208 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



see their great curving horns over the grass. I slowly 

 approached up wind in a sitting posture, with my head 

 just clear of the grass. When some 200 yards away 

 the rams caught sight of me and sprang up, standing 

 for a moment to look, broadside on. Taking a full 

 sight on the back of the largest, I was lucky enough 

 to break his spine, but missed the second ram as he 

 ran like a streak for the canon. By the time we 

 had returned with the head across the canon back to 

 our horses it was getting late. Idly spying up the 

 gorge with my glass before setting out for camp, there 

 we saw a large bear coming down a game-trail on the 

 other side. The opportunity was too good to be lost. 

 Again we scrambled down the canon-side, caught the 

 bear feeding on wild- cherries at the bottom, put 

 a bullet down her throat as she gazed upwards 

 at the intruders looking at her it w r as a large female 

 grizzly over a rock, and finally, after skinning her, 

 regained our horses just as it was getting dark. We 

 being then in a hurry, my horse, of course, shied 

 at the bearskin broke away and bolted had to be 

 followed and caught, and I shortly after realized the 

 reason of Bob's accompanying profanity. A mountain 

 mist descended upon us, and before we were a mile 

 on our road home it was pitch dark and raining 

 heavily. Presently I could not see my horse's head. 

 We camped perforce that night in the open, supper- 

 less and smokeless everything on us being soaking 

 we t with saddles for pillows, and covered by the 

 fresh bearskin. While groping in the dark for a tree 

 to tie my horse to, I had successfully managed, in 

 order to make my wetting thorough and complete, to 

 fall into a water-hole. 



At the first streak of dawn we started for camp, 



