Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-11-06

and then. and switching their tails.
The air was still, the sky a glorious
blue: at that hour In the afternoon
even the September sun was hot.
When the shadows began to length
en-, | shouldered my rife and plunged
into the woods. at first my route lay
along a mountain side: then for half a
mile over a windfall. the dead timber
piled about in crazy confusion. After
that went up the bottom of a valley
by a little brook, the ground being
%carpeted with a sponge of soaked
moss.
covered with water lilies: and a scram-
BILE through a rocky pass took me into
a high. wet valley. where the thick
growth of spruce was broken by occa-
sional strips of meadow. In this valley
the moose carcass lay. we'll at the up
per end.
In moccasined feet | trod softly
through the soundless woods. Under
the dark branches 1t was already dusk.
and the air had the cool chill of even
ing. As I neared the clump where the
body lay l walked with r%edoubled eau
ton, watching and listening with
strained alertness. Then | heard a
twig snap: and my blood leaped. for |
knew the peal was at his supper. In
another moment | saw his shaggy
brown form. He was working with all
his awkward giant strength. trying to
bury the carcass. twisting 1t to n
side and the other with wonderful
ease.
One he got angry and suddenly gave
1t a tremendous cuff with his paw; In
his bearing he had something half hui
morous, half devilish. l crept up with.
In forty yards: but for several minutes
he would not keep his head still. Then
something attracted his attention in
the forest. and be stood motionless
looking towards 1t. ~broadside to me.
with his fore-paws planted on the car
cass. This gave me my chance.
drew a very fine bead between his eve
and ear. and pulled trigger. He drop
ped like u steer when struck with a
pole-axe.
II there Is a good hiding-place handy
1t Is better to lie In wait at the car
cass. One day on the head-waters of
the Madison. | found that a bear was
coming to an elk | had shot some
days before: and | at ono determined
to ambush the beast when he came
back that evening. The carcass lay In
the middle of u valley a quarter of a
mile broad. The bottom of this valley
was covered by an open forest of tall
pines: a thick jungle of smaller ever
green's marked where the mountains
rose on either hand. There were q
number Of large rocks scattered here
and there, M of very convenient
shape, being only some seventy or
eighty yards from the carcass. Up
this l clambered. 1t hid me perfectly,
and on its top was a carpet of soft
pine needles. on which l could lie at
my ease.
Hour after hour passed by. Every
slight noise made my pulses throb as
| lay motionless on the rock gazing
i~ntently into the gathering gloom.
began to fear that it would grow too
dark to shoot before the grisly came.
Suddenly and without warning. the
great bear stepped out of the bushes
and trod across the pine needles with
such swift and silent footsteps that its
bulk seemed unreal. 1t was very eau
tious. continually halting to peer
around: and once 1t stood up on Its
hind legs and looked long down the
valley towards the red west. AS ii
reached the carcass | put a bullet be-
tween its shoulders. 1t rolled over,
while the woods ~resounded with its
savage roaring. Immediately it strug-
gled to its feet and staggered off; and
fell again to the next shot, squalling
and yelling. Twice this was repeated;
the brute being one of those bears
which greet every wound with a great
cutlery, and sometimes seem to lose
their feet when hit-although they
will occasionally fight as savagely as
their more silent brethren. In this
case the wounds were mortal. and the
bear died before reaching the edge of
the thicket.
l spent much of the fall of 1889
hunting on the head-waters of the
Salmon and Snake in Idaho and along
the Montana boundary line from the
Big Hole Basin and the head of the
Wisdom River to the neighborhood of
Red Rock Pass and to the north and
west of Henry's Lake. During the last
fortnight my companion was the old
mountain man. named Griffith or
Grifin-I cannot tell which. as he was
always called either Hank OF
"Griff." He was a %crabbedly honest
old fellow. and a very skilful hunter;
but he was worn out with age and
rheumatism, and his temper had failed
even faster than his bodily strength.
He showed me a greater variety of
game than ! had ever seen before in so
short a time nor did ! ever before or
after make so successful a hunt But
he was an exceedingly disagreeable
Communion on account of his surly,