THE GRIZZLY BEAK. 225 



robe, and lay down between two pine-trees, in a dark hol- 

 low, fifteen feet or so to the windward of the bait, and 

 arranged a light cord round the carcass in such a way, at 

 about three feet from the ground, that if I should fall 

 asleep, and while I was sleeping the Bear came, his pressure 

 on the string would awaken me by pulling at my wrist. 

 About two hours after sundown, I heard the stealthy 

 approach of a large animal in the underbrush; but it was so 

 pitch-dark that, though the noise did not seem more than 

 twenty feet away, I could see absolutely nothing; and the 

 Bear must have smelt me, for he went off. Toward morn- 

 ing I fell asleep, and must have slept about an hour, when 

 suddenly I felt something soft press on my head. For a 

 moment I was badly scared, as I thought the Bear had mis- 

 taken me for the bait, and had stepped bodily on top of 

 me. In my half-awake condition, I had mistaken a big 

 squirrel — that, falling off the tree, hit me full in the face — for 

 the game I was after. After the sun was. up, I went back 

 to camp, hungry enough, and rather chilled. 



Next day 1 determined to explore a distant gulch that 

 none of our party had yet visited, and taking one of the 

 men and a couple of horses with me, with food for two 

 days, we started off. When we made camp, we were about 

 eighteen miles from our party, and found ourselves in a 

 splendid valley, in which there was considerable Elk-sign. 

 All that day and the next we saw a good deal of fresh Elk- 

 sign, and some Bear-sign, but saw no game. Anyone who 

 has hunted in the mountains will remember how many dis- 

 appointments of this kind he has had. You sometimes find 

 tracks only a day or so old all around you, and yet the 

 game that made them seems utterly to have vanished. Com- 

 ing back to camp the second evening, we almost stumbled 

 over a Bear. We were walking along the edge of a deep 

 ravine, and he was evidently coming out of it. Some 

 twisting current of air gave him our scent, and we heard his 

 " whiff ! whiff ! " and the rattle of the stones as he bundled 

 down the descent. After two fruitless days, our coffee and 

 bacon were gone, and nothing remained but a little oatmeal; 



15 



