April, 1922 
FOREST AND STREAM 
153 
little white bean proved alluring, and we 
judged our nerves would survive the 
[Strong coffee no matter how black a rec- 
ord that delectable beverage holds among 
the many purveyors of substitutes. A 
ihurried wash at a nearby stream with 
la shiver along the spine at the contact 
of the cold w^afer, produced a recom- 
pensing glow and soon the empty plates 
gave testimony to our appreciation of the 
guide’s cooking. 
Next in order came the mapping out 
of the day’s work. After much discus- 
sion we took the guide’s advice that he 
should go ahead, taking the day if need- 
ful, and look over the trails and likely 
spots to ford the stream, as we were 
now near good bear country it were wise 
not to let any advantage slip. 
I We both had 22 cal. target rifles, so we 
[made up our minds to look for a dusky 
'grouse or two, as they are fine table 
birds. Quite soon a half dozen of the 
: dusky grouse flushed ahead of us as we 
‘ entered a more level stretch after our 
upward climb of a gently-sloping moun- 
tain side, the birds flying but a short 
.distance to light upon some branches of 
nearby trees. We got the six at fair 
range, taking the heads as targets. 
We followed this sparsely - wooded 
bench formation until we came to one 
of the many mountain streams that, quite 
narrow in places, widen out into fair- 
sized pools. The one that barred our 
progress found outlet, after many wind- 
ings and turnings and occasional dips 
where the rock strata showed, into a 
larger stream, that without doubt fol- 
lowed on to the sea. Where the stream 
we followed narrowed, the coast Indians 
had fashioned rude cribbings, forming 
weirs in which they catch many salmon 
before they return to 
the sea after spawn- 
ing. 
Time passes quick- 
ly under such condi- 
tions, and the sun’s 
rays that had been 
; b u s y in revealing 
many beautiful 
[mountain pano- 
' ramas, toning the 
I effects of coloring 
on tree and mineral- 
I stained rock and 
dropping jewels in- 
vesting t h e bright 
cascades, b e g a n to 
' take a more slanting 
! angle, and we decid- 
' ed to go back to 
camp and see if our 
I guide had returned, 
j The greeting that 
! awaited us was wel- 
, come but not quite 
i what we had looked 
i for. It was given by two very gritty- 
' looking airedales, not the bench - show 
type, but more of the rough and ready, 
and the long, well-formed muzzle and 
straight forelegs of one told me she 
likely had an ancestor born in the purple. 
The larger dog was overweight but of a 
size much used for bear hunting. The 
guide soon showed up and brought the 
good news that his trapper friend, part 
One of the rare ladies’ slipper orchids 
found in British Columbia 
owner with him of the dogs, had seen a 
grizzly. He said that he had been some 
distance off his trap line, following the 
lure of what he thought might be pay 
gravel in a somewhat narrow valley 
which at one time had been the bed of 
a stream long since dried up. Chancing 
to look up, he saw ahead of him, some 
300 yards away, what no field-glass was 
needed to distinguish. A grizzly, and a 
big one, was standing where the creek 
formation took a sharp bend, but the 
furry bulk, seeming to sway back and 
forward a few times, took the turn and 
ambled out of sight. This in effect was 
the tale told by our guide, though gar- 
nished with expressive gestures. 
T he early morning found us eager to 
be off, and little time was lost mak- 
ing ready for the start. The dogs, well 
trained, kept to heel, but the one I fancied 
put up many a protest in the way of loud 
sniffings, as some subtle, gamey odor 
was wafted to her distended nostrils. 
I named her Peggy, after a faithful 
bitch I had once owned, and she soon 
learned her new name. Had I tried to 
hail her in urgent need under her elon- 
gated Indian name it might have proved 
disastrous. 
\Ye kept on until we came to the cabin 
of the trapper, and he supplied any ad- 
jectives that had been lacking in our 
’ guide’s recital of the encounter with the 
grizzly. 
After a meal of porcupine, bacon, and 
a dish of the boiled sprouts of tender 
ferns, flap-jacks and syrup, we headed 
for the creek basin where our grizzly 
had been seen. W c passed through a 
rough country of burnt timber which had 
fallen and crossed, with masses of ice 
lodged in crevices of twisted rock strata 
like miniature glaciers, and crossed a 
torrent that raced through the fissured 
rocks to leap into the gorge below. 
At last we found the creek basin and 
there we left the ]iack-horsc. \\ e had 
brought only one from the trappers 
clearing as we intended to go back there 
that night. We soon struck the small 
creek’s channel where the bear had 
loomed in sight, and, putting the dogs in 
leash until we should come to a fairly 
fresh track, our guide led on to see if 
he could pick up a print of the big lel- 
low’s paw. It was more or less guess- 
work, as the trapper’s gold fever must 
have overwhelmed his distance-judging 
powers. We found it (piitc a jaunt to 
the bend of the creek, and the .gravel 
was partly covered with water from 
nearby springs, thus affording no clue 
to any tracks. Just 
at this spot the 
rarinc widened out, 
then narrowed a.gain 
like a gorge or de- 
file a n d continued 
with slight dcvi.a- 
tions to the base of 
a mountain w hose 
face was scarred 
a 11 (1 blackened b y 
firc-swepi timber. 
^^’e tried all the 
means we judged 
expedient, from the 
bend of the creek to 
where it wideiie<l 
out, to pick up any 
clue or find trace or 
track of the bear. 
“Darn them prospic- 
tors." c.ime from tlu- 
guide, '■when thcy're 
on the gold trail 
they ain't no go>>d 
for nothin’ else." 
All degrees of sniffing and di.uging 
occupied the terriers, and my friend and 
I used our field-glasses to cover all tin 
range the ravine afforded in hope of 
locatin.g a movin.g mass of fur. but we 
had no luck. .\s we could find no track- 
leading away from the moist bc-d i f the 
stream on cither side, wc followed abuii; 
the narrowin.g .gorge a good mile and 
{Continued on page 166) 
