CHAPTER XVI 



AN OPEN SEASON ON NATURE STORIES 



ON THE northern slope of Battle Moun- 

 tain one March day I came upon a hole 

 in a deep snowdrift. Dirty tracks 

 showed that a grizzly had come from his winter 

 hibernating den. I had read in numerous stor- 

 ies that any bear is terribly hungry and ferocious 

 after the long hibernating fast of four or five 

 months; that in this starving condition, with 

 food scarce, even the shy black bear will attack 

 people, while a grizzly in the springtime is so 

 desperate with hunger that he will go out of his 

 way and even attack an armed hunter. All this 

 seemed natural. 



As this den was above timberline and about 

 four miles from my cabin, I commenced to figure 

 on the possibilities of this grizzly overhauling 

 me before I reached home. I noticed the wind, 

 and travelled so that he would not scent me; 

 for a grizzly sometimes has word through his 

 keen nose of the presence of a man a mile or 

 more distant. I was just a boy, and not a large 

 one, but I was enjoying life and had made plans 



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