3 o8 



RECREATION 



four or five days started on a trip up 

 the river on foot. 



One evening as I was spying the op- 

 posite slopes with my glass, I perceived 

 a large grizzly going up the edge of a 

 snow field. We watched him in the fad- 

 ing light till he disappeared in the 

 brush. 



One morning we sat at the foot of a 

 great slide, as its long reaches of dark 

 emerald and its ridges of rose tinted 

 snow were lit by the glow of the rising 

 sun. Henry, who was a short distance 

 off, signalled me. I looked up, and 

 there was a magnificent grizzly, step- 

 ping with a free and easy stride across 

 the snow far above us. We went up on 

 the run, hoping to intercept him before 

 he got across into the timber, but we 

 soon saw he was going to beat us. So 

 we fired at long range ; he jumped at 

 the first shot as if hit, and kept going, 

 but when we went up we could find no 

 blood on his tracks, though he crossed 

 some snow. So we concluded, perhaps 

 too hastily, that we had missed him. 



When we got back to camp, after a 

 hard but very interesting trip of four 

 or five days, we found "Sport" and 

 Kitty, and the camp all right. Our 

 horses had departed, but we knew they 

 would not go further than the first 

 camp. 



The next morning we went down, 

 separately, hunting on the way. Henry 

 found large grizzly tracks, fresh, and I 

 jumped a small bear, in the brush. We 

 got our horses all right and returned 

 to camp with them. Next morning we 

 moved to below where Henry had seen 

 the tracks and near No. I camp. 



Nothing visible in the horizon escapes 

 Henry's eyes, and we were just finish- 

 ing lunch when he said quickly : 

 "See the horse ; a bear as big as a 

 horse. See ! See ! Crossing that little 

 opening." But I failed to catch the 

 right spot before he disappeared in the 

 bushes. We got out the glass and tried 

 to locate him, but could not make him 

 out. He was about a mile and a half 

 off, and far up. It was very warm, so 

 we took it easy, and got to where he 



was in an hour or so. We could see 

 nothing of him. We felt sure he w r as ly- 

 ing somewhere near, so, at last, we con- 

 cluded to separate and hunt him up. 



We were now just below the edge of 

 the snow, and a little above the place 

 where Henry had seen the bear. There 

 was a light breeze blowing up the 

 slide. Henry now went across through 

 the bushes and I above, in the open, 

 round the edge of the snow. Soon after 

 we parted I came upon huge tracks go- 

 ing up on the snow. I did not follow 

 them, but kept on across them, parallel 

 with Henry. I heard a swishing sound 

 and, looking up, saw a monster grizzly 

 coming down the snow with swift 

 strides, evidently in a hurry, and almost 

 in a line between me and the sun, and 

 the snow was flashing round him in a 

 sparkling haze. There was not the 

 slightest sign of hesitation. When he 

 viewed me at a distance of about twenty 

 yards he raised his great head and 

 fixed his eyes on me. Swerving slight- 

 ly from, his course, so as to come 

 straight at me, his forefeet appeared 

 to paw the air. 



I aimed at his broad breast and 

 fired, and with a deep, low growl 

 he plunged headlong down the slope, 

 tearing up the snow and earth. He 

 brought up against some small firs, a 

 few yards below, and tried to crawl up 

 to me, when I finished him with a shot 

 behind the ear, though, as he started 

 struggling down through the bush I 

 gave him a couple more. There was no 

 blood from any of the four bullet 

 zvounds. 



As he breathed his last, Henry came 

 up, and we had a shake hands, and 

 went back on the bear's track, to see 

 where he had been lying. Upon the snow 

 about 150 yards off we found two beds, 

 and the fresh tracks of his mate going 

 off in the other direction. If we had 

 known there were two we would prob- 

 ably have got both. It was 18 yards 

 from where I fired to where the bear 

 fell. The first shot was fatal, smash- 

 ing the left shoulder and cutting the 

 arteries of the heart. 



