Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



not trail up any of the small, scattered 

 bands of elk that kept, as they generally 

 keep during the end of August, to the 

 thick timber. Our grub gave out ; our 

 last morning came ; and, save for that 

 one brief moment, none of the party had 

 ever seen a grizzly. All our impediments 

 were stowed away, and nothing remained 

 to pack but the forty-two pound traps. 

 While the final tightening of the mules' 

 aparejos was being done (we had a Gov- 

 ernment outfit on that trip), our guide 

 rode ojfF to see if the luck had turned. 

 He was to fire one shot if the trap had 

 been carried away. Fancy our feelings 

 when, thirty minutes later, a single shot 

 rang out on the early morning air. We 

 made time to the ridge where the boys 

 had seen the bear, and where the traps 

 had been set fruitlessly for a week ; and 

 there, sure enough, he was — a fine fellow 

 too. He could not have been fast more 

 than half an hour, for he had not gone 

 far, but was " making tracks," dragging 

 a great log after him, when the hunter 

 saw him ; and in an hour or two, at that 

 pace, would have been well on his way 

 down the canon. Soon as mankind came 

 in sight he took in the situation, and be- 

 gan to roar and growl. A grizzly's roar 



87 



