logs, with no sign of trail to guide. Barney’s six miles to 
the promised slide seemed endless. Rubber boots gave no 
ease to walking, though absolutely necessary on this hunt; 
withal that we carried moccasins for use in event of having 
to climb the slides, or to scale a near-by glacier, should game 
be sighted on either. 
When perhaps half way, suddenly came upon four large 
wolves. Being in a thickly timbered ravine, these were off 
before I could unsling my gun and pull trigger. 
Five minutes after reaching the slide, saw a black bear, 
about a thousand feet up mountain. Commenced climbing 
at once. Reaching the upper ridge, on which we expected 
to locate the bear, the going grew so steep we were forced 
THE FOX-MAN’S ISLAND 
to sling our guns and pull ourselves up by roots and twigs, 
and by digging hand- and toe-holds in the ice. Just as I 
reached the top and, quite unexpectedly, sighted the animal, 
the root serving as brace to my foot broke, and the bear, who 
had changed his position to a very much nearer one than 
we had anticipated, heard the noise and started off. 
Pulling myself up, quickly, I shot, and he went sprawl¬ 
ing, apparently. 
Barney, exuberant, cried: “You got him!”, but, as mat¬ 
ter of fact, the bear was off, with no sign of blood spoor 
remaining. What occurred very probably was that, as he 
sprawled, he slipped on the snow, and was dropped into the 
thick alder clump below; or, quite as likely, again,—he was 
hit but slightly, the shock knocking him down, but without 
doing serious damage. Had my bullet gone well home, the 
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