The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1908-11-04


ngnt, no matter now bright the sun
may be outside We made no sound
ourselves, and every little sudden
noise sent thrill through me as
/ peered about with each sense on the
alert.
After going few hundred yards the
tracks turned off on well-beaten path
made by the elk; the woods were in
many places cut up by these game
trails, which had often become as dis
tinct as ordinary foot-paths. The
beasts footprints were perfectly plain
in the dust, and he had numbered along
up the path until near the middle of
the hillside, where the ground broke
away and there were hollows and
boulders Here there had been a wind
fall, and the dead trees lay among
the living. piled across one another in
all directions; while between and
around them sprouted up a thick
growth Of young spruces and other
evergreens. The trail turned off into
the tangled thicket, within which it
was almost certain we would find our
quarry. We could still follow the
tracks, by the slight scrapes of the
claws on the bark, or by the bent and
broken twigs; and we advanced with
noiseless caution, slowly climbing over
the dead tree trunks and upturned
stumps, and not letting a branch rustic
or catch on our clothes. When in the
middle of the thicket we crossed what
was almost a breastwork of fallen
logs, and Merrifeld, who was leading,
passed by the upright stem of a great
pine. AS soon as he was by it he
sank suddenly on one knee, turning
half round, his face fairly afiame with
excitement; and as l strobe past him.
with my rife at the ready, there, not
ten steps off, was the great bear, slow
~ rising from his bed among the
young spruces. He had heard us,
but apparently hardly knew exactly
where or what we were, for he reared
up on his launches sideways to us.
Then he saw us and dropped down
again on all fours, the shaggy hair on
his neck and shoulders seeming to
VI loliC as llC LII hCu lONdIuS uS. 40
he sank down on his forefeet / had
raised the rife; his head was bent
slightly down, and when l saw the
top Of the white bead fairly between
his small, glittering, evil eyes, pulled
trigger. Half-rising up. the huge beast
fell over on his side in the death
throes, the ball having gone into his
brain, striking as fairly between the
eyes as if the distance had been meas
ured by carpenters rule.
The whole thing was over in twenty
seconds from the time I caught sight
of the game; indeed, it was over SO
quickly that the grizzly did not have
time to show fight at all or come a
step toward US. He was a monstrous
fellow, much larger than any l have
seen since, whether alive or brought in
dead by the hunters. AS near as we
could estimate for Of course we had
nothing with which to weigh more
weighed about twelve hundred pounds,
and though this is not as large as
some Of his kind are said to grow in
California, it is vet very unusual
size for bear. He was a good deal
heavier than any Of our horses; and II
was with the greatest difficulty that
we were able to skin him. He must
have been very DID, his teeth and
claws being all worn down and
blunted: but nevertheless he had been
living in plenty. for he was as fat as q
prize hog, the layers on his back being
a fingers length in thickness. He was
still in the summer coat, his hair be-