological gardens usually have on exhibition from one to five 

 grizzly bears at a time; they are interesting animals, if kept in sufficiently spacious dens. 

 Photograph by Elwin R. Sanborn, and published through the courtesy of the New York 

 Zoological Society, as were also Figures 11 and 12. 



I had ever seen. The hinder three- fourths of it was 

 impressed upon the smooth, shiny mud, while the im- 

 mense claws had reached into the shallow puddle. A 

 peculiar sense of delight crept over me, associated with 

 the sudden awakening of all my faculties to their maxi- 

 mum point of keenness, as I realized that I might not 

 come out of that cherry swamp alive. I knelt to make 

 a close examination of the track. The first particles of 

 mud stirred up by the bear's claws had not yet com- 

 menced to settle to any extent ; therefore, the track was 

 not over ten minutes old, probably less. Putting my 

 ear close to the ground, I listened intently ; but, although 

 I heard various noises, none were made by a big bear. 



Arising, I loaded 

 and cocked my 

 carbine, and, car- 

 rying four loose 

 cartridges in my 

 left hand, I took 

 up the trail. It 

 was not difficult 

 to follow, and I 

 soon met the first 

 sign in the path : 

 a place where he 

 had stopped to 

 eat cherries. This 

 caused me to ex- 

 amine my small- 

 arms carefully, to 

 rub my chilled 

 muscles a trifle. 

 and to peer among 

 the cherry trees 

 in every direction. 

 The slight breeze 

 was in my favor; 

 undoubtedly the 

 bear was between 

 me and the foot- 

 hills, so, if he did 

 not show fight 

 and started to go, 

 he could run in 

 the direction of 

 his home. The place was as silent as the grave, and I 

 was possessed by a very mixed lot of emotions. I 

 wanted that Grizzly in the worst way ; I fully realized 

 the dangerous place I had struck him in ; and I knew, if 

 a fight ensued, the chances were about equal perhaps in 

 favor of the bear. Presently I took up the trail again ; 

 in Indian fashion, noiselessly I moved along. Scarcely 

 had I advanced an hundred feet, when a peculiar sound 

 coming from my left caught my ear. A kind of swish ! 

 then, silence. In the direction of the sound I observed 

 a young cherry shaking. Ah, I thought, he is bending 

 the trees over, sucking off the cherries, and letting the 

 trees spring back. As I rapidly advanced a short dis- 

 tance, I racked my brains as to where I could take up 



