The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1907-06-26


q. L Putnam's Sona
A grifsly bear viii only fight u
wounded or cornered. or. at least.
u he thlnks himself cornefud. II
a maa by accident htumhlea ON to
orc close up. he Is almost certain
"a he attacked. really more from
fear than from any other motive.
exactly the same reason that makes
a rattieanako strike Al a paaaerhy.
I have personally known uf bat
one instance OF a grlxaly turning
ON a hunter before being wounded.
This happened 20 a friend OF mine.
California ranehman. who. With
two OF three OF his men. was fol-
lowing a bear that had carried off
ono 90 hts sheep.
They got the bear into a cleft In
the mountain from which there was
no escape. and he suddenly charged
hack through the line Of his pur-
SuerH. struck down one OF the
horsemen. seized the arm OF the
man in hts Jaws aud broke Il as II
u had been a pipe stem. aud was
only Killed after a most lively fight.
In which. BY repeated charges. 10
az one time drove every one OF hts
assasiants of the field.
Early next morning We were over
At the elk carcass. and as we ex-
pectcd. found that the grizzly had
eaten his fili AZ IL during the night
TITS tracks showed him 10 be- an
immense fellow. and we're 90 fresh
that We doubted II he had left long
before we arrived. and we made up
our miads 10 follow him up and
IT'D 10 find his lair The bears that
lived on these Mountains had axi.
IDENTIFY been little disturbed. In.
deed. the Indians and most of the
while hunters aro rather ehary of
nieidilng with 'Old EphraIm.s a.
N. mountain men style The grizzly
unless they get him AZ diaadsan-
take. Tor the sport IL fraught With
some danger and bat ANAL profit
My companion was a skIlIfni
trarker. and we took up the trfail Al
once. Fur some distance Il led over
the SOFT yielding carpet OF moss
and pine noodles. and the foot
prints wnre aalte easily made out.
although ve could follow them but
slowly. Tor we had. OF eomrsa. 70
Keep sharp lockout ahead and
around un a. ws walked noIaain.niy
Oh In the souaber halfIlght always
prcsAiang under the great psns
treea
We made no sound ourselves. and
every little sudden noise cent a
thriis through me a. peered about
With each sense on the alert
After going a few hundred yards
the track tarnsd off on q we'll
beaten path made By the aIk. the
woods we're IN many places cut up
~ these game traiia. which hal
often become az distinct aa ordinary
footpaths.
The bea@t's footprints we're per
fecfiy plain in the duss. aud he had
numbered along the path until
near the middle Of the hillside
~herc the groand broke away and
there we're hollowa and houldsrz
Here there had been a windfaIl. arr
the dad trcea FAY among the living
The trail turned of into the tan
gied thicket. within which Il va
almost certain We would fad our
quarry. We could sun follow tn
tracks. BY tho slight acfapea Of tn
cla~s on che bark. or By the bent
or broken twiEs. and We advanced
with noiseirNs canton. slowly
climbing over the dead tree trunks
and upturned stuFnpa. and not lei
ting a branch rustic or catch on our
When In tho middle OF the thlckal
we crossed what was almost
hFeaNtwork Of fallen logs. and Mer
who vas leading. passed BY
the upright stem Of a great pine
As soon a. he was By Il he sank
suddenly on one knee. turning half
round. hia face fairly aHame win
axcitemeni. and aa ! strobe past
him. with ny rifle At the ready
there. not ten steps off. was the
great bear. slowly rising from bis
bed among the young apruces
lie had heard "a. bat apparently
hardly kncw exactly where or What
We were. for he reared up on hls
haunch he's sideways TO us. Then he
saw IA. and dropped down again on