CHAPTER XIV 

 HUNTING THE BEAR 



MR. CHARLES SHELDON, a traveller who has spent 

 a good deal of time in the islands of the North Pacific, 

 tells a good story of an unexpected meeting with a 

 bear while hunting on Montague Island. It is from 

 his book on hunting and exploration in the North 

 Pacific Coast Islands. 1 ' To-day I had the most re- 

 markable experience of my life. It cleared about nine- 

 thirty, so I was off, intending to go three miles down 

 the beach and up a creek, to a basin well back in the 

 mountains. A great number of crows, hundreds, are 

 always feeding about the rocks at low water, and several 

 pairs of oyster-catchers were evidently preparing to 

 breed. I went up the creek, hearing water-ousels on 

 the way, and finally emerged from! a deep canon, 

 through which the water rushed, leaping down here and 

 there in cascades, and in some places under ice and 

 snow. Just before reaching the foot of the basin I 

 turned up the south ridge, keeping in the woods in 

 order to get high on the mountain slopes and keep my 

 wind above any bears that might be feeding below, 

 as it was blowing strong up the basin. I reached the 

 top of the ridge at i p.m. The other side sloped 

 1 See Bibliography, 44. 



