Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1908-10-01

Light, no matter how bright the SUI
may be outside. We made no SCUM,
ourselves, and every little suddel
noise sent thrill through me a
| peered about with each sense on til
alert.
After going few hundred yards th
tracks turned off on well-beaten patl
made by the elk: Tie woods were il
many places cut up Dy these gam
trails, which had often become as dis
tinct as ordinary foot-paths Th
beasts footprints were perfectly plaiI
in the dust and he had numbered alOn!
up the path until near the middle o
the hillside where the ground brokt
away and there were hollows anC
boulders Here there had been a wind
fall, and the dead trees lay anon
the living piled across one another il
all directions; while between anc
around them sprouted up thicl
growth Of young spruces and othc
evcrgreens. The trail turned off into
the tangled thicket, within which /
was almost certain we would find on
quarry. We could still follow the
tracks by the slight scrapes of tn,
claws on the bark, or by the bent aut
broken twigs; and we advanced will
noiseless caution, slowly climbing owe
the dead tree trunks and upturne(
stumps, and not letting a branch rustl,
or catch on our clothes. When in the
middle of the thicket we crossed wha
was almost q breastwork of faller
logs, and Merrifeld, who was leading
passed by the upright stem of a grea
pine AS soon as he was by 1t Ii,
sank suddenly on one knee, turning
half round, his face fairly aflame will
excitement; and as l strobe past him
with my rife at the ready, there, no
ten steps off, was the great bear, slow
ly 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 dowr
again on all fours, the shaggy hair or
his neck and shoulders seeming tt
bristle as he turned towards us. As
he sank down on his forefeet I ha6
raised the rife; his head was bent
slightly down, and when | saw the
top of the white bead fairly between
his small, glittering, evil eyes, l pulled
trigger. Half-rising up, the huge beas
fell over on his side In the deatf
throes, the ball having gone into his
brain striking as fairly between the
eyes as if tie distance had been meas
ured by a carpenters rule.
The whole thing was over in twenty
seconds from the time I caught sight
of the game; indeed, it was over SC
quickly that the grizzly did not have
time to show fight at all or come a
step toward us. He was Il monstrous
fellow, much larger than any | have
seen since, whether alive or hrotght in
dead by the hunters. AS near as we
could estimate for of course we had
nothing with which to weigh more
than very small portions) he must have
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 yet very unusual
eiHe loi d bedl' lie was Soou uedl
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 old, his teeth and
claws being all worn down and
blunted; but nevertheless he had been
living in plenty, for he was as fat as o
prize hog. the layers on his back being
a fingers length in thickness. He was
still in the summer coat, his hair be