Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-01-07

covered with water lilies; and a scranl.
BILE through a rocky pass took me into
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 soundess woods. Under
| the dark branches it was already dus,:.
and the air had the cool chill of even
ing. AS / neared the clump where the
body lay | walked with rcdoubled caN
tion watching and listening with
/ strained alertness. Then | heard a
twig snap: and my blood leaped. for
knew the bear was at his supper In
| another moment | saw his shaggy
| brown form. He was working with nj.
! his awkward giant strength, trying to
| bury the carcass twisting 1T to one
side and the other with wonderful
ease.
One he got angry and suddenly gave
it a tremendous cuff with his paw: In
( his bearing he had something half hu
morous, half devilish. | 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 he stood motionIcf#
looking towards it. b"oadside to me
with his fore-paws planted on the ca
cass. This gave me my chance.
drew a very fine bead between his eye
and ear. and pulled trigger. He drop.
ped like steer when struck with
, pole-aXe.
/ If there is a good hiding-place handy
| il is better to lie in wait at the car
/ cass. One day on the head-waters OF
/ the Madison, found that a bear was
I coming to an elk | had shot some
days before; and at once determined
to ambush the beast when he came
back that evening The carcass lay in
! the middle of 4 valley quarter of
mile broad. The bottom of this valley
was covered by an open forest of tall
I pines: q thick jungle of smaller ever
greens marked where the mountains
/ rose on either hand. There were Il
! number of large rocks scattered here
I and there, one, of very convenient
shape. being only some seventy or
! eighty yards from the carcass. Up
/ this / cambered. 1t hid me perfectly,
! and on It's top was a carpet of soft
! pine needles, on which I could lie at
my ease.
Hour after hour passed by. Every
slight noise made my pulses throb as
I | lay motionlcss on the rock gazing
intently into the gathering gloom. /
began to fear that it would grow too
dark to shoot before the grisly came.
Suddenly and without warming, tho
| great bear stepped out of the bushea
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 it stood up on its
/ hind legs and looked long down the
/ valley towards the red west As i
reached the carcass put bullet be
/ tween its shoulders. It rolled over
while the woods reSounded with its
/ savage roaring. Immediately it strug
/ gled to its feet and staggered off: ami
I fell again to the next shot. squaIiu.
and yelling. Twice this was repeated:
{ lllt IIult btluS Ollt VI llIpSt lf'llN
which greet every wound with great
I Outcry, and sometimes seem to lose
/ their feet when ht-although they
will occasionally fight as savagely as
! their more silent brethren. In th!.
case the wounds were mortal, and the
| bear died before reaching the edge of
the thickct
! .Nf Fol g.f
| hunting on the head-waters of Juy
| Salmon and Snake in Idaho and al0u%
the Montana boundary line from TIE
| Big Hole Basin and the head OF U.l
| Wisdom River to the neighborhood Of
| Red Rock Pass and to the north anG
west OF Henry's Lake. During the last
fortnight my companion was the OLD
I mountain man. named Griffeth or
Griffin cannot tell which. as he was
always called either Hank" 81
! "Griff.' He was Il 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 50
short n time nor did | ever before or
| after make so successful n hunt But
lie was an exceedingly disagreeable
companion on account of his surly,
moody ways. | generally had to get
up first, to kindle the fire and make
ready breakfast. and he was very quar-
relsome Finally. during my absence
from camp one day, while not very far
from Red Rock pass, he found my
I. whislley flask, which kept purely foi
emergencies. and drank all the con
/ tents
When came back he was quite
drunk This was unbearable. and
afte. some nigh words left him. and
struck ou homeward through the
woods on my own account We had
with us four pack and saddle horses:
and of these took n very intelligent
and gentle little bronco mare. which
possessed the invaluable trait of al.
ways staying near camp, even when
not hobbled. was not hampered
with much of an outfit, having only
my buffalo sleeping-bag, Il fur coat,
and my washing kit, with a couple OF
| spare pairs of socks and some hand
kerchiefs. / walked, while the little
mare followed almost like a dog. often
-