THE WHITE ELK OF ASTORIA. 249 



other. It was uncommonly lucky for me that these were 

 not cinnamon bears, which are worse than grizzlies, or I 

 might have been badly clawed. I up with my rifle and 

 let fly instanter at the smallest and glossiest of the two. 

 The bullet took her right behind her right ear as she 

 was turning to run, laying her dead in a second. The 

 male cut his stick, dodging through the trees in a sur- 

 prising manner, and I gave him a parting shot which 

 seemed to hurry him on a bit, but I knew it was quite 

 useless to follow him up. The one I had shot was a 

 female, and tremendously fat; her skin shone literally 

 like satin ; her claws were not much worn, so I concluded 

 she was a young one. I loaded my rifle, hobbled Eosinante, 

 and skinned my prize leisurely, leaving on the claws, 

 head, &c. ; wrapping up some tit-bits in the inside, I 

 loaded up and returned to camp. I found the boys 

 looking rather ashamed of themselves, but anyhow dinner 

 was ready and I was very hungry, and so I said nothing. 

 I smoked the bear-skin by digging a hole and filling it 

 with damp green wood, and setting fire underneath it ; 

 we then pegged the skin over it, smooth side downwards 

 of course, and let it stay for an hour or so. It kept 

 well enough till I got to San Francisco, where I had it 

 beautifully cured, and then, of course, gave it away. 

 Beards meat is detestable, except when cooked directly 

 the animal is killed. The evening being delightful 

 we pushed on eastward till nine o'clock, when we 

 camped again; we could hear the deer plunge into 

 the depths of the forest as we startled them from their 

 lair, while now and then a fearful blood-chilling howl of 

 the wolf would make us instinctively close together. 

 Next evening we struck quite a difi'erent kind of 

 country ; in place of heavily timbered hills, we found an 



