THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOOSE 



293 



Man, and Big Pete Darlinkel was do- 

 ing" his best to make my sojourn in 

 his park enjoyable for me. I had shot 

 an elk, without the aid of our dogs, the 

 latter having- run their last deer when 

 they struck the same trail with the 

 black wolves ; but we were now entire- 

 ly out of provisions, some bears hav- 

 ing gained access to our larder. So I 

 took my P. Mullins fowling-piece to 

 look for fool hens. One more good 

 hunt and we would break camp and 

 start for the other side of the lake, Pete 

 said, and he was now bending over some 

 tracks in a muddy place, examining 

 them with interest; he had been fol- 

 lowing the trail of some black-tailed 

 deer; at last Pete looked up. "Shall 

 we follow him ? ' he asked. 



"Of course, Pete ; what are w r e here 

 for, the mountain air?" 



"No," answered Pete, in his deep, 

 low voice, "we're here for game," and 

 off he started, but slowly and with great 

 caution. I felt impatient, but restrained 

 myself, and saying nothing, continued 

 to follow my big guide, who now moved 

 with the most painstaking care. Not a 

 twig broke beneath his moccasins, as 

 with panther-like step and crouching 

 form he led me through a lot of young 

 trees over a rocky place until we struck 

 a small spring with a soft, muddy mar- 

 gin. Plere Pete came to a sudden halt. 

 I asked him why he did not go on. 

 Pete pointed to a ledge of rock that runs 

 up the mountain side diagonally with a 

 flat, natural road-bed on top, graded 

 like a stage road, but unlike a traveled 

 road, ending in a bunch of underwood 

 and brush about a hundred yards ahead. 



Above the ledge of the rocks is a 

 steep declivity of loose shale sprinkled 

 over with large and small boulders of 

 radically different formation, and in no 

 manner resembling the frayable, uncer- 

 tain bed upon which they rest. 



These boulders are undoubtedly the 

 result of the grinding and polishing ac- 

 tion of an ancient, slow-moving glacier, 

 but some other force has deposited them 

 in their present position. 



It seemed to me that a drenching rain 



or a sudden thaw of snow would be a 

 sufficient cause to send them all roll- 

 ing into the valley. That some had al- 

 ready found a resting place below is 

 apparent by the evident relationship be- 

 tween the boulders in the valley and the 

 ones insecurely planted above ; but we 

 were in search of game, and not out to 

 study geology and I saw no reason why 

 we should stop, and said so. 



"He's in tha'," whispered Pete. 



"Who, the Wild Mountain Man?" I 

 asked. 



"No," answered my guide, "the griz- 



zly. 



"The what!" I almost shouted. 



"The grizzly," answered Pete; "what 

 did you think we've been following?" 



"Black-tailed deer," I said softly, 

 with my eyes glued on the thicket. 



"Well, tenderfoot, here's the trail of 

 that tha deer, and he haint been 

 gone by here more nor a week ago, 

 nuther." 



I looked, and there in the soft mud 

 was the print of a foot — a human-look- 

 ing foot, but for the evenness in the 

 length of the toes and the sharpness and 

 length of the toe-nails. Yes, there was 

 another difference, and that was the 

 size. It was the footprint of a giant, 

 but not a human giant ; it was the foot- 

 print of a savage Hercules who could 

 box with the skill of a Corbett, and the 

 strength of three Sullivans, a hairy mon- 

 ster that could kill and carry off a cow ! 

 It was the track of an enormous grizzly 

 bear, and the soft mud that dripped 

 from the big foot was still undried on 

 the leaves and the grass when Pete 

 pointed it out to me, then pointed to 

 the bright sun overhead to indicate that 

 the direct solar rays would not take 

 long to dry up a little spot of mud on a 

 leaf. 



I measured the track with my gradu- 

 ated hunting knife and found it to be 

 iox*524 inches. 



"But — why, bless you, old man," I 

 cried excitedly as I looked at my gun, 

 "I'm armed only with a fowling-piece!" 



"Tha' all right," replied the big trap- 

 per complacently ; then, with a quick 



