A BEAR IN CAMP. 



Prof. F. V. Yeager. 



At a place called Box Canyon, on the 

 left bank of the Pend d'Oreille 

 (pronounced Pondary) river, near where 

 it crosses the British line, we pitched our 

 tent for three weeks of recreation and as 

 much pleasure and romance as could be 

 had with fishing rod, rifle and camera. 

 Small game being plentiful, fishing good 

 and wild berries abundant, for the first 

 two or three days we lived at the summit 

 of our cherished ambition — we simply 

 feasted and rested. 



On the third day, however, a member 

 •of our party brought in a deer, which we 

 dressed, and its hide was nailed out to 

 dry on a cedar tree that stood about six 

 feet from the tent. Having plenty of 

 meat in camp there was no necessity of 

 hunting or fishing for several days. My 

 wife and I made frequent visits to the 

 oerry thickets and shot a few grouse. 

 All went on quietly and well until just 

 at daylight, one morning, we were 

 awakened by an unusual noise, resem- 

 bling the tearing of heavy canvas. My 

 first impression was that our tent was 

 being torn to pieces. My wife, being a 

 little nearer the noise and wide awake, 

 located it at the big cedar tree previously 

 mentioned, and as the mast and sail, from 

 our boat, were leaning against this tree 

 we naturally supposed something was 

 playing havoc with the canvas. My 

 brother-in-law and I, without waiting to 

 dress, were outside the tent in less time 

 than it takes to tell it. The timber and 

 underbrush were so dense that we could 

 see nothing of our intruder, but could 

 hear some monstrous brute leaving our 

 quarters at race horse speed. At first we 

 could not find that anything had been 

 molested and concluded that only a cow 

 or a horse had visited us. We were 

 about to return to bed when I remem- 

 bered the deer hide and on going to 

 look found it was gone. 



We discussed bear and cougar, and 

 being ambitious to carry home a trophy, 

 we quickly dressed, shouldered our guns 

 and started in pursuit, still in the dark 

 as to what we were following. We could 



see where the hide had been dragged 

 through the grass and easily followed 

 the trail to a small opening in the forest, 

 near a thick jungle, where we found our 

 deer skin utterly torn to shreds. We 

 could see no further traces of the un- 

 known, and were about giving up the 

 chase when two fawns jumped up, one 

 of which my companion shot. Then he 

 said if I would carry it to camp he would 

 would go by a circuitous route and look 

 for further bear signs. 



I reluctantly took the deer on my 

 shoulder and started for camp, but be- 

 fore reaching it met my companion, who 

 was thoroughly convinced that a bear 

 had been in camp. Without an invita- 

 tion I dropped my venison, retraced my 

 steps, crossed the jungle and went en- 

 tirely around it, but could see nothing 

 but Bruin's well defined tracks in the 

 dust. Again we turned camp- ward and 

 found my wife with head and ears still 

 beneath the blankets where, woman-like, 

 she had remained for protection. 



We got our morning meal, dressed the 

 deer, and our brother went to work on a 

 cabin he was building. I could not keep 

 from thinking of my lost deer hide, and 

 vowed vengeance on the thief. 



About ten o'clock my ambition and 

 anger predominated. I pocketed a large 

 hunting knife and shouldered my rifle, 

 remarking that I was going into the 

 jungle. My wife insisted that I should 

 stay where I was, but her brother, who 

 is an expert shot and an experienced 

 hunter, said sarcastically he hoped I 

 would get the bear. 



I moved quietly and cautiously, stop- 

 ping frequently to listen for ten minutes 

 at a time. Continuing through mud 

 and water, tall grass and weeds, over 

 logs and fallen trees, I finally took a stand 

 where, in two directions. I could see, in- 

 distinctly, for more than a hundred 

 yards. Here I stood for fully fifteen 

 minutes, when suddenly I heard the 

 brush crack. Knowing there was a horse 

 ranging in the woods 1 felt that it was 

 just as likely to be he making the noise as 



