CHAPTER IX 
ON WILD LIFE TRAILS 
A SKUNK passed by me going down the 
trail. In sight was a black bear coming 
up. Which of these wilderness fellows 
would give or be forced to give the right-of-way? 
There must be trail rights. I sat near the trail 
an innocent and concealed by-stander—a bump 
on a log—wondering about the wilderness eti- 
quette for the occasion. 
The black bear is happy-go-lucky. This one 
was pre-occupied until within two lengths of the 
skunk. A three-length side-leap and he stood 
watchful and ready toescape. The solemn, slow- 
moving skunk held the right-of-way and passed 
by without a turn of his head toward the curious 
and watching black bear. The skunk ever has 
his own way. His influence is most far reaching. 
The wilderness has a web of wild life trails. 
Many of these are dim. The unobserved of 
all observers, I often sat in hiding close to a 
worn, much-trampled wild life trail—a highway 
—where it crossed a high point. 
Before me just at sunrise a grizzly and a 
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