May I, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
689 
ten out and repaired by the Indian women, 
while the men were busy repairing pack 
saddles and riding gear. Before the K. O. and 
the Aledicine Man could leave their posts it was 
necessary to unwind several yards of bright red 
Government tape; and, in a country where there 
is no telegraph, this is a tedious process. At 
length the last knot was untied, the last official 
formality complied with, and the party ready 
to depart. The powerful cavalry horses, inured 
to mountain work, were standing ready saddled 
before the door. The Indians had already be¬ 
gun straying single file,- as Indians do, up the 
valley, the men in the lead, followed closely by 
the women and children, these latter perched 
atop of patient little pack ponies, surrounded 
by mountainous piles of camp duffle. The pale 
face contingent swung into saddle and followed 
the red men at a swinging trot. To the un¬ 
initiated the trot of a oavalry horse is about 
the most distressing experience in life. The 
steady pound of these powerful animals serves 
to reduce the tenderfoot to a mass of aching 
bones and screaming muscles at the close of 
the day. ' Once habituated, however, to the 
cavalryman’s mode, the equestrian never returns 
to the civilized manner of riding. 
All day the car^lcade wound up the sinuous 
valley of the Kooskia. On one side there was 
the sparkling water of the stream, on the 
other towered immense basaltic cliffs with 
narrow strips of meadow land lying between. 
Innumerable sharp-tailed grouse started from 
beneath the horses’ feet and went whirring 
away. Mother ducks led their broods from the 
shallows along the shore to the safety of the 
deeper water. Immense jackass rabbits leaped 
from beneath the shelter of the sage and went 
bounding awaj' like gray streaks pursued by the 
thousand-odd cur dogs that always accompany 
an expedition of Indians. These were safe, how¬ 
ever, for the party was out for greater game. 
As the days passed the scenery changed. The 
river became smaller and swifter, now and 
again plunging through some narrow gorge, its 
waters fretted into foam by half submerged 
boulders. The rock-ribbed hills gave place to 
pine-covered slopes which towered clear to the 
skyline. The trail left the river shore and 
wound back and forth among the pines until 
it reached the upland summit. Immense ridges 
of primeval timber stretched in long gentle 
slopes toward the distant range. Mountain 
meadows, grass-covered and girt round with 
timber dotted the country. Across each of 
these a tiny stream wandered, its waters cold 
as the eternal snows that gave it birth, and 
teeming with lusty trout eager for the fly. Deer 
became common. Hardly a meadow was passed 
but one or more bounded away, after a startled 
look backward, into the protection of the shel¬ 
tering woods. Franklin grouse—fool hens—■ 
sprang from the dust of the trail and perched 
upon the lower bough.s of the pines to be 
knocked 9 n the head by a whip in the hands of 
some savage and added to the evening pot. 
Each night the camp was made on one of 
these meadows and the horses reveled midside 
deep in the grass. It was frosty in the morn¬ 
ings and the chill air sent the blood rushing 
through the veins like new wine. Then the 
sun rolled above the eastern mountain tops and 
scattered the mists of night, driving away the 
frost. 
The distant range was now no longer distant. 
The crests of the mountains were silhouetted 
against the skyline with photographic fidelity. 
Berry bushes, laden with their dark purple fruit, 
skirted the trail's side for miles, producing an 
endless stream of chatter from the Indian 
women, who were becoming excited at the pros¬ 
pect. The yellow pines had given place, to 
forests of white pine and hemlock. In the 
deeper canons grew immense white cedars com¬ 
pared to which those of ancient Lebanon were 
but pigmies. The trail wound about the shores 
of marshy upland lakes whose borders were 
fringed with alder and aspen many yards deep, 
within whose cool shade elk and moose were 
wont to stand at midday and fight the insect 
pests. Bear tracks, too, were seen along the 
shores of these lakes, and rotting logs, torn 
asunder, where bruin had been seeking a break¬ 
fast of fat wood mice or ripe red ants. 
The permanent camp w.as made on a meadow, 
an immense grass land lying right in the heart 
of the mountains. To the east in its mile deep 
canon roared the Locksau, to the north .towered 
the bald crest of Pot Mountain, the summit of 
which in times past was used by the Indians 
as a site for their signal fires; to the west 
for leagues and leagues stretched the undulat¬ 
ing billows of dark green forest like the waves 
of a great sea, green, save where there lay 
blotches of brightest gold where the Frost Spirit 
with his icy breath had touched the larches till 
they blushed to yellow. Like the building of 
some magic city the white tepees of the Indians 
arose, for these people are expert in erecting 
their canvas homes. These were flanked on 
one side by the brown duck tents of the United 
States Army. The good old starry banner was • 
flung to the breeze from a staff in front of the 
Colonel's tent and the whole scene took on a 
martial air 
The armament destined to slay the great bear 
was varied in the extreme. The iMedicine ]\Ian 
had brought into the country when he came the 
first high power rifle ever seen there. This 
arm Charley Allen had immediately fallen in 
love with and from the Medicine Man it was 
borrowed by him whenever it became possible. 
The K. O. had had made for himself a fine 
specimen of the then service rifle, a powerful 
weapon, but somewhat clumsy for the hunter’s 
use. The Briton had brought from Albion an 
English double eight-bore express gun carrying 
an explosive ball. The Medicine Man having 
loaned his little high power to his Indian ally, 
was perforce obliged to content himself with 
an old reliable .,38-55 which had sped its bullet 
true to the mark on many a hunting trip before. 
The next day the hunt for the grizzly began 
in earnest. Every foot of the surrounding 
country was scoured in vain. Not a track of 
the big fellow was seen for over a week. Then 
traces of him began to appear, showing that 
he had returned. The berry bushes were tramp¬ 
led down, logs overturned and rent asunder, 
claw marks high up on burnt snags of trees, 
springs roiled up where he had lain, bunches of 
gray hair upon the sides of trees where he had 
rubbed himself. Still he could not be found. 
Somewhere in the mountains he had his lair 
and came forth to feed only at night. 
The red and gold leaves of the aspens were 
flutterin.g to earth, the crest of Pot ^Mountain 
was covered with snow. Each morning the 
white band crept lower and lower. The sav¬ 
ages were becoming restless, their berry cases 
were filled with dried fruit and they were 
anxious to be gone, for they knew the danger 
of becoming snowbound in these mountain fast¬ 
nesses. One morning the party awoke to find 
the camp covered with snow. Six inches had 
fallen during the night and it was still falling. 
That morning Charley Allen set off alone. He 
was gone all day. Tliat night after his return 
he called the Medicine Man aside and said in 
' the Sahaptin tongue: 
"To-morrow the King George man kill the 
big bear.” 
The jMedicine Man said to him. “Perhaps.” 
“Yes,” was the reply, “perhaps.” 
The next morning the snow was still falling. 
As soon as it was light enough to see, Charley 
led the party to the east. Just at the brink of 
the canon he pointed to where a deer had been 
slain and the offal left. The snow was trampled 
with gigantic tracks for yards around. The 
spoor led from there off up the canon side. The 
tracks were immense as if someone had set a 
large pail down at regular intervals. The party 
followed the trail carefully and noiselessly. A 
portion of the deer had been left as a bait at 
a point a mile distant. The bear had been there, 
too, and only a few bones were left to tell of 
his visit. 
Charley now led the party into the canon 
down to the bed of the river. No questions 
were asked as to why he did this. Experience 
with Indians has proved that it is best not to 
question them as to their motives. He reached 
the river bed, and arranging the party in single 
file, led them up the stream. It was anything 
but easy going. The rough stones, the fallen 
logs, the snow-weighted undergrowth impeded 
every step: still every heart beat high with 
hope. At last they were nearing the great bear 
that had successfully eluded them for weeks. 
A bold point of granite projected into the water 
and around the base of this Charles led his 
party, wading waist deep in the cold water. 
Gaining a sandy beach above the rocky point, 
Charley stopped and pointed upward. There, 
his gray body outlined against the white of the 
snow, stood the great grizzly. Lie was totally 
unsuspicious of the presence of an enemy and 
was busilv devouring the bait that had been 
prepared for him. giving expression to his satis¬ 
faction in low contented grunts. 
The Duke was accorded the first shot. Kneel¬ 
ing, he took careful aim and fired. The ball 
struck the earth just beneath the feeding bear 
and exploded. The explosion covered the ani¬ 
mal with a shower of snow and small stones. 
He looked up, sniffed the air. and charged. An¬ 
other ball from the express plowed the earth 
at his nose. 
The Medicine Man was in the presence of his 
first grizzly. It is impossible to express the 
feeling. Llad the bear been going the other way 
it would not have been so difficult, but coming 
down hill like an express train on the war path, 
it was an entirely different matter. Let those 
who have had the experience tell how they felt 
■—the Medicine Llan acknowledges his inability 
The .,38-55 began to talk, but its conversation 
did not seem to have the effect of checking the 
onward progress of bruin. He stopped when 
a bullet struck him, bit his skin where it en¬ 
tered, and then charged on. . He was growing 
