The Wit of the Wild 



r 



fumes of a stream of noxious gas that flows out 

 of a hole in the rocks. The disgusting odors 

 of Death Gulch " had a message for him," and 

 Bruin meditates that it is far to Yellowstone 

 Park, where he may end his days in peace under 

 the protection of Uncle Sam's hospitality 

 though how could a grizzly have learned that? 

 Moreover, as the sage animal reflects, " What's 

 the use?" 



" Here in this little garden was all he sought ; 

 here were peace and painless sleep. He knew 

 it; for his nose, his never-erring nose, said 

 * Here ! here ! now ! ' He paused a moment at 

 the gate, and as he stood the wind-borne fumes 

 began their subtle work. ... A rush of his 

 ancient courage surged in the grizzly's rugged 

 breast. He turned aside into the little gulch. 

 The deadly vapors entered in, filled his huge 

 chest, and tingled in his vast, heroic limbs, as 

 he calmly lay down on the rocky, herbless floor, 

 and gently went to sleep." 



I can leave to others the literary question 

 whether it is good to wind up a story, alleged 

 to be of facts, with a purely imaginative de- 



^206 5 



