, 1922-09-13

to steal down the limb. He had a long
way to so before dark. Hunting was
getting poor In this part Of the woods.
He believed he would wander down
toward Hudson's camp and look for
crayfish in the water. A coyote is
usually listed among the larger forest
creatures, but early though the hour
was--early, that Is. for hunters to be
out-rhe was stalking a fawn in q
covert.
All the hunts were progressing IA
mously when there came a curious in
t%erruption. 1t was a peculiar growl,
quite low at first. 1t lasted q long
time, then died away. There was no
opposition tout. The forest creatures
had paused in their tracks at its first
note. and now they stood as If the
winter had come down upon them sud
denly and frozen them solid. All the
other sounds of the forest-the little
whispering noises of gliding bodies
and futtering feet, and perhaps a
birds call in a shrub-Tere suddenly
stilled. There was a moment of
GREATNESS suspense. Then the sound
commenced again.
1t was louder this time. 1t rose and
gathered volume until 1t was almost a
roar. II cargied through the silences
In great waves of sound. And In 1t
was a of resistless power; no
creature in the forest but what knew
this fact.
"The Gray King" one could imagine
them saying among themselves. The
effect was instantaneous. The little
raccoon halted in his descent, then
crept out to the end of a limb. The
coyote, an instant before crawling
with body close to the earth, whipped
about as If he had some strange kind
of circular spring inside of him. He
snarled once in the general direction
of the Gray King. Then he lowered
his head and skulked off deeper into
the coverts.
The blacktail deer, the gray wolf,
even the stately Tawny One, stretched
In grace In his lair, wakened from
sleep. The languor died quickly in
the iatter's eyes, leaving only fear.
These we're Drawer than the Little
People. They waited until the thick
brush, not far distant from where the
bull elk slept. began to break down
and part before an enormous, gray
body. y
No longer would an observer think
of the elk Is the forest monarch. He
was but a pretender, after all. The
real king had just wakened from his
afternoon nap and was starting forth
to hunt.
Even his little cousins. the black
bears, did not wait to make conversa-
tion- They tumbled awkwardly down
the hill to get out of his way. For
the massive gray form-weighIng over
half a ton-was none other than that
of the last of the grizzly bears, that
terrible forest hunter and monarch.
the Killer himself.
Long ago. when Oregon was a new
land TO white men. In the days OF the
clipper ships and the Old Oregon
Trail, the breed to which the Killer be-
longed were really numerous through
the little corner north of the SIskiyous
and west of the Cascades. They were
a worthy breedI IL the words Of GER
tain old men could be believed. the
southern Oregon grizzly occasionally.
In the bountiful fall days, attained a
weight of two thousand pounds. No
doubt whatever remains that thou
sand-pound bears were
But unlike the little black bears. the |
grizzlies developed displeasing habits.
They were much more c%arnivorous in
character than the blacks, and their
great bodily strength and power en-
abled them to master all Of the myriad
forms of game in the Oregon woods.
BY the sane token, they could take a
full-growh steer and carry 1t Off as a
woman carries her baby.
It couldn't be endured. The cattle
had begun TO settle the valleys.
and 1t was either a case of killing the
grizzlies or yielding the valleys to
them. In the relentless war that fof.
lowed, the breed had been practically
wiped u A few of them, perhaps.
lied farther and farther up the Cas-
cades, finding refugees in the Canadian
mountains. Others Travelled east. To-
eating Mt last in the Rocky noun
tains' and countless numbers of them
died At last, as far as the frontiers
men knew, only one great specimen
This was a famous bear
that men called Slewfoot-a magnia-
animal that ranged far and
relentlessly, and no one ever
just when they were going to
run across him. He was apt suddenly
loom up, like a gray cliff, at any
turn in the trail, and his disposition
grew querulous with age. In fact, in
stead of fleeing as o wild creatures
learned to do, he was rather
likely to make sudden and unexpected
he was killed at last; and seem
ingiy he southern Oregon grizzlies
were wiped ont. But IL La rathnr oaa..