AT GORDON’S CAMP 23 
snow across her doorway, but she slept on in her 
sheltered abode, with no thought of cold or the 
storms outside. The warmth of her furry body 
melted somewhat the surrounding snow and made 
a hole through to the outer air. This opening 
served as ventilator and chimney, and later on, 
when the cold of midwinter came, the damp snow 
froze hard and the mother bear was shut in for the 
season. It troubled her not at all, however, for 
wise Nature has made special provision for bears. 
During the time of plenty, in the late summer and 
early fall, when the wild berries and nuts are ripe, 
bears store up a harvest of fat beneath their sleek 
coats. Without this stock of nourishment to tide 
them over, these animals would starve in winter, 
for at this period they can find no suitable food. 
Through three or four months they sleep on, in 
blissful ignorance of conditions outside. 
On his discovery of the bear, the cook ran back 
to the.camp, secured a gun, and with one of the 
men returned to the dead pine. Poking the rifle 
down into the hole, he fired. The bear was killed, 
and with some difficulty the two men dragged her 
body out on the snow. They saw at once that their 
prize was a large one, a bear that would weigh 
more than two hundred pounds. Immediately 
they started to take off the skin and prepare the 
meat, and were proceeding with the work, when 
