348 



RECREATION. 



round pebble, which exactly fitted the 

 bore of my gun, and which proved a more 

 powerful missile than any case hardened, 

 ball bearing, steel jacketed bullet ever 

 made. The bears were in line when I 

 fired, and at the discharge of my trusty 

 muzzle loader they all went down, and, 

 after feebly waving their off hind legs, 

 expired. 



But what surprised me most of all was 

 to see that pebble, after going through 

 all those bears, stand dancing and spin- 

 ning in the air, like a sea sick bumble 

 bee or a meteor with a jag on. But the 

 intelligent projectile knew its business. 

 It was waiting for more bears, and, sure 

 enough, in about half a minute, around 

 the bend came another grizzly. When he 

 came in line the gritty pebble skipped 

 through him like a buckshot through a 

 rotten pumpkin, and bruin waved his off 

 hind leg and expired, as the others had 

 done. Two more bears came around the 

 corner after that, and were similarly dis- 

 patched. Then, as there was nothing 

 more to do, the pebble whizzed on and 

 shattered itself to pieces on a mushroom 

 half a mile away, killing a skunk and 



scaring a rattler so bad he glided away, 

 forgetting to take his rattles with him. I 

 fastened a handle to the deserted tail- 

 piece, making a rattle box, and my 2- 

 weeks-old baby is sitting on the floor 

 playing with the novel toy at this mo- 

 ment. 



I gathered up my bears — there were 

 113, and not one of them weighed 

 less than 1,200 pounds — and stringing 

 them on a willow twig as a boy would 

 string bullheads, started for camp, well 

 satisfied with my day's sport. When 

 about half way home I met Dave coming 

 to see how I had made out. He ex- 

 plained his unceremonious departure by 

 saying that just as the grizzlies appeared 

 he remembered he had left his tooth- 

 brush outside the tent that morning; and, 

 thinking that a porcupine might eat it, 

 he had thought it best to go back and 

 look after it. I readily forgave him, for 

 Dave is a decent fellow in the main, and 

 together we toted our grizzlies into camp. 

 That evening we dined sumptuously on 

 bear claws, having all we could eat and 

 some left to warm over for breakfast next 

 morning. 



AMATEUR PhOTO BY GEO. G. CANTWEUL, 



RAVENS 



