A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



two long hours, while the sun gradually rose over the canon 

 wall behind us and made an indifferent attempt to thaw out 

 two ver>^ cold and chattering watchers. When we had about 

 concluded that we could not stand this freezing inactivity any 

 longer, we were rewarded by discovering a small black object 

 in motion in the brush about a mile farther up the side of the 

 cafion on which we were watching. A few moments' careful 

 scrutiny with the field-glasses revealed two grizzlies, a female 

 and a cub, feeding on the berries, and gradually working toward 

 the green timber at the head of the caiion. As there was no 

 time to be lost if we were going to intercept them, we hastily 

 discarded all surplus wearing -apparel and entered the thick 

 brush, at once losing sight of the game. 



After half an hour of forcing our way through this tangle, 

 perspiring and winded, we topped a bush-covered knoll, and 

 sighted the gray backs of the bears in the brush on a ridge about 

 two hundred yards distant. The cub immediately disappeared 

 among the bushes, but the female remained motionless, stand- 

 ing broadside on a log, and looking suspiciously over her shoul- 

 der in our direction. I had rested my rifle on a tree-butt and 

 was covering the shoulders of the bear with the sight for a long 

 shot, when, without any warning, she suddenly dropped out of 

 view in the brush. Hoping to secure a long-range running shot, 

 I scrambled down to the bottom of a vegatation-choked ravine 

 and fought my way through the buckbrush to a small knoll 

 above where we had last seen the bears. Wash had reached 

 the ridge ahead of me. Crouched behind a dead tree, he was 

 beckoning frantically for me to make haste, and as I hurried 

 forward I was gratified to see both bears about fifty yards 

 distant in the brush below us. 



The cub was immediately lost to view in the bushes, but the 

 female, standing broadside on a log, presented a tempting 

 mark as she gazed intently across the width of the canon. 

 At the report of the carbine the grizzly rolled from the log in 



292 



