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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9330-8.txt b/9330-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13c0bee --- /dev/null +++ b/9330-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1911 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Biography of a Grizzly, by Ernest Seton-Thompson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Biography of a Grizzly + +Author: Ernest Seton-Thompson + + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9330] +This file was first posted on September 23, 2003 +Last Updated: May 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + + + + + + + + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY + +by Ernest Seton-Thompson + +With 75 Drawings (not available in this file) + +Author of: The Trail of the Sandhill Stag Wild Animals I Have +Known Art Anatomy of Animals Mammals of Manitoba Birds of Manitoba + + +1899 + + +This Book is dedicated to the memory of the days spent at the +Palette Ranch on the Graybull, where from hunter, miner, personal +experience, and the host himself, I gathered many chapters of the +History of Wahb. + +[Illustration: ] In this Book the designs for title-page, cover, and +general makeup, were done by Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. + +[Illustration: ] List of Full-Page Drawings + +They all Rushed Under it like a Lot of Little Pigs + +Like Children Playing 'Hands' + +He Stayed in the Tree till near Morning + +A Savage Bobcat ... Warned Him to go Back + +Wahb Yelled and Jerked Back + +He Struck one Fearful, Crushing Blow + +Ain't He an Awful Size, Though? + +Wahb Smashed His Skull + +Causing the Pool to Overflow + +He Deliberately Stood up on the Pine Root + +The Roachback Fled into the Woods + +He Paused a Moment at the Gate + + + + +PART I + +THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB + +[Illustration:] + + +I. + +He was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wildest part of +the wild West, on the head of the Little Piney, above where the Palette +Ranch is now. + +His Mother was just an ordinary Silvertip, living the quiet life that +all Bears prefer, minding her own business and doing her duty by her +family, asking no favors of any one excepting to let her alone. It was +July before she took her remarkable family down the Little Piney to the +Graybull, and showed them what strawberries were, and where to find +them. + +Notwithstanding their Mother's deep conviction, the cubs were not +remarkably big or bright; yet they were a remarkable family, for there +were four of them, and it is not often a Grizzly Mother can boast of +more than two. + +[Illustration] + +The woolly-coated little creatures were having a fine time, and reveled +in the lovely mountain summer and the abundance of good things. Their +Mother turned over each log and flat stone they came to, and the moment +it was lifted they all rushed under it like a lot of little pigs to lick +up the ants and grubs there hidden. + +It never once occurred to them that Mammy's strength might fail +sometime, and let the great rock drop just as they got under it; nor +would any one have thought so that might have chanced to see that huge +arm and that shoulder sliding about under the great yellow robe she +wore. No, no; that arm could never fail. The little ones were quite +right. So they hustled and tumbled one another at each fresh log in +their haste to be first, and squealed little squeals, and growled little +growls, as if each was a pig, a pup, and a kitten all rolled into one. + +They were well acquainted with the common little brown ants that harbor +under logs in the uplands, but now they came for the first time on one +of the hills of the great, fat, luscious Wood-ant, and they all crowded +around to lick up those that ran out. But they soon found that they were +licking up more cactus-prickles and sand than ants, till their Mother +said in Grizzly, "Let me show you how." + +She knocked off the top of the hill, then laid her great paw flat on it +for a few moments, and as the angry ants swarmed on to it she licked +them up with one lick, and got a good rich mouthful to crunch, without a +grain of sand or a cactus-stinger in it. The cubs soon learned. Each +put up both his little brown paws, so that there was a ring of paws all +around the ant-hill, and there they sat, like children playing 'hands,' +and each licked first the right and then the left paw, or one cuffed his +brother's ears for licking a paw that was not his own, till the ant-hill +was cleared out and they were ready for a change. + +Ants are sour food and made the Bears thirsty, so the old one led down +to the river. After they had drunk as much as they wanted, and dabbled +their feet, they walked down the bank to a pool, where the old one's +keen eye caught sight of a number of Buffalo-fish basking on the bottom. +The water was very low, mere pebbly rapids between these deep holes, so +Mammy said to the little ones: + +"Now you all sit there on the bank and learn something new." + +[Illustration: ] + +First she went to the lower end of the pool and stirred up a cloud of +mud which hung in the still water, and sent a long tail floating like a +curtain over the rapids just below. Then she went quietly round by land, +and sprang into the upper end of the pool with all the noise she could. +The fish had crowded to that end, but this sudden attack sent them off +in a panic, and they dashed blindly into the mud-cloud. Out of fifty +fish there is always a good chance of some being fools, and half a dozen +of these dashed through the darkened water into the current, and before +they knew it they were struggling over the shingly shallow. The old +Grizzly jerked them out to the bank, and the little ones rushed noisily +on these funny, short snakes that could not get away, and gobbled and +gorged till their little bellies looked like balloons. + +They had eaten so much now, and the sun was so hot, that all were quite +sleepy. So the Mother-bear led them to a quiet little nook, and as soon +as she lay down, though they were puffing with heat, they all snuggled +around her and went to sleep, with their little brown paws curled in, +and their little black noses tucked into their wool as though it were a +very cold day. + +[Illustration: ] + +After an hour or two they began to yawn and stretch themselves, except +little Fuzz, the smallest; she poked out her sharp nose for a moment, +then snuggled back between her Mother's great arms, for she was a +gentle, petted little thing. The largest, the one afterward known as +Wahb, sprawled over on his back and began to worry a root that stuck up, +grumbling to himself as he chewed it, or slapped it with his paw for not +staying where he wanted it. Presently Mooney, the mischief, began +tugging at Frizzle's ears, and got his own well boxed. They clenched for +a tussle; then, locked in a tight, little grizzly yellow ball, they +sprawled over and over on the grass, and, before they knew it, down a +bank, and away out of sight toward the river. + +[Illustration: ] + +Almost immediately there was an outcry of yells for help from the little +wrestlers. There could be no mistaking the real terror in their voices. +Some dreadful danger was threatening. + +[Illustration: ] + +Up jumped the gentle Mother, changed into a perfect demon, and over the +bank in time to see a huge Range-bull make a deadly charge at what he +doubtless took for a yellow dog. In a moment all would have been over +with Frizzle, for he had missed his footing on the bank; but there was a +thumping of heavy feet, a roar that startled even the great Bull, and, +like a huge bounding ball of yellow fur, Mother Grizzly was upon him. +Him! the monarch of the herd, the master of all these plains, what had +he to fear? He bellowed his deep war-cry, and charged to pin the old one +to the bank; but as he bent to tear her with his shining horns, she +dealt him a stunning blow, and before he could recover she was on his +shoulders, raking the flesh from his ribs with sweep after sweep of her +terrific claws. + +The Bull roared with rage, and plunged and reared, dragging Mother +Grizzly with him; then, as he hurled heavily off the slope, she let go +to save herself, and the Bull rolled down into the river. + +[Illustration] + +This was a lucky thing for him, for the Grizzly did not want to follow +him there; so he waded out on the other side, and bellowing with +fury and pain, slunk off to join the herd to which he belonged. + +[Illustration: desc. Mountain peaks] + + + + +II. + +Old Colonel Pickett, the cattle king, was out riding the range. The +night before, he had seen the new moon descending over the white cone of +Pickett's Peak. + +"I saw the last moon over Frank's Peak," said he, "and the luck was +against me for a month; now I reckon it's my turn." + +Next morning his luck began. A letter came from Washington granting his +request that a post-office be established at his ranch, and contained +the polite inquiry, "What name do you suggest for the new post-office?" + +[Illustration] + +The Colonel took down his new rifle, a 45-90 repeater. "May as well," +he said; "this is my month"; and he rode up the Graybull to see how the +cattle were doing. + +As he passed under the Rimrock Mountain he heard a far-away roaring as +of Bulls fighting, but thought nothing of it till he rounded the point +and saw on the flat below a lot of his cattle pawing the dust and +bellowing as they always do when they smell the blood of one of their +number. He soon saw that the great Bull, 'the boss of the bunch,' was +covered with blood. His back and sides were torn as by a Mountain-lion, +and his head was battered as by another Bull. + +"Grizzly," growled the Colonel, for he knew the mountains. He quickly +noted the general direction of the Bull's back trail, then rode toward a +high bank that offered a view. This was across the gravelly ford of the +Graybull, near the mouth of the Piney. His horse splashed through the +cold water and began jerkily to climb the other bank. + +As soon as the rider's head rose above the bank his hand grabbed the +rifle, for there in full sight were five Grizzly Bears, an old one and +four cubs. "Run for the woods," growled the Mother Grizzly, for she knew +that men carried guns. Not that she feared for herself; but the idea of +such things among her darlings was too horrible to think of. She set off +to guide them to the timber-tangle on the Lower Piney. But an awful, +murderous fusillade began. + +_Bang_! and Mother Grizzly felt a deadly pang. + +_Bang_! and poor little Fuzz rolled over with a scream of pain and lay +still. + +With a roar of hate and fury Mother Grizzly turned to attack the enemy. + +[Illustration] + +_Bang_! and she fell paralyzed and dying with a high shoulder shot. And +the three little cubs, not knowing what to do, ran back to their Mother. + +_Bang! bang_! and Mooney and Frizzle sank in dying agonies beside her, +and Wahb, terrified and stupefied, ran in a circle about them. Then, +hardly knowing why, he turned and dashed into the timber-tangle, and +disappeared as a last _bang_ left him with a stinging pain and a +useless, broken hind paw. + + * * * * * + +That is why the post-office was called Four-Bears. The Colonel seemed +pleased with what he had done; indeed, he told of it himself. + +[Illustration] + +But away up in the woods of Anderson's Peak that night a little lame +Grizzly might have been seen wandering, limping along, leaving a +bloody spot each time he tried to set down his hind paw; whining and +whimpering, "Mother! Mother! Oh, Mother, where are you?" for he was cold +and hungry, and had such a pain in his foot. But there was no Mother +to come to him, and he dared not go back where he had left her, so he +wandered aimlessly about among the pines. + +[Illustration: description: bear paw prints] + +Then he smelled some strange animal smell and heard heavy footsteps; +and not knowing what else to do, he climbed a tree. Presently a band of +great, long-necked, slim-legged animals, taller than his Mother, came by +under the tree. He had seen such once before and had not been afraid of +them then, because he had been with his Mother. But now he kept very +quiet in the tree, and the big creatures stopped picking the grass when +they were near him, and blowing their noses, ran out of sight. + +[Illustration] + +He stayed in the tree till near morning, and then he was so stiff with +cold that he could scarcely get down. But the warm sun came up, and he +felt better as he sought about for berries and ants, for he was very +hungry. Then he went back to the Piney and put his wounded foot in the +ice-cold water. + +He wanted to get back to the mountains again, but still he felt he must +go to where he had left his Mother and brothers. When the afternoon grew +warm, he went limping down the stream through the timber, and down on +the banks of the Graybull till he came to the place where yesterday they +had had the fish-feast; and he eagerly crunched the heads and remains +that he found. But there was an odd and horrid smell on the wind. It +frightened him, and as he went down to where he last had seen his Mother +the smell grew worse. He peeped out cautiously at the place, and saw +there a lot of Coyotes, tearing at something. What it was he did not +know; but he saw no Mother, and the smell that sickened and terrified +him was worse than ever, so he quietly turned back toward the +timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, and nevermore came back to look for +his lost family. He wanted his Mother as much as ever, but something +told him it was no use. + +As cold night came down, he missed her more and more again, and he +whimpered as he limped along, a miserable, lonely, little, motherless +Bear--not lost in the mountains, for he had no home to seek, but so +sick and lonely, and with such a pain in his foot, and in his stomach a +craving for the drink that would nevermore be his. That night he found a +hollow log, and crawling in, he tried to dream that his Mother's great, +furry arms were around him, and he snuffled himself to sleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +Wahb had always been a gloomy little Bear; and the string of misfortunes +that came on him just as his mind was forming made him more than ever +sullen and morose. It seemed as though every one were against him. He +tried to keep out of sight in the upper woods of the Piney, seeking his +food by day and resting at night in the hollow log. But one evening +he found it occupied by a Porcupine as big as himself and as bad as a +cactus-bush. Wahb could do nothing with him. He had to give up the log +and seek another nest. + +[Illustration] + +One day he went down on the Graybull flat to dig some roots that his +Mother had taught him were good. But before he had well begun, a +grayish-looking animal came out of a hole in the ground and rushed at +him, hissing and growling. Wahb did not know it was a Badger, but he saw +it was a fierce animal as big as himself. He was sick, and lame too, +so he limped away and never stopped till he was on a ridge in the next +caņon. Here a Coyote saw him, and came bounding after him, calling at +the same time to another to come and join the fun. Wahb was near a +tree, so he scrambled up to the branches. The Coyotes came bounding and +yelping below, but their noses told them that this was a young Grizzly +they had chased, and they soon decided that a young Grizzly in a tree +means a Mother Grizzly not far away, and they had better let him alone. + +[Illustration] + +After they had sneaked off Wahb came down and returned to the Piney. +There was better feeding on the Graybull, but every one seemed against +him there now that his loving guardian was gone, while on the Piney he +had peace at least sometimes, and there were plenty of trees that he +could climb when an enemy came. + +His broken foot was a long time in healing; indeed, it never got +quite well. The wound healed and the soreness wore off, but it left a +stiffness that gave him a slight limp, and the sole-balls grew together +quite unlike those of the other foot. It particularly annoyed him when +he had to climb a tree or run fast from his enemies; and of them he +found no end, though never once did a friend cross his path. When he +lost his Mother he lost his best and only friend. She would have taught +him much that he had to learn by bitter experience, and would have saved +him from most of the ills that befell him in his cubhood--ills so many +and so dire that but for his native sturdiness he never could have +passed through alive. + +The piņons bore plentifully that year, and the winds began to shower +down the ripe, rich nuts. Life was becoming a little easier for Wahb. He +was gaining in health and strength, and the creatures he daily met now +let him alone. But as he feasted on the piņons one morning after a gale, +a great Black-bear came marching down the hill. 'No one meets a friend +in the woods,' was a byword that Wahb had learned already. He swung up +the nearest tree. At first the Black-bear was scared, for he smelled the +smell of Grizzly; but when he saw it was only a cub, he took courage and +came growling at Wahb. He could climb as well as the little Grizzly, or +better, and high as Wahb went, the Blackbear followed, and when +Wahb got out on the smallest and highest twig that would carry him, the +Blackbear cruelly shook him off, so that he was thrown to the ground, +bruised and shaken and half-stunned. He limped away moaning, and the +only thing that kept the Blackbear from following him up and perhaps +killing him was the fear that the old Grizzly might be about. So Wahb +was driven away down the creek from all the good piņon woods. + +There was not much food on the Graybull now. The berries were nearly all +gone; there were no fish or ants to get, and Wahb, hurt, lonely, +and miserable, wandered on and on, till he was away down toward the +Meteetsee. A Coyote came bounding and barking through the sage-brush +after him. Wahb tried to run, but it was no use; the Coyote was soon up +with him. Then with a sudden rush of desperate courage Wahb turned and +charged his foe. The astonished Coyote gave a scared yowl or two, and +fled with his tail between his legs. Thus Wahb learned that war is the +price of peace. + +But the forage was poor here; there were too many cattle; and Wahb was +making for a far-away piņon woods in the Meteetsee Caņon when he saw a +man, just like the one he had seen on that day of sorrow. At the same +moment he heard a _bang_, and some sage-brush rattled and fell just over +his back. All the dreadful smells and dangers of that day came back to +his memory, and Wahb ran as he never had run before. + +He soon got into a gully and followed it into the caņon. An opening +between two cliffs seemed to offer shelter, but as he ran toward it a +Range-cow came trotting between, shaking her head at him and snorting +threats against his life. + +He leaped aside upon a long log that led up a bank, but at once a savage +Bobcat appeared on the other end and warned him to go back. It was no +time to quarrel. Bitterly Wahb felt that the world was full of enemies. +But he turned and scrambled up a rocky bank into the piņon woods that +border the benches of the Meteetsee. + +The Pine Squirrels seemed to resent his coming, and barked furiously. +They were thinking about their piņon-nuts. They knew that this Bear was +coming to steal their provisions, and they followed him overhead to +scold and abuse him, with such an outcry that an enemy might have +followed him by their noise, which was exactly what they intended. + +There was no one following, but it made Wahb uneasy and nervous. So he +kept on till he reached the timber line, where both food and foes were +scarce, and here on the edge of the Mountain-sheep land at last he got a +chance to rest. + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +Wahb never was sweet-tempered like his baby sister, and the persecutions +by his numerous foes were making him more and more sour. Why could not +they let him alone in his misery? Why was every one against him? If only +he had his Mother back! If he could only have killed that Black-bear +that had driven him from his woods! It did not occur to him that some +day he himself would be big. And that spiteful Bobcat, that took +advantage of him; and the man that had tried to kill him. He did not +forget any of them, and he hated them all. + +Wahb found his new range fairly good, because it was a good nut year. He +learned just what the Squirrels feared he would, for his nose directed +him to the little granaries where they had stored up great quantities +of nuts for winter's use. It was hard on the Squirrels, but it was good +luck for Wahb, for the nuts were delicious food. And when the days +shortened and the nights began to be frosty, he had grown fat and +well-favored. + +He traveled over all parts of the caņon now, living mostly in the higher +woods, but coming down at times to forage almost as far as the river. +One night as he wandered by the deep-water a peculiar smell reached his +nose. It was quite pleasant, so he followed it up to the water's edge. +It seemed to come from a sunken log. As he reached over toward this, +there was a sudden _clank_, and one of his paws was caught in a strong, +steel Beaver-trap. + +Wahb yelled and jerked back with all his strength, and tore up the stake +that held the trap. He tried to shake it off, then ran away through the +bushes trailing it. He tore at it with his teeth; but there it hung, +quiet, cold, strong, and immovable. Every little while he tore at it +with his teeth and claws, or beat it against the ground. He buried it in +the earth, then climbed a low tree, hoping to leave it behind; but still +it clung, biting into his flesh. He made for his own woods, and sat down +to try to puzzle it out. He did not know what it was, but his little +green-brown eyes glared with a mixture of pain, fright, and fury as he +tried to understand his new enemy. + +[Illustration] + +He lay down under the bushes, and, intent on deliberately crushing the +thing, he held it down with one paw while he tightened his teeth on the +other end, and bearing down as it slid away, the trap jaws opened and +the foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to +squeeze both springs at once. He did not understand it, but he did not +forget it, and he got these not very clear ideas: 'There is a dreadful +little enemy that hides by the water and waits for one. It has an odd +smell. It bites one's paws and is too hard for one to bite. But it can +be got off by hard squeezing.' + +For a week or more the little Grizzly had another sore paw, but it was +not very bad if he did not do any climbing. + +[Illustration: ] + +It was now the season when the Elk were bugling on the mountains. Wahb +heard them all night, and once or twice had to climb to get away from +one of the big-antlered Bulls. It was also the season when the trappers +were coming into the mountains, and the Wild Geese were honking +overhead. There were several quite new smells in the woods, too. Wahb +followed one of these up, and it led to a place where were some small +logs piled together; then, mixed with the smell that had drawn him, was +one that he hated--he remembered it from the time when he had lost his +Mother. He sniffed about carefully, for it was not very strong, and +learned that this hateful smell was on a log in front, and the sweet +smell that made his mouth water was under some brush behind. So he went +around, pulled away the brush till he got the prize, a piece of meat, +and as he grabbed it, the log in front went down with a heavy _chock_. +It made Wahb jump; but he got away all right with the meat and some new +ideas, and with one old idea made stronger, and that was, 'When that +hateful smell is around it always means trouble.' + +As the weather grew colder, Wahb became very sleepy; he slept all day +when it was frosty. He had not any fixed place to sleep in; he knew a +number of dry ledges for sunny weather, and one or two sheltered nooks +for stormy days. He had a very comfortable nest under a root, and one +day, as it began to blow and snow, he crawled into this and curled up +to sleep. The storm howled without. The snow fell deeper and deeper. It +draped the pine-trees till they bowed, then shook themselves clear to +be draped anew. It drifted over the mountains and poured down the +funnel-like ravines, blowing off the peaks and ridges, and filling up +the hollows level with their rims. It piled up over Wahb's den, shutting +out the cold of the winter, shutting out itself: and Wahb slept and +slept. + + + + +V. + +He slept all winter without waking, for such is the way of Bears, and +yet when spring came and aroused him, he knew that he had been asleep a +long time. He was not much changed--he had grown in height, and yet was +but little thinner. He was now very hungry, and forcing his way through +the deep drift that still lay over his den, he set out to look for food. +There were no piņon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants; but Wahb's nose +led him away up the caņon to the body of a winter-killed Elk, where he +had a fine feast, and then buried the rest for future use. + +Day after day he came back till he had finished it. Food was very scarce +for a couple of months, and after the Elk was eaten, Wahb lost all the +fat he had when he awoke. One day he climbed over the Divide into the +Warhouse Valley. It was warm and sunny there, vegetation was well +advanced, and he found good forage. He wandered down toward the thick +timber, and soon smelled the smell of another Grizzly. This grew +stronger and led him to a single tree by a Bear-trail. Wahb reared up +on his hind feet to smell this tree. It was strong of Bear, and was +plastered with mud and Grizzly hair far higher, than he could reach; +and Wahb knew that it must have been a very large Bear that had rubbed +himself there. He felt uneasy. He used to long to meet one of his own +kind, yet now that there was a chance of it he was filled with dread. + +No one had shown him anything but hatred in his lonely, unprotected +life, and he could not tell what this older Bear might do. As he stood +in doubt, he caught sight of the old Grizzly himself slouching along a +hillside, stopping from time to time to dig up the quamash-roots and +wild turnips. + +He was a monster. Wahb instinctively distrusted him, and sneaked +away through the woods and up a rocky bluff where he could watch. + +Then the big fellow came on Wahb's track and rumbled a deep growl of +anger; he followed the trail to the tree, and rearing up, he tore the +bark with his claws, far above where Wahb had reached. Then he strode +rapidly along Wahb's trail. But the cub had seen enough. He fled back +over the Divide into the Meteetsee Caņon, and realized in his dim, +bearish way that he was at peace there because the Bear-forage was so +poor. + +As the summer came on, his coat was shed. His skin got very itchy, and +he found pleasure in rolling in the mud and scraping his back against +some convenient tree. He never climbed now: his claws were too long, and +his arms, though growing big and strong, were losing that suppleness of +wrist that makes cub Grizzlies and all Blackbears great climbers. He now +dropped naturally into the Bear habit of seeing how high he could reach +with his nose on the rubbing-post, whenever he was near one. + +He may not have noticed it, yet each time he came to a post, after a +week or two away, he could reach higher, for Wahb was growing fast and +coming into his strength. + +Sometimes he was at one end of the country that he felt was his, and +sometimes at another, but he had frequent use for the rubbing-tree, +and thus it was that his range was mapped out by posts with his own mark +on them. + +One day late in summer he sighted a stranger on his land, a glossy +Blackbear, and he felt furious against the interloper. As the Blackbear +came nearer Wahb noticed the tan-red face, the white spot on his breast, +and then the bit out of his ear, and last of all the wind brought a +whiff. There could be no further doubt; it was the very smell: this was +the black coward that had chased him down the Piney long ago. But how he +had shrunken! Before, he had looked like a giant; now Wahb felt he could +crush him with one paw. Revenge is sweet, Wahb felt, though he did not +exactly say it, and he went for that red-nosed Bear. But the Black one +went up a small tree like a Squirrel. Wahb tried to follow as the other +once followed him, but somehow he could not. He did not seem to know +how to take hold now, and after a while he gave it up and went away, +although the Blackbear brought him back more than once by coughing +in derision. Later on that day, when the Grizzly passed again, the +red-nosed one had gone. + +[Illustration] + +As the summer waned, the upper forage-grounds began to give out, and +Wahb ventured down to the Lower Meteetsee one night to explore. There +was a pleasant odor on the breeze, and following it up, Wahb came to the +carcass of a Steer. A good distance away from it were some tiny Coyotes, +mere dwarfs compared with those he remembered. Right by the carcass was +another that jumped about in the moonlight in a foolish way. For some +strange reason it seemed unable to get away. Wahb's old hatred broke +out. He rushed up. In a flash the Coyote bit him several times before, +with one blow of that great paw, Wahb smashed him into a limp, furry +rag; then broke in all his ribs with a crunch or two of his jaws. Oh, +but it was good to feel the hot, bloody juices oozing between his teeth! + +The Coyote was caught in a trap. Wahb hated the smell of the iron, so he +went to the other side of the carcass, where it was not so strong, +and had eaten but little before _clank_, and his foot was caught in a +Wolf-trap that he had not seen. + +But he remembered that he had once before been caught and had escaped by +squeezing the trap. He set a hind foot on each spring and pressed till +the trap opened and released his paw. About the carcass was the smell +that he knew stood for man, so he left it and wandered down-stream; but +more and more often he got whiffs of that horrible odor, so he turned +and went back to his quiet piņon benches. Wahb's third summer had +brought him the stature of a large-sized Bear, though not nearly the +bulk and power that in time were his. He was very light-colored now, and +this was why Spahwat, a Shoshone Indian who more than once hunted him, +called him the Whitebear, or Wahb. + +Spahwat was a good hunter, and as soon as he saw the rubbing-tree on the +Upper Meteetsee he knew that he was on the range of a big Grizzly. He +bushwhacked the whole valley, and spent many days before he found a +chance to shoot; then Wahb got a stinging flesh-wound in the shoulder. +He growled horribly, but it had seemed to take the fight out of him; he +scrambled up the valley and over the lower hills till he reached a quiet +haunt, where he lay down. + +[Illustration] + +His knowledge of healing was wholly instinctive. He licked the wound and +all around it, and sought to be quiet. The licking removed the dirt, and +by massage reduced the inflammation, and it plastered the hair down as a +sort of dressing over the wound to keep out the air, dirt, and microbes. +There could be no better treatment. + +But the Indian was on his trail. Before long the smell warned Wahb that +a foe was coming, so he quietly climbed farther up the mountain to +another resting-place. But again he sensed the Indian's approach, and +made off. Several times this happened, and at length there was a second +shot and another galling wound. Wahb was furious now. There was nothing +that really frightened him but that horrible odor of man, iron, and +guns, that he remembered from the day when he lost his Mother; but now +all fear of these left him. He heaved painfully up the mountain again, +and along under a six-foot ledge, then up and back to the top of the +bank, where he lay flat. On came the Indian, armed with knife and gun; +deftly, swiftly keeping on the trail; floating joyfully over each bloody +print that meant such anguish to the hunted Bear. Straight up the slide +of broken rock he came, where Wahb, ferocious with pain, was waiting +on the ledge. On sneaked the dogged hunter; his eye still scanned the +bloody slots or swept the woods ahead, but never was raised to glance +above the ledge. And Wahb, as he saw this shape of Death relentless on +his track, and smelled the hated smell, poised his bulk at heavy cost +upon his quivering, mangled arm, there held until the proper instant +came, then to his sound arm's matchless native force he added all the +weight of desperate hate as down he struck one fearful, crushing blow. +The Indian sank without a cry, and then dropped out of sight. Wahb rose, +and sought again a quiet nook where he might nurse his wounds. Thus he +learned that one must fight for peace; for he never saw that Indian +again, and he had time to rest and recover. + +[Illustration] + + + + +PART II + +I. + +The years went on as before, except that each winter Wahb slept less +soundly, and each spring he came out earlier and was a bigger Grizzly, +with fewer enemies that dared to face him. When his sixth year came he +was a very big, strong, sullen Bear, with neither friendship nor love in +his life since that evil day on the Lower Piney. + +No one ever heard of Wahb's mate. No one believes that he ever had one. +The love-season of Bears came and went year after year, but left him +alone in his prime as he had been in his youth. It is not good for +a Bear to be alone; it is bad for him in every way. His habitual +moroseness grew with his strength, and any one chancing to meet him now +would have called him a dangerous Grizzly. + +He had lived in the Meteetsee Valley since first he betook himself +there, and his character had been shaped by many little adventures with +traps and his wild rivals of the mountains. But there was none of the +latter that he now feared, and he knew enough to avoid the first, for +that penetrating odor of man and iron was a never-failing warning, +especially after an experience which befell him in his sixth year. + +His ever-reliable nose told him that there was a dead Elk down among the +timber. + +[Illustration] + +He went up the wind, and there, sure enough, was the great delicious +carcass, already torn open at the very best place. True, there was that +terrible man-and-iron taint, but it was so slight and the feast so +tempting that after circling around and inspecting the carcass from his +eight feet of stature, as he stood erect, he went cautiously forward, +and at once was caught by his left paw in an enormous Bear-trap. +He roared with pain and slashed about in a fury. But this was no +Beaver-trap; it was a big forty-pound Bear-catcher, and he was surely +caught. + +Wahb fairly foamed with rage, and madly grit his teeth upon the trap. +Then he remembered his former experiences. He placed the trap between +his hind legs, with a hind paw on each spring, and pressed down with all +his weight. But it was not enough. He dragged off the trap and its clog, +and went clanking up the mountain. Again and again he tried to free his +foot, but in vain, till he came where a great trunk crossed the trail a +few feet from the ground. By chance, or happy thought, he reared again +under this and made a new attempt. With a hind foot on each spring and +his mighty shoulders underneath the tree, he bore down with his titanic +strength: the great steel springs gave way, the jaws relaxed, and he +tore out his foot. So Wahb was free again, though he left behind a great +toe which had been nearly severed by the first snap of the steel. + +Again Wahb had a painful wound to nurse, and as he was a left-handed +Bear,--that is, when he wished to turn a rock over he stood on the right +paw and turned with the left,--one result of this disablement was to rob +him for a time of all those dainty foods that are found under rocks or +logs. The wound healed at last, but he never forgot that experience, +and thenceforth the pungent smell of man and iron, even without the gun +smell, never failed to enrage him. + +Many experiences had taught him that it is better to run if he only +smelled the hunter or heard him far away, but to fight desperately if +the man was close at hand. And the cow-boys soon came to know that the +Upper Meteetsee was the range of a Bear that was better let alone. + + + + +II. + +One day after a long absence Wahb came into the lower part of his +range, and saw to his surprise one of the wooden dens that men make for +themselves. As he came around to get the wind, he sensed the taint that +never failed to infuriate him now, and a moment later he heard a loud +_bang_ and felt a stinging shock in his left hind leg, the old stiff +leg. He wheeled about, in time to see a man running toward the new-made +shanty. Had the shot been in his shoulder Wahb would have been helpless, +but it was not. + +Mighty arms that could toss pine logs like broomsticks, paws that with +one tap could crush the biggest Bull upon the range, claws that could +tear huge slabs of rock from the mountain-side--what was even the deadly +rifle to them! + +When the man's partner came home that night he found him on the reddened +shanty floor. The bloody trail from outside and a shaky, scribbled note +on the back of a paper novel told the tale. + + +It was Wahb done it. I seen him by the spring and wounded him. I tried +to git on the shanty, but he ketched me. My God, how I suffer! JACK. It +was all fair. The man had invaded the Bear's country, had tried to take +the Bear's life, and had lost his own. But Jack's partner swore he would +kill that Bear. + +He took up the trail and followed it up the caņon, and there bushwhacked +and hunted day after day. He put out baits and traps, and at length one +day he heard a _crash, clatter, thump_, and a huge rock bounded down a +bank into a wood, scaring out a couple of deer that floated away like +thistle-down. Miller thought at first that it was a land-slide; but he +soon knew that it was Wahb that had rolled the boulder over merely for +the sake of two or three ants beneath it. + +The wind had not betrayed him, so on peering through the bush Miller +saw the great Bear as he fed, favoring his left hind leg and growling +sullenly to himself at a fresh twinge of pain. Miller steadied himself, +and thought, "Here goes a finisher or a dead miss." He gave a sharp +whistle, the Bear stopped every move, and, as he stood with ears acock, +the man fired at his head. + +But at that moment the great shaggy head moved, only an infuriating +scratch was given, the smoke betrayed the man's place, and the Grizzly +made savage, three-legged haste to catch his foe. + +Miller dropped his gun and swung lightly into a tree, the only large one +near. Wahb raged in vain against the trunk. He tore off the bark with +his teeth and claws; but Miller was safe beyond his reach. For fully +four hours the Grizzly watched, then gave it up, and slowly went off +into the bushes till lost to view. Miller watched him from the tree, and +afterward waited nearly an hour to be sure that the Bear was gone. He +then slipped to the ground, got his gun, and set out for camp. But Wahb +was cunning; he had only _seemed_ to go away, and then had sneaked back +quietly to watch. As soon as the man was away from the tree, too far to +return, Wahb dashed after him. In spite of his wounds the Bear could +move the faster. Within a quarter of a mile--well, Wahb did just what +the man had sworn to do to him. + +Long afterward his friends found the gun and enough to tell the tale. + +The claim-shanty on the Meteetsee fell to pieces. It never again was +used, for no man cared to enter a country that had but few allurements +to offset its evident curse of ill luck, and where such a terrible +Grizzly was always on the war-path. + + + + +III. + +Then they found good gold on the Upper Meteetsee. Miners came in pairs +and wandered through the peaks, rooting up the ground and spoiling the +little streams--grizzly old men mostly, that had lived their lives in +the mountain and were themselves slowly turning into Grizzly Bears; +digging and grubbing everywhere, not for good, wholesome roots, but for +that shiny yellow sand that they could not eat; living the lives of +Grizzlies, asking nothing but to be let alone to dig. + +[Illustration] + +They seemed to understand Grizzly Wahb. The first time they met, Wahb +reared up on his hind legs, and the wicked green lightnings began to +twinkle in his small eyes. The elder man said to his mate: + +"Let him alone, and he won't bother you." + +"Ain't he an awful size, though?" replied the other, nervously. + +Wahb was about to charge, but something held him back--a something that +had no reference to his senses, that was felt only when they were still; +a something that in Bear and Man is wiser than his wisdom, and that +points the way at every doubtful fork in the dim and winding trail. + +Of course Wahb did not understand what the men said, but he did feel +that there was something different here. The smell of man and iron was +there, but not of that maddening kind, and he missed the pungent odor +that even yet brought back the dark days of his cubhood. + +The men did not move, so Wahb rumbled a subterranean growl, dropped down +on his four feet, and went on. + +Late the same year Wahb ran across the red-nosed Blackbear. How that +Bear did keep on shrinking! Wahb could have hurled him across the +Graybull with one tap now. + +But the Blackbear did not mean to let him try. He hustled his fat, podgy +body up a tree at a rate that made him puff. Wahb reached up nine feet +from the ground, and with one rake of his huge claws tore off the bark +clear to the shining white wood and down nearly to the ground; and the +Blackbear shivered and whimpered with terror as the scraping of those +awful claws ran up the trunk and up his spine in a way that was horribly +suggestive. + +What was it that the sight of that Blackbear stirred in Wahb? Was it +memories of the Upper Piney, long forgotten; thoughts of a woodland rich +in food? + +Wahb left him trembling up there as high as he could get, and without +any very clear purpose swung along the upper benches of the Meteetsee +down to the Graybull, around the foot of the Rimrock Mountain; on, till +hours later he found himself in the timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, +and among the berries and ants of the old times. + +He had forgotten what a fine land the Piney was: plenty of food, no +miners to spoil the streams, no hunters to keep an eye on, and no +mosquitos or flies, but plenty of open, sunny glades and sheltering +woods, backed up by high, straight cliffs to turn the colder winds. +There were, moreover, no resident Grizzlies, no signs even of passing +travelers, and the Blackbears that were in possession did not count. + +Wahb was well pleased. He rolled his vast bulk in an old Buffalo-wallow, +and rearing up against a tree where the Piney Caņon quits the Graybull +Caņon, he left on it his mark fully eight feet from the ground. + +In the days that followed he wandered farther and farther up among the +rugged spurs of the Shoshones, and took possession as he went. He found +the signboards of several Blackbears, and if they were small dead trees +he sent them crashing to earth with a drive of his giant paw. If they +were green, he put his own mark over the other mark, and made it clearer +by slashing the bark with the great pickaxes that grew on his toes. + +The Upper Piney had so long been a Blackbear range that the Squirrels +had ceased storing their harvest in hollow trees, and were now using the +spaces under flat rocks, where the Blackbears could not get at them; so +Wahb found this a land of plenty: every fourth or fifth rock in the pine +woods was the roof of a Squirrel or Chipmunk granary, and when he turned +it over, if the little owner were there, Wahb did not scruple to flatten +him with his paw and devour him as an agreeable relish to his own +provisions. And wherever Wahb went he put up his sign-board: + +Trespassers beware! + +It was written on the trees as high up as he could reach, and every one +that came by understood that the scent of it and the hair in it were +those of the great Grizzly Wahb. + +If his Mother had lived to train him, Wahb would have known that a good +range in spring may be a bad one in summer. Wahb found out by years of +experience that a total change with the seasons is best. In the early +spring the Cattle and Elk ranges, with their winter-killed carcasses, +offer a bountiful feast. In early summer the best forage is on the warm +hill-sides where the quamash and the Indian turnip grow. In late +summer the berry-bushes along the river-flat are laden with fruit, and +in autumn the pine woods gave good chances to fatten for the winter. So +he added to his range each year. He not only cleared out the Blackbears +from the Piney and the Meteetsee, but he went over the Divide and killed +that old fellow that had once chased him out of the Warhouse Valley. +And, more than that, he held what he had won, for he broke up a camp +of tenderfeet that were looking for a ranch location on the Middle +Meteetsee; he stampeded their horses, and made general smash of the +camp. And so all the animals, including man, came to know that the +whole range from Frank's Peak to the Shoshone spurs was the proper +domain of a king well able to defend it, and the name of that king was +Meteetsee Wahb. + +Any creature whose strength puts him beyond danger of open attack is apt +to lose in cunning. Yet Wahb never forgot his early experience with the +traps. He made it a rule never to go near that smell of man and iron, +and that was the reason that he never again was caught. + +So he led his lonely life and slouched around on the mountains, throwing +boulders about like pebbles, and huge trunks like matchwood, as he +sought for his daily food. And every beast of hill and plain soon came +to know and fly in fear of Wahb, the one time hunted, persecuted Cub. +And more than one Blackbear paid with his life for the ill-deed of that +other, long ago. And many a cranky Bobcat flying before him took to a +tree, and if that tree were dead and dry, Wahb heaved it down, and tree +and Cat alike were dashed to bits. Even the proud-necked Stallion, +leader of the mustang band, thought well for once to yield the road. The +great, grey Timberwolves, and the Mountain Lions too, left their new +kill and sneaked in sullen fear aside when Wahb appeared. And if, as he +hulked across the sage-covered river-flat sending the scared Antelope +skimming like birds before him, he was faced perchance, by some burly +Range-bull, too young to be wise and too big to be afraid, Wahb smashed +his skull with one blow of that giant paw, and served him as the +Range-cow would have served himself long years ago. + +The All-mother never fails to offer to her own, twin cups, one gall, and +one of balm. Little or much they may drink, but equally of each. The +mountain that is easy to descend must soon be climbed again. The +grinding hardship of Wahb's early days, had built his mighty frame. All +usual pleasures of a grizzly's life had been denied him but _power_ +bestowed in more than double share. So he lived on year after year, +unsoftened by mate or companion, sullen, fearing nothing, ready to +fight, but asking only to be let alone--quite alone. He had but one +keen pleasure in his sombre life--the lasting glory in his matchless +strength--the small but never failing thrill of joy as the foe fell +crushed and limp, or the riven boulders grit and heaved when he turned +on them the measure of his wondrous force. + + + + +IV. + +Everything has a smell of its own for those that have noses to smell. +Wahb had been learning smells all his life, and knew the meaning of most +of those in the mountains. It was as though each and every thing had a +voice of its own for him; and yet it was far better than a voice, for +every one knows that a good nose is better than eyes and ears together. +And each of these myriads of voices kept on crying, "Here and such am +I." + +The juniper-berries, the rosehips, the strawberries, each had a soft, +sweet little voice, calling, "Here we are--Berries, Berries." + +The great pine woods had a loud, far-reaching voice, "Here are we, the +Pine-trees," but when he got right up to them Wahb could hear the low, +sweet call of the piņon-nuts, "Here are we, the Piņon-nuts." + +And the quamash beds in May sang a perfect chorus when the wind was +right: "Quamash beds, Quamash beds." + +And when he got among them he made out each single voice. + +Each root had its own little piece to say to his nose: "Here am I, a +big Quamash, rich and ripe," or a tiny, sharp voice, "Here am I, a +good-for-nothing, stringy little root." + +And the broad, rich russulas in the autumn called aloud, "I am a fat, +wholesome Mushroom," and the deadly amanita cried, "I am an Amanita. +Let me alone, or you'll be a sick Bear." And the fairy harebell of the +caņon-banks sang a song too, as fine as its threadlike stem, and as soft +as its dainty blue; but the warden of the smells had learned to report +it not, for this, and a million other such, were of no interest to Wahb. + +So every living thing that moved, and every flower that grew, and every +rock and stone and shape on earth told out its tale and sang its little +story to his nose. Day or night, fog or bright, that great, moist nose +told him most of the things he needed to know, or passed unnoticed those +of no concern, and he depended on it more and more. If his eyes and ears +together reported so and so, he would not even then believe it until his +nose said, "Yes; that is right." + +But this is something that man cannot understand, for he has sold the +birthright of his nose for the privilege of living in towns. + +While hundreds of smells were agreeable to Wahb, thousands were +indifferent to him, a good many were unpleasant, and some actually put +him in a rage. + +He had often noticed that if a west wind were blowing when he was at the +head of the Piney Caņon there was an odd, new scent. Some days he did +not mind, it, and some days it disgusted him; but he never followed it +up. On other days a north wind from the high Divide brought a most awful +smell, something unlike any other, a smell that he wanted only to get +away from. + + +Wahb was getting well past his youth now, and he began to have pains in +the hind leg that had been wounded so often. After a cold night or a +long time of wet weather he could scarcely use that leg, and one day, +while thus crippled, the west wind came down the caņon with an odd +message to his nose. Wahb could not clearly read the message, but it +seemed to say, 'Come,' and something within him said, 'Go.' The smell +of food will draw a hungry creature and disgust a gorged one. We do not +know why, and all that any one can learn is that the desire springs from +a need of the body. So Wahb felt drawn by what had long disgusted him, +and he slouched up the mountain path, grumbling to himself and slapping +savagely back at branches that chanced to switch his face. + +The odd odor grew very strong; it led him where he had never been +before--up a bank of whitish sand to a bench of the same color, where +there was unhealthy-looking water running down, and a kind of fog coming +out of a hole. Wahb threw up his nose suspiciously--such a peculiar +smell! He climbed the bench. + +A snake wriggled across the sand in front. Wahb crushed it with a blow +that made the near trees shiver and sent a balanced boulder toppling +down, and he growled a growl that rumbled up the valley like distant +thunder. Then he came to the foggy hole. It was full of water that moved +gently and steamed. Wahb put in his foot, and found it was quite warm +and that it felt pleasantly on his skin. He put in both feet, and little +by little went in farther, causing the pool to overflow on all +sides, till he was lying at full length in the warm, almost hot, +sulphur-spring, and sweltering in the greenish water, while the wind +drifted the steam about overhead. + +There are plenty of these sulphur-springs in the Rockies, but this +chanced to be the only one on Wahb's range. He lay in it for over an +hour; then, feeling that he had had enough, he heaved his huge bulk +up on the bank, and realized that he was feeling remarkably well and +supple. The stiffness of his hind leg was gone. + +He shook the water from his shaggy coat. A broad ledge in full sun-heat +invited him to stretch himself out and dry. But first he reared against +the nearest tree and left a mark that none could mistake. True, there +were plenty of signs of other animals using the sulphur-bath for their +ills; but what of it? Thenceforth that tree bore this inscription, in +a language of mud, hair, and smell, that every mountain creature could +read: + + +My bath. Keep away! + +(Signed) WAHB. + +Wahb lay on his belly till his back was dry, then turned on his broad +back and squirmed about in a ponderous way till the broiling sun had +wholly dried him. He realized that he was really feeling very well now. +He did not say to himself, "I am troubled with that unpleasant disease +called rheumatism, and sulphur-bath treatment is the thing to cure it." +But what he did know was, "I have dreadful pains; I feel better when +I am in this stinking pool." So thenceforth he came back whenever the +pains began again, and each time he was cured. + + + + +PART III. + + +THE WANING + +[Illustration] + +I. + +Years went by. Wahb grew no bigger,--there was no need for that,--but he +got whiter, crosser, and more dangerous. He really had an enormous range +now. Each spring, after the winter storms had removed his notice-boards, +he went around and renewed them. It was natural to do so, for, first of +all, the scarcity of food compelled him to travel all over the range. +There were lots of clay wallows at that season, and the itching of his +skin, as the winter coat began to shed, made the dressing of cool, wet +clay very pleasant, and the exquisite pain of a good scratching was one +of the finest pleasures he knew. So, whatever his motive, the result was +the same: the signs were renewed each spring. + +At length the Palette Ranch outfit appeared on the Lower Piney, and the +men got acquainted with the 'ugly old fellow.' The Cowpunchers, when +they saw him, decided they 'had n't lost any Bears and they had better +keep out of his way and let him mind his business.' + +They did not often see him, although his tracks and sign-boards were +everywhere. But the owner of this outfit, a born hunter, took a keen +interest in Wahb. He learned something of the old Bear's history from +Colonel Pickett, and found out for himself more than the colonel ever +knew. + +He learned that Wahb ranged as far south as the Upper Wiggins Fork and +north to the Stinking Water, and from the Meteetsee to the Shoshones. + +He found that Wahb knew more about Bear-traps than most trappers do; +that he either passed them by or tore open the other end of the bait-pen +and dragged out the bait without going near the trap, and by accident or +design Wahb sometimes sprang the trap with one of the logs that formed +the pen. This ranch-owner found also that Wahb disappeared from his +range each year during the heat of the summer, as completely as he did +each winter during his sleep. + + + + +II. + +Many years ago a wise government set aside the head waters of the +Yellowstone to be a sanctuary of wild life forever. In the limits of +this great Wonderland the ideal of the Royal Singer was to be realized, +and none were to harm or make afraid. No violence was to be offered to +any bird or beast, no ax was to be carried into its primitive forests, +and the streams were to flow on forever unpolluted by mill or mine. All +things were to bear witness that such as this was the West before the +white man came. + +The wild animals quickly found out all this. They soon learned the +boundaries of this unfenced Park, and, as every one knows, they show a +different nature within its sacred limits. They no longer shun the +face of man, they neither fear nor attack him, and they are even more +tolerant of one another in this land of refuge. + +Peace and plenty are the sum of earthly good; so, finding them here, +the wild creatures crowd into the Park from the surrounding country in +numbers not elsewhere to be seen. + +The Bears are especially numerous about the Fountain Hotel. In the +woods, a quarter of a mile away, is a smooth open place where the +steward of the hotel has all the broken and waste food put out daily for +the Bears, and the man whose work it is has become the Steward of the +Bears' Banquet. Each day it is spread, and each year there are more +Bears to partake of it. It is a common thing now to see a dozen Bears +feasting there at one time. They are of all kinds--Black, Brown, +Cinnamon, Grizzly, Silvertip, Roach-backs, big and small, families and +rangers, from all parts of the vast surrounding country. All seem to +realize that in the Park no violence is allowed, and the most ferocious +of them have here put on a new behavior. Although scores of Bears roam +about this choice resort, and sometimes quarrel among themselves, not +one of them has ever yet harmed a man. + +Year after year they have come and gone. The passing travellers see +them. The men of the hotel know many of them well. They know that they +show up each summer during the short season when the hotel is in use, +and that they disappear again, no man knowing whence they come or +whither they go. + +One day the owner of the Palette Ranch came through the Park. During his +stay at the Fountain Hotel, he went to the Bear banquet-hall at high +meal-tide. There were several Blackbears feasting, but they made way for +a huge Silvertip Grizzly that came about sundown. + +"That," said the man who was acting as guide, "is the biggest Grizzly in +the Park; but he is a peaceable sort, or Lud knows what'd happen." + +"That!" said the ranchman, in astonishment, as the Grizzly came hulking +nearer, and loomed up like a load of hay among the piney pillars of the +Banquet Hall. "That! It that is not Meteetsee Wahb, I never saw a Bear +in my life! Why, that is the worst Grizzly that ever rolled a log in the +Big Horn Basin." "It ain't possible," said the other, "for he's here +every summer, July and August, an' I reckon he don't live so far away." + +"Well, that settles it," said the ranchman; "July and August is just the +time we miss him on the range; and you can see for yourself that he is +a little lame behind and has lost a claw of his left front foot. Now I +know where he puts in his summers; but I did not suppose that the old +reprobate would know enough to behave himself away from home." + +The big Grizzly became very well known during the successive hotel +seasons. Once only did he really behave ill, and that was the first +season he appeared, before he fully knew the ways of the Park. + +He wandered over to the hotel, one day, and in at the front door. In +the hall he reared up his eight feet of stature as the guests fled in +terror; then he went into the clerk's office. The man said: "All right; +if you need this office more than I do, you can have it," and leaping +over the counter, locked himself in the telegraph-office, to wire the +superintendent of the Park: "Old Grizzly in the office now, seems to +want to run hotel; may we shoot?" + +The reply came: "No shooting allowed in Park; use the hose." Which they +did, and, wholly taken by surprise, the Bear leaped over the counter +too, and ambled out the back way, with a heavy _thud-thudding_ of his +feet, and a rattling of his claws on the floor. He passed through the +kitchen as he went, and, picking up a quarter of beef, took it along. + +This was the only time he was known to do ill, though on one occasion +he was led into a breach of the peace by another Bear. This was a large +she-Blackbear and a noted mischief-maker. She had a wretched, sickly cub +that she was very proud of--so proud that she went out of her way to +seek trouble on his behalf. And he, like all spoiled children, was the +cause of much bad feeling. She was so big and fierce that she could +bully all the other Blackbears, but when she tried to drive off old Wahb +she received a pat from his paw that sent her tumbling like a football. +He followed her up, and would have killed her, for she had broken the +peace of the Park, but she escaped by climbing a tree, from the top of +which her miserable little cub was apprehensively squealing at the pitch +of his voice. So the affair was ended; in future the Blackbear kept +out of Wahb's way, and he won the reputation of being a peaceable, +well-behaved Bear. Most persons believed that he came from some remote +mountains where were neither guns nor traps to make him sullen and +revengeful. + + + + +III. + +Every one knows that a Bitter-root Grizzly is a bad Bear. The +Bitter-root Range is the roughest part of the mountains. The ground is +everywhere cut up with deep ravines and overgrown with dense and tangled +underbrush. + +It is an impossible country for horses, and difficult for gunners, and +there is any amount of good Bear-pasture. So there are plenty of Bears +and plenty of trappers. + +The Roachbacks, as the Bitter-root Grizzlies are called, are a cunning +and desperate race. An old Roachback knows more about traps than half +a dozen ordinary trappers; he knows more about plants and roots than a +whole college of botanists. He can tell to a certainty just when and +where to find each kind of grub and worm, and he knows by a whiff +whether the hunter on his trail a mile away is working with guns, +poison, dogs, traps, or all of them together. And he has one general +rule, which is an endless puzzle to the hunter: 'Whatever you decide +to do, do it quickly and follow it right up.' So when a trapper and a +Roachback meet, the Bear at once makes up his mind to run away as hard +as he can, or to rush at the man and fight to a finish. + +The Grizzlies of the Bad Lands did not do this: they used to stand on +their dignity and growl like a thunder-storm, and so gave the hunters +a chance to play their deadly lightning; and lightning is worse than +thunder any day. Men can get used to growls that rumble along the ground +and up one's legs to the little house where one's courage lives; but +Bears cannot get used to 45-90 soft-nosed bullets, and that is why the +Grizzlies of the Bad Lands were all killed off. + +So the hunters have learned that they never know what a Roachback will +do; but they do know that he is going to be quick about it. + +Altogether these Bitter-root Grizzlies have solved very well the problem +of life, in spite of white men, and are therefore increasing in their +own wild mountains. + +Of course a range will hold only so many Bears, and the increase is +crowded out; so that when that slim young Bald-faced Roachback found he +could not hold the range he wanted, he went out perforce to seek his +fortune in the world. + +He was not a big Bear, or he would not have been crowded out; but he had +been trained in a good school, so that he was cunning enough to get on +very well elsewhere. How he wandered down to the Salmon River Mountains +and did not like them; how he traveled till he got among the barb-wire +fences of the Snake Plains and of course could not stay there; how a +mere chance turned him from going eastward to the Park, where he might +have rested; how he made for the Snake River Mountains and found more +hunters than berries; how he crossed into the Tetons and looked down +with disgust on the teeming man colony of Jackson's Hole, does not +belong to this history of Wahb. But when Baldy Roachback crossed the +Gros Ventre Range and over the Wind River Divide to the head of the +Graybull, he does come into the story, just as he did into the country +and the life of the Meteetsee Grizzly. + +The Roachback had not found a man-sign since he left Jackson's Hole, +and here he was in a land of plenty of food. He feasted on all the +delicacies of the season, and enjoyed the easy, brushless country till +he came on one of Wahb's sign-posts. + +"Trespassers beware!" it said in the plainest manner. The Roachback +reared up against it. + +"Thunder! what a Bear!" The nose-mark was a head and neck above Baldy's +highest reach. Now, a simple Bear would have gone quietly away after +this discovery; but Baldy felt that the mountains owed him a living, and +here was a good one if he could keep out of the way of the big fellow. +He nosed about the place, kept a sharp lookout for the present owner, +and went on feeding wherever he ran across a good thing. + +A step or two from this ominous tree was an old pine stump. In the +Bitter-roots there are often mice-nests under such stumps, and Baldy +jerked it over to see. There was nothing. The stump rolled over against +the sign-post. Baldy had not yet made up his mind about it; but a new +notion came into his cunning brain. He turned his head on this side, +then on that. He looked at the stump, then at the sign, with his little +pig-like eyes. Then he deliberately stood up on the pine root, with his +back to the tree, and put his mark away up, a head at least above that +of Wahb. He rubbed his back long and hard, and he sought some mud to +smear his head and shoulders, then came back and made the mark so big, +so strong, and so high, and emphasized it with such claw-gashes in the +bark, that it could be read only in one way--a challenge to the present +claimant from some monstrous invader, who was ready, nay anxious, to +fight to a finish for this desirable range. + +Maybe it was accident and maybe design, but when the Roach-back +jumped from the root it rolled to one side. Baldy went on down the +caņon, keeping the keenest lookout for his enemy. + +It was not long before Wahb found the trail of the interloper, and all +the ferocity of his outside-the-Park nature was aroused. + +He followed the trail for miles on more than one occasion. But the small +Bear was quick-footed as well as quick-witted, and never showed himself. +He made a point, however, of calling at each sign-post, and if there was +any means of cheating, so that his mark might be put higher, he did it +with a vim, and left a big, showy record. But if there was no chance for +any but a fair register, he would not go near the tree, but looked for a +fresh tree near by with some log or side-ledge to reach from. + +Thus Wahb soon found the interloper's marks towering far above his +own--a monstrous Bear evidently, that even he could not be sure of +mastering. But Wahb was no coward. He was ready to fight to a finish any +one that might come; and he hunted the range for that invader. Day after +day Wahb sought for him and held himself ready to fight. He found his +trail daily, and more and more often he found that towering record far +above his own. He often smelled him on the wind; but he never saw him, +for the old Grizzly's eyes had grown very dim of late years; things but +a little way off were blurs to him. The continual menace could not but +fill Wahb with uneasiness, for he was not young now, and his teeth and +claws were worn and blunted. He was more than ever troubled with pains +in his old wounds, and though he could have risen on the spur of the +moment to fight any number of Grizzlies of any size, still the continual +apprehension, the knowledge that he must hold himself ready at any +moment to fight this young monster, weighed on his spirits and began to +tell on his general health. + + + + +IV. + +The Roachback's life was one of continual vigilance, always ready to +run, doubling and shifting to avoid the encounter that must mean instant +death to him. Many a time from some hiding-place he watched the great +Bear, and trembled lest the wind should betray him. Several times his +very impudence saved him, and more than once he was nearly cornered in +a box-caņon. Once he escaped only by climbing up a long crack in a +cliff, which Wahb's huge frame could not have entered. But still, in a +mad persistence, he kept on marking the trees farther into the range. + +At last he scented and followed up the sulphur-bath. He did not +understand it at all. It had no appeal to him, but hereabouts were the +tracks of the owner. In a spirit of mischief the Roachback scratched +dirt into the spring, and then seeing the rubbing-tree, he stood +sidewise on the rocky ledge, and was thus able to put his mark fully +five feet above that of Wahb. Then he nervously jumped down, and was +running about, defiling the bath and keeping a sharp lookout, when he +heard a noise in the woods below. Instantly he was all alert. The sound +drew near, then the wind brought the sure proof, and the Roachback, in +terror, turned and fled into the woods. + +[Illustration] + +It was Wahb. He had been failing in health of late; his old pains +were on him again, and, as well as his hind leg, had seized his right +shoulder, where were still lodged two rifle-balls. He was feeling very +ill, and crippled with pain. He came up the familiar bank at a jerky +limp, and there caught the odor of the foe; then he saw the track in the +mud--his eyes said the track of a _small_ Bear, but his eyes were dim +now, and his nose, his unerring nose, said, "This is the track of the +huge invader." Then he noticed the tree with his sign on it, and there +beyond doubt was the stranger's mark far above his own. His eyes and +nose were agreed on this; and more, they told him that the foe was close +at hand, might at any moment come. + +Wahb was feeling ill and weak with pain. He was in no mood for a +desperate fight. A battle against such odds would be madness now. So, +without taking the treatment, he turned and swung along the bench away +from the direction taken by the stranger--the first time since his +cubhood that he had declined to fight. + +That was a turning-point in Wahb's life. If he had followed up the +stranger he would have found the miserable little craven trembling, +cowering, in an agony of terror, behind a log in a natural trap, a +walled-in glade only fifty yards away, and would surely have crushed +him. Had he even taken the bath, his strength and courage would have +been renewed, and if not, then at least in time he would have met his +foe, and his after life would have been different. But he had turned. +This was the fork in the trail, but he had no means of knowing it. + +He limped along, skirting the lower spurs of the Shoshones, and soon +came on that horrid smell that he had known for years, but never +followed up or understood. It was right in his road, and he traced it +to a small, barren ravine that was strewn over with skeletons and dark +objects, and Wahb, as he passed, smelled a smell of many different +animals, and knew by its quality that they were lying dead in this +treeless, grassless hollow. For there was a cleft in the rocks at the +upper end, whence poured a deadly gas; invisible but heavy, it filled +the little gulch like a brimming poison bowl, and at the lower end there +was a steady overflow. But Wahb knew only that the air that poured from +it as he passed made him dizzy and sleepy, and repelled him, so that +he got quickly away from it and was glad once more to breathe the piny +wind. Once Wahb decided to retreat, it was all too easy to do so next +time; and the result worked double disaster. For, since the big stranger +was allowed possession of the sulphur-spring, Wahb felt that he would +rather not go there. Sometimes when he came across the traces of his +foe, a spurt of his old courage would come back. He would rumble that +thunder-growl as of old, and go painfully lumbering along the trail +to settle the thing right then and there. But he never overtook the +mysterious giant, and his rheumatism, growing worse now that he was +barred from the cure, soon made him daily less capable of either running +or fighting. + +Sometimes Wahb would sense his foe's approach when he was in a bad place +for fighting, and, without really running, he would yield to a wish to +be on a better footing, where he would have a fair chance. This better +footing never led him nearer the enemy, for it is well known that the +one awaiting has the advantage. + +Some days Wahb felt so ill that it would have been madness to have +staked everything on a fight, and when he felt well or a little better, +the stranger seemed to keep away. + +Wahb soon found that the stranger's track was most often on the Warhouse +and the west slope of the Piney, the very best feeding-grounds. To avoid +these when he did not feel equal to fighting was only natural, and as he +was always in more or less pain now, it amounted to abandoning to the +stranger the best part of the range. + +Weeks went by. Wahb had meant to go back to his bath, but he never did. +His pains grew worse; he was now crippled in his right shoulder as well +as in his hind leg. + +The long strain of waiting for the fight begot anxiety, that grew to be +apprehension, which, with the sapping of his strength, was breaking +down his courage, as it always must when courage is founded on muscular +force. His daily care now was not to meet and fight the invader, but to +avoid him till he felt better. + +Thus that first little retreat grew into one long retreat. Wahb had to +go farther and farther down the Piney to avoid an encounter. He was +daily worse fed, and as the weeks went by was daily less able to crush a +foe. + +He was living and hiding at last on the Lower Piney--the very place +where once his Mother had brought him with his little brothers. The life +he led now was much like the one he had led after that dark day. Perhaps +for the same reason. If he had had a family of his own all might have +been different. As he limped along one morning, seeking among the barren +aspen groves for a few roots, or the wormy partridge-berries that were +too poor to interest the Squirrel and the Grouse, he heard a stone +rattle down the western slope into the woods, and, a little later, on +the wind was borne the dreaded taint. He waded through the ice-cold +Piney,--once he would have leaped it,--and the chill water sent through +and up each great hairy limb keen pains that seemed to reach his very +life. He was retreating again--which way? There seemed but one way +now--toward the new ranch-house. + +But there were signs of stir about it long before he was near enough to +be seen. His nose, his trustiest friend, said, "Turn, turn and seek the +hills," and turn he did even at the risk of meeting there the dreadful +foe. He limped painfully along the north bank of the Piney, keeping in +the hollows and among the trees. He tried to climb a cliff that of old +he had often bounded up at full speed. When half-way up his footing gave +way, and down he rolled to the bottom. A long way round was now the only +road, for onward he must go--on--on. But where? There seemed no choice +now but to abandon the whole range to the terrible stranger. + +And feeling, as far as a Bear can feel, that he is fallen, defeated, +dethroned at last, that he is driven from his ancient range by a Bear +too strong for him to face, he turned up the west fork, and the lot was +drawn. The strength and speed were gone from his once mighty limbs; +he took three times as long as he once would to mount each well-known +ridge, and as he went he glanced backward from time to time to know +if he were pursued. Away up the head of the little branch were the +Shoshones, bleak, forbidding; no enemies were there, and the Park was +beyond it all--on, on he must go. But as he climbed with shaky limbs, +and short uncertain steps, the west wind brought the odor of Death +Gulch, that fearful little valley where everything was dead, where the +very air was deadly. It used to disgust him and drive him away, but now +Wahb felt that it had a message for him; he was drawn by it. + +[Illustration] line of flight, and he hobbled slowly toward the place. +He went nearer, nearer, until he stood upon the entering ledge. A +Vulture that had descended to feed on one of the victims was slowly +going to sleep on the untouched carcass. Wahb swung his great grizzled +muzzle and his long white beard in the wind. The odor that he once had +hated was attractive now. There was a strange biting quality in the +air. His body craved it. For it seemed to numb his pain and it promised +sleep, as it did that day when first he saw the place. + +Far below him, to the right and to the left and on and on as far as the +eye could reach, was the great kingdom that once had been his; where he +had lived for years in the glory of his strength; where none had dared +to meet him face to face. The whole earth could show no view more +beautiful. But Wahb had no thought of its beauty; he only knew that it +was a good land to live in; that it had been his, but that now it was +gone, for his strength was gone, and he was flying to seek a place where +he could rest and be at peace. + +Away over the Shoshones, indeed, was the road to the Park, but it was +far, far away, with a doubtful end to the long, doubtful journey. But +why so far? Here in this little gulch was all he sought; here were peace +and painless sleep. He knew it; for his nose, his never-erring nose, +said, "_Here! here now!_" + +He paused a moment at the gate, and as he stood the wind-borne fumes +began their subtle work. Five were the faithful wardens of his life, and +the best and trustiest of them all flung open wide the door he long had +kept. A moment still Wahb stood in doubt. His lifelong guide was silent +now, had given up his post. But another sense he felt within. The Angel +of the Wild Things was standing there, beckoning, in the little vale. +Wahb did not understand. He had no eyes to see the tear in the Angel's +eyes, nor the pitying smile that was surely on his lips. He could not +even see the Angel. But he _felt_ him beckoning, beckoning. A rush of +his ancient courage surged in the Grizzly's rugged breast. He turned +aside into the little gulch. The deadly vapors entered in, filled his +huge chest and tingled in his vast, heroic limbs as he calmly lay down +on the rocky, herbless floor and as gently went to sleep, as he did that +day in his Mother's arms by the Graybull, long ago. + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Biography of a Grizzly, by +Ernest Seton-Thompson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + +***** This file should be named 9330-8.txt or 9330-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/3/3/9330/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Biography of a Grizzly + +Author: Ernest Seton-Thompson + + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9330] +This file was first posted on September 23, 2003 +Last Updated: May 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + + + + +Text file produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY + </h1> + <h2> + by Ernest Seton-Thompson + </h2> + <h4> + With 75 Drawings (not available in this file) <br /> <br /> Author of: The + Trail of the Sandhill Stag Wild Animals I Have Known Art Anatomy of + Animals Mammals of Manitoba Birds of Manitoba <br /> <br /> 1899 + </h4> + + + + +<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto" cellpadding="4" border="3"> +<tr> +<td> +THERE IS AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY VIEWED AT EBOOK <big><b><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25023"> +[# 25023 ]</a></b></big> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + This Book is dedicated to the memory of the days spent at the Palette + Ranch on the Graybull, where from hunter, miner, personal experience, and + the host himself, I gathered many chapters of the History of Wahb. + </p> + <p> + In this Book the designs for title-page, cover, and general makeup, were + done by Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>List of Full-Page Drawings</b> (not present in this edition) + </p> + <p> + They all Rushed Under it like a Lot of Little Pigs + </p> + <p> + Like Children Playing 'Hands' + </p> + <p> + He Stayed in the Tree till near Morning + </p> + <p> + A Savage Bobcat ... Warned Him to go Back + </p> + <p> + Wahb Yelled and Jerked Back + </p> + <p> + He Struck one Fearful, Crushing Blow + </p> + <p> + Ain't He an Awful Size, Though? + </p> + <p> + Wahb Smashed His Skull + </p> + <p> + Causing the Pool to Overflow + </p> + <p> + He Deliberately Stood up on the Pine Root + </p> + <p> + The Roachback Fled into the Woods + </p> + <p> + He Paused a Moment at the Gate + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART"> <b>PART I</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART2"> <b>PART II</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PART3"> <b>PART III.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> IV. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART" id="link2H_PART"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART I + </h2> + <h3> + THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB + </h3> + <p> + {Illustration:} + </p> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + He was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wildest part of the + wild West, on the head of the Little Piney, above where the Palette Ranch + is now. + </p> + <p> + His Mother was just an ordinary Silvertip, living the quiet life that all + Bears prefer, minding her own business and doing her duty by her family, + asking no favors of any one excepting to let her alone. It was July before + she took her remarkable family down the Little Piney to the Graybull, and + showed them what strawberries were, and where to find them. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding their Mother's deep conviction, the cubs were not + remarkably big or bright; yet they were a remarkable family, for there + were four of them, and it is not often a Grizzly Mother can boast of more + than two. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + The woolly-coated little creatures were having a fine time, and reveled in + the lovely mountain summer and the abundance of good things. Their Mother + turned over each log and flat stone they came to, and the moment it was + lifted they all rushed under it like a lot of little pigs to lick up the + ants and grubs there hidden. + </p> + <p> + It never once occurred to them that Mammy's strength might fail sometime, + and let the great rock drop just as they got under it; nor would any one + have thought so that might have chanced to see that huge arm and that + shoulder sliding about under the great yellow robe she wore. No, no; that + arm could never fail. The little ones were quite right. So they hustled + and tumbled one another at each fresh log in their haste to be first, and + squealed little squeals, and growled little growls, as if each was a pig, + a pup, and a kitten all rolled into one. + </p> + <p> + They were well acquainted with the common little brown ants that harbor + under logs in the uplands, but now they came for the first time on one of + the hills of the great, fat, luscious Wood-ant, and they all crowded + around to lick up those that ran out. But they soon found that they were + licking up more cactus-prickles and sand than ants, till their Mother said + in Grizzly, "Let me show you how." + </p> + <p> + She knocked off the top of the hill, then laid her great paw flat on it + for a few moments, and as the angry ants swarmed on to it she licked them + up with one lick, and got a good rich mouthful to crunch, without a grain + of sand or a cactus-stinger in it. The cubs soon learned. Each put up both + his little brown paws, so that there was a ring of paws all around the + ant-hill, and there they sat, like children playing 'hands,' and each + licked first the right and then the left paw, or one cuffed his brother's + ears for licking a paw that was not his own, till the ant-hill was cleared + out and they were ready for a change. + </p> + <p> + Ants are sour food and made the Bears thirsty, so the old one led down to + the river. After they had drunk as much as they wanted, and dabbled their + feet, they walked down the bank to a pool, where the old one's keen eye + caught sight of a number of Buffalo-fish basking on the bottom. The water + was very low, mere pebbly rapids between these deep holes, so Mammy said + to the little ones: + </p> + <p> + "Now you all sit there on the bank and learn something new." + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: } + </p> + <p> + First she went to the lower end of the pool and stirred up a cloud of mud + which hung in the still water, and sent a long tail floating like a + curtain over the rapids just below. Then she went quietly round by land, + and sprang into the upper end of the pool with all the noise she could. + The fish had crowded to that end, but this sudden attack sent them off in + a panic, and they dashed blindly into the mud-cloud. Out of fifty fish + there is always a good chance of some being fools, and half a dozen of + these dashed through the darkened water into the current, and before they + knew it they were struggling over the shingly shallow. The old Grizzly + jerked them out to the bank, and the little ones rushed noisily on these + funny, short snakes that could not get away, and gobbled and gorged till + their little bellies looked like balloons. + </p> + <p> + They had eaten so much now, and the sun was so hot, that all were quite + sleepy. So the Mother-bear led them to a quiet little nook, and as soon as + she lay down, though they were puffing with heat, they all snuggled around + her and went to sleep, with their little brown paws curled in, and their + little black noses tucked into their wool as though it were a very cold + day. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: } + </p> + <p> + After an hour or two they began to yawn and stretch themselves, except + little Fuzz, the smallest; she poked out her sharp nose for a moment, then + snuggled back between her Mother's great arms, for she was a gentle, + petted little thing. The largest, the one afterward known as Wahb, + sprawled over on his back and began to worry a root that stuck up, + grumbling to himself as he chewed it, or slapped it with his paw for not + staying where he wanted it. Presently Mooney, the mischief, began tugging + at Frizzle's ears, and got his own well boxed. They clenched for a tussle; + then, locked in a tight, little grizzly yellow ball, they sprawled over + and over on the grass, and, before they knew it, down a bank, and away out + of sight toward the river. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: } + </p> + <p> + Almost immediately there was an outcry of yells for help from the little + wrestlers. There could be no mistaking the real terror in their voices. + Some dreadful danger was threatening. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: } + </p> + <p> + Up jumped the gentle Mother, changed into a perfect demon, and over the + bank in time to see a huge Range-bull make a deadly charge at what he + doubtless took for a yellow dog. In a moment all would have been over with + Frizzle, for he had missed his footing on the bank; but there was a + thumping of heavy feet, a roar that startled even the great Bull, and, + like a huge bounding ball of yellow fur, Mother Grizzly was upon him. Him! + the monarch of the herd, the master of all these plains, what had he to + fear? He bellowed his deep war-cry, and charged to pin the old one to the + bank; but as he bent to tear her with his shining horns, she dealt him a + stunning blow, and before he could recover she was on his shoulders, + raking the flesh from his ribs with sweep after sweep of her terrific + claws. + </p> + <p> + The Bull roared with rage, and plunged and reared, dragging Mother Grizzly + with him; then, as he hurled heavily off the slope, she let go to save + herself, and the Bull rolled down into the river. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + This was a lucky thing for him, for the Grizzly did not want to follow him + there; so he waded out on the other side, and bellowing with fury and + pain, slunk off to join the herd to which he belonged. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: desc. Mountain peaks} + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + Old Colonel Pickett, the cattle king, was out riding the range. The night + before, he had seen the new moon descending over the white cone of + Pickett's Peak. + </p> + <p> + "I saw the last moon over Frank's Peak," said he, "and the luck was + against me for a month; now I reckon it's my turn." + </p> + <p> + Next morning his luck began. A letter came from Washington granting his + request that a post-office be established at his ranch, and contained the + polite inquiry, "What name do you suggest for the new post-office?" + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + The Colonel took down his new rifle, a 45-90 repeater. "May as well," he + said; "this is my month"; and he rode up the Graybull to see how the + cattle were doing. + </p> + <p> + As he passed under the Rimrock Mountain he heard a far-away roaring as of + Bulls fighting, but thought nothing of it till he rounded the point and + saw on the flat below a lot of his cattle pawing the dust and bellowing as + they always do when they smell the blood of one of their number. He soon + saw that the great Bull, 'the boss of the bunch,' was covered with blood. + His back and sides were torn as by a Mountain-lion, and his head was + battered as by another Bull. + </p> + <p> + "Grizzly," growled the Colonel, for he knew the mountains. He quickly + noted the general direction of the Bull's back trail, then rode toward a + high bank that offered a view. This was across the gravelly ford of the + Graybull, near the mouth of the Piney. His horse splashed through the cold + water and began jerkily to climb the other bank. + </p> + <p> + As soon as the rider's head rose above the bank his hand grabbed the + rifle, for there in full sight were five Grizzly Bears, an old one and + four cubs. "Run for the woods," growled the Mother Grizzly, for she knew + that men carried guns. Not that she feared for herself; but the idea of + such things among her darlings was too horrible to think of. She set off + to guide them to the timber-tangle on the Lower Piney. But an awful, + murderous fusillade began. + </p> + <p> + <i>Bang</i>! and Mother Grizzly felt a deadly pang. + </p> + <p> + <i>Bang</i>! and poor little Fuzz rolled over with a scream of pain and + lay still. + </p> + <p> + With a roar of hate and fury Mother Grizzly turned to attack the enemy. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + <i>Bang</i>! and she fell paralyzed and dying with a high shoulder shot. + And the three little cubs, not knowing what to do, ran back to their + Mother. + </p> + <p> + <i>Bang! bang</i>! and Mooney and Frizzle sank in dying agonies beside + her, and Wahb, terrified and stupefied, ran in a circle about them. Then, + hardly knowing why, he turned and dashed into the timber-tangle, and + disappeared as a last <i>bang</i> left him with a stinging pain and a + useless, broken hind paw. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + That is why the post-office was called Four-Bears. The Colonel seemed + pleased with what he had done; indeed, he told of it himself. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + But away up in the woods of Anderson's Peak that night a little lame + Grizzly might have been seen wandering, limping along, leaving a bloody + spot each time he tried to set down his hind paw; whining and whimpering, + "Mother! Mother! Oh, Mother, where are you?" for he was cold and hungry, + and had such a pain in his foot. But there was no Mother to come to him, + and he dared not go back where he had left her, so he wandered aimlessly + about among the pines. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: description: bear paw prints} + </p> + <p> + Then he smelled some strange animal smell and heard heavy footsteps; and + not knowing what else to do, he climbed a tree. Presently a band of great, + long-necked, slim-legged animals, taller than his Mother, came by under + the tree. He had seen such once before and had not been afraid of them + then, because he had been with his Mother. But now he kept very quiet in + the tree, and the big creatures stopped picking the grass when they were + near him, and blowing their noses, ran out of sight. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + He stayed in the tree till near morning, and then he was so stiff with + cold that he could scarcely get down. But the warm sun came up, and he + felt better as he sought about for berries and ants, for he was very + hungry. Then he went back to the Piney and put his wounded foot in the + ice-cold water. + </p> + <p> + He wanted to get back to the mountains again, but still he felt he must go + to where he had left his Mother and brothers. When the afternoon grew + warm, he went limping down the stream through the timber, and down on the + banks of the Graybull till he came to the place where yesterday they had + had the fish-feast; and he eagerly crunched the heads and remains that he + found. But there was an odd and horrid smell on the wind. It frightened + him, and as he went down to where he last had seen his Mother the smell + grew worse. He peeped out cautiously at the place, and saw there a lot of + Coyotes, tearing at something. What it was he did not know; but he saw no + Mother, and the smell that sickened and terrified him was worse than ever, + so he quietly turned back toward the timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, and + nevermore came back to look for his lost family. He wanted his Mother as + much as ever, but something told him it was no use. + </p> + <p> + As cold night came down, he missed her more and more again, and he + whimpered as he limped along, a miserable, lonely, little, motherless Bear—not + lost in the mountains, for he had no home to seek, but so sick and lonely, + and with such a pain in his foot, and in his stomach a craving for the + drink that would nevermore be his. That night he found a hollow log, and + crawling in, he tried to dream that his Mother's great, furry arms were + around him, and he snuffled himself to sleep. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + Wahb had always been a gloomy little Bear; and the string of misfortunes + that came on him just as his mind was forming made him more than ever + sullen and morose. It seemed as though every one were against him. He + tried to keep out of sight in the upper woods of the Piney, seeking his + food by day and resting at night in the hollow log. But one evening he + found it occupied by a Porcupine as big as himself and as bad as a + cactus-bush. Wahb could do nothing with him. He had to give up the log and + seek another nest. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + One day he went down on the Graybull flat to dig some roots that his + Mother had taught him were good. But before he had well begun, a + grayish-looking animal came out of a hole in the ground and rushed at him, + hissing and growling. Wahb did not know it was a Badger, but he saw it was + a fierce animal as big as himself. He was sick, and lame too, so he limped + away and never stopped till he was on a ridge in the next caņon. Here a + Coyote saw him, and came bounding after him, calling at the same time to + another to come and join the fun. Wahb was near a tree, so he scrambled up + to the branches. The Coyotes came bounding and yelping below, but their + noses told them that this was a young Grizzly they had chased, and they + soon decided that a young Grizzly in a tree means a Mother Grizzly not far + away, and they had better let him alone. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + After they had sneaked off Wahb came down and returned to the Piney. There + was better feeding on the Graybull, but every one seemed against him there + now that his loving guardian was gone, while on the Piney he had peace at + least sometimes, and there were plenty of trees that he could climb when + an enemy came. + </p> + <p> + His broken foot was a long time in healing; indeed, it never got quite + well. The wound healed and the soreness wore off, but it left a stiffness + that gave him a slight limp, and the sole-balls grew together quite unlike + those of the other foot. It particularly annoyed him when he had to climb + a tree or run fast from his enemies; and of them he found no end, though + never once did a friend cross his path. When he lost his Mother he lost + his best and only friend. She would have taught him much that he had to + learn by bitter experience, and would have saved him from most of the ills + that befell him in his cubhood—ills so many and so dire that but for + his native sturdiness he never could have passed through alive. + </p> + <p> + The piņons bore plentifully that year, and the winds began to shower down + the ripe, rich nuts. Life was becoming a little easier for Wahb. He was + gaining in health and strength, and the creatures he daily met now let him + alone. But as he feasted on the piņons one morning after a gale, a great + Black-bear came marching down the hill. 'No one meets a friend in the + woods,' was a byword that Wahb had learned already. He swung up the + nearest tree. At first the Black-bear was scared, for he smelled the smell + of Grizzly; but when he saw it was only a cub, he took courage and came + growling at Wahb. He could climb as well as the little Grizzly, or better, + and high as Wahb went, the Blackbear followed, and when Wahb got out on + the smallest and highest twig that would carry him, the Blackbear cruelly + shook him off, so that he was thrown to the ground, bruised and shaken and + half-stunned. He limped away moaning, and the only thing that kept the + Blackbear from following him up and perhaps killing him was the fear that + the old Grizzly might be about. So Wahb was driven away down the creek + from all the good piņon woods. + </p> + <p> + There was not much food on the Graybull now. The berries were nearly all + gone; there were no fish or ants to get, and Wahb, hurt, lonely, and + miserable, wandered on and on, till he was away down toward the Meteetsee. + A Coyote came bounding and barking through the sage-brush after him. Wahb + tried to run, but it was no use; the Coyote was soon up with him. Then + with a sudden rush of desperate courage Wahb turned and charged his foe. + The astonished Coyote gave a scared yowl or two, and fled with his tail + between his legs. Thus Wahb learned that war is the price of peace. + </p> + <p> + But the forage was poor here; there were too many cattle; and Wahb was + making for a far-away piņon woods in the Meteetsee Caņon when he saw a + man, just like the one he had seen on that day of sorrow. At the same + moment he heard a <i>bang</i>, and some sage-brush rattled and fell just + over his back. All the dreadful smells and dangers of that day came back + to his memory, and Wahb ran as he never had run before. + </p> + <p> + He soon got into a gully and followed it into the caņon. An opening + between two cliffs seemed to offer shelter, but as he ran toward it a + Range-cow came trotting between, shaking her head at him and snorting + threats against his life. + </p> + <p> + He leaped aside upon a long log that led up a bank, but at once a savage + Bobcat appeared on the other end and warned him to go back. It was no time + to quarrel. Bitterly Wahb felt that the world was full of enemies. But he + turned and scrambled up a rocky bank into the piņon woods that border the + benches of the Meteetsee. + </p> + <p> + The Pine Squirrels seemed to resent his coming, and barked furiously. They + were thinking about their piņon-nuts. They knew that this Bear was coming + to steal their provisions, and they followed him overhead to scold and + abuse him, with such an outcry that an enemy might have followed him by + their noise, which was exactly what they intended. + </p> + <p> + There was no one following, but it made Wahb uneasy and nervous. So he + kept on till he reached the timber line, where both food and foes were + scarce, and here on the edge of the Mountain-sheep land at last he got a + chance to rest. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + Wahb never was sweet-tempered like his baby sister, and the persecutions + by his numerous foes were making him more and more sour. Why could not + they let him alone in his misery? Why was every one against him? If only + he had his Mother back! If he could only have killed that Black-bear that + had driven him from his woods! It did not occur to him that some day he + himself would be big. And that spiteful Bobcat, that took advantage of + him; and the man that had tried to kill him. He did not forget any of + them, and he hated them all. + </p> + <p> + Wahb found his new range fairly good, because it was a good nut year. He + learned just what the Squirrels feared he would, for his nose directed him + to the little granaries where they had stored up great quantities of nuts + for winter's use. It was hard on the Squirrels, but it was good luck for + Wahb, for the nuts were delicious food. And when the days shortened and + the nights began to be frosty, he had grown fat and well-favored. + </p> + <p> + He traveled over all parts of the caņon now, living mostly in the higher + woods, but coming down at times to forage almost as far as the river. One + night as he wandered by the deep-water a peculiar smell reached his nose. + It was quite pleasant, so he followed it up to the water's edge. It seemed + to come from a sunken log. As he reached over toward this, there was a + sudden <i>clank</i>, and one of his paws was caught in a strong, steel + Beaver-trap. + </p> + <p> + Wahb yelled and jerked back with all his strength, and tore up the stake + that held the trap. He tried to shake it off, then ran away through the + bushes trailing it. He tore at it with his teeth; but there it hung, + quiet, cold, strong, and immovable. Every little while he tore at it with + his teeth and claws, or beat it against the ground. He buried it in the + earth, then climbed a low tree, hoping to leave it behind; but still it + clung, biting into his flesh. He made for his own woods, and sat down to + try to puzzle it out. He did not know what it was, but his little + green-brown eyes glared with a mixture of pain, fright, and fury as he + tried to understand his new enemy. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + He lay down under the bushes, and, intent on deliberately crushing the + thing, he held it down with one paw while he tightened his teeth on the + other end, and bearing down as it slid away, the trap jaws opened and the + foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to squeeze both + springs at once. He did not understand it, but he did not forget it, and + he got these not very clear ideas: 'There is a dreadful little enemy that + hides by the water and waits for one. It has an odd smell. It bites one's + paws and is too hard for one to bite. But it can be got off by hard + squeezing.' + </p> + <p> + For a week or more the little Grizzly had another sore paw, but it was not + very bad if he did not do any climbing. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration: } + </p> + <p> + It was now the season when the Elk were bugling on the mountains. Wahb + heard them all night, and once or twice had to climb to get away from one + of the big-antlered Bulls. It was also the season when the trappers were + coming into the mountains, and the Wild Geese were honking overhead. There + were several quite new smells in the woods, too. Wahb followed one of + these up, and it led to a place where were some small logs piled together; + then, mixed with the smell that had drawn him, was one that he hated—he + remembered it from the time when he had lost his Mother. He sniffed about + carefully, for it was not very strong, and learned that this hateful smell + was on a log in front, and the sweet smell that made his mouth water was + under some brush behind. So he went around, pulled away the brush till he + got the prize, a piece of meat, and as he grabbed it, the log in front + went down with a heavy <i>chock</i>. It made Wahb jump; but he got away + all right with the meat and some new ideas, and with one old idea made + stronger, and that was, 'When that hateful smell is around it always means + trouble.' + </p> + <p> + As the weather grew colder, Wahb became very sleepy; he slept all day when + it was frosty. He had not any fixed place to sleep in; he knew a number of + dry ledges for sunny weather, and one or two sheltered nooks for stormy + days. He had a very comfortable nest under a root, and one day, as it + began to blow and snow, he crawled into this and curled up to sleep. The + storm howled without. The snow fell deeper and deeper. It draped the + pine-trees till they bowed, then shook themselves clear to be draped anew. + It drifted over the mountains and poured down the funnel-like ravines, + blowing off the peaks and ridges, and filling up the hollows level with + their rims. It piled up over Wahb's den, shutting out the cold of the + winter, shutting out itself: and Wahb slept and slept. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. + </h2> + <p> + He slept all winter without waking, for such is the way of Bears, and yet + when spring came and aroused him, he knew that he had been asleep a long + time. He was not much changed—he had grown in height, and yet was + but little thinner. He was now very hungry, and forcing his way through + the deep drift that still lay over his den, he set out to look for food. + There were no piņon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants; but Wahb's nose + led him away up the caņon to the body of a winter-killed Elk, where he had + a fine feast, and then buried the rest for future use. + </p> + <p> + Day after day he came back till he had finished it. Food was very scarce + for a couple of months, and after the Elk was eaten, Wahb lost all the fat + he had when he awoke. One day he climbed over the Divide into the Warhouse + Valley. It was warm and sunny there, vegetation was well advanced, and he + found good forage. He wandered down toward the thick timber, and soon + smelled the smell of another Grizzly. This grew stronger and led him to a + single tree by a Bear-trail. Wahb reared up on his hind feet to smell this + tree. It was strong of Bear, and was plastered with mud and Grizzly hair + far higher, than he could reach; and Wahb knew that it must have been a + very large Bear that had rubbed himself there. He felt uneasy. He used to + long to meet one of his own kind, yet now that there was a chance of it he + was filled with dread. + </p> + <p> + No one had shown him anything but hatred in his lonely, unprotected life, + and he could not tell what this older Bear might do. As he stood in doubt, + he caught sight of the old Grizzly himself slouching along a hillside, + stopping from time to time to dig up the quamash-roots and wild turnips. + </p> + <p> + He was a monster. Wahb instinctively distrusted him, and sneaked away + through the woods and up a rocky bluff where he could watch. + </p> + <p> + Then the big fellow came on Wahb's track and rumbled a deep growl of + anger; he followed the trail to the tree, and rearing up, he tore the bark + with his claws, far above where Wahb had reached. Then he strode rapidly + along Wahb's trail. But the cub had seen enough. He fled back over the + Divide into the Meteetsee Caņon, and realized in his dim, bearish way that + he was at peace there because the Bear-forage was so poor. + </p> + <p> + As the summer came on, his coat was shed. His skin got very itchy, and he + found pleasure in rolling in the mud and scraping his back against some + convenient tree. He never climbed now: his claws were too long, and his + arms, though growing big and strong, were losing that suppleness of wrist + that makes cub Grizzlies and all Blackbears great climbers. He now dropped + naturally into the Bear habit of seeing how high he could reach with his + nose on the rubbing-post, whenever he was near one. + </p> + <p> + He may not have noticed it, yet each time he came to a post, after a week + or two away, he could reach higher, for Wahb was growing fast and coming + into his strength. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes he was at one end of the country that he felt was his, and + sometimes at another, but he had frequent use for the rubbing-tree, and + thus it was that his range was mapped out by posts with his own mark on + them. + </p> + <p> + One day late in summer he sighted a stranger on his land, a glossy + Blackbear, and he felt furious against the interloper. As the Blackbear + came nearer Wahb noticed the tan-red face, the white spot on his breast, + and then the bit out of his ear, and last of all the wind brought a whiff. + There could be no further doubt; it was the very smell: this was the black + coward that had chased him down the Piney long ago. But how he had + shrunken! Before, he had looked like a giant; now Wahb felt he could crush + him with one paw. Revenge is sweet, Wahb felt, though he did not exactly + say it, and he went for that red-nosed Bear. But the Black one went up a + small tree like a Squirrel. Wahb tried to follow as the other once + followed him, but somehow he could not. He did not seem to know how to + take hold now, and after a while he gave it up and went away, although the + Blackbear brought him back more than once by coughing in derision. Later + on that day, when the Grizzly passed again, the red-nosed one had gone. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + As the summer waned, the upper forage-grounds began to give out, and Wahb + ventured down to the Lower Meteetsee one night to explore. There was a + pleasant odor on the breeze, and following it up, Wahb came to the carcass + of a Steer. A good distance away from it were some tiny Coyotes, mere + dwarfs compared with those he remembered. Right by the carcass was another + that jumped about in the moonlight in a foolish way. For some strange + reason it seemed unable to get away. Wahb's old hatred broke out. He + rushed up. In a flash the Coyote bit him several times before, with one + blow of that great paw, Wahb smashed him into a limp, furry rag; then + broke in all his ribs with a crunch or two of his jaws. Oh, but it was + good to feel the hot, bloody juices oozing between his teeth! + </p> + <p> + The Coyote was caught in a trap. Wahb hated the smell of the iron, so he + went to the other side of the carcass, where it was not so strong, and had + eaten but little before <i>clank</i>, and his foot was caught in a + Wolf-trap that he had not seen. + </p> + <p> + But he remembered that he had once before been caught and had escaped by + squeezing the trap. He set a hind foot on each spring and pressed till the + trap opened and released his paw. About the carcass was the smell that he + knew stood for man, so he left it and wandered down-stream; but more and + more often he got whiffs of that horrible odor, so he turned and went back + to his quiet piņon benches. Wahb's third summer had brought him the + stature of a large-sized Bear, though not nearly the bulk and power that + in time were his. He was very light-colored now, and this was why Spahwat, + a Shoshone Indian who more than once hunted him, called him the Whitebear, + or Wahb. + </p> + <p> + Spahwat was a good hunter, and as soon as he saw the rubbing-tree on the + Upper Meteetsee he knew that he was on the range of a big Grizzly. He + bushwhacked the whole valley, and spent many days before he found a chance + to shoot; then Wahb got a stinging flesh-wound in the shoulder. He growled + horribly, but it had seemed to take the fight out of him; he scrambled up + the valley and over the lower hills till he reached a quiet haunt, where + he lay down. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + His knowledge of healing was wholly instinctive. He licked the wound and + all around it, and sought to be quiet. The licking removed the dirt, and + by massage reduced the inflammation, and it plastered the hair down as a + sort of dressing over the wound to keep out the air, dirt, and microbes. + There could be no better treatment. + </p> + <p> + But the Indian was on his trail. Before long the smell warned Wahb that a + foe was coming, so he quietly climbed farther up the mountain to another + resting-place. But again he sensed the Indian's approach, and made off. + Several times this happened, and at length there was a second shot and + another galling wound. Wahb was furious now. There was nothing that really + frightened him but that horrible odor of man, iron, and guns, that he + remembered from the day when he lost his Mother; but now all fear of these + left him. He heaved painfully up the mountain again, and along under a + six-foot ledge, then up and back to the top of the bank, where he lay + flat. On came the Indian, armed with knife and gun; deftly, swiftly + keeping on the trail; floating joyfully over each bloody print that meant + such anguish to the hunted Bear. Straight up the slide of broken rock he + came, where Wahb, ferocious with pain, was waiting on the ledge. On + sneaked the dogged hunter; his eye still scanned the bloody slots or swept + the woods ahead, but never was raised to glance above the ledge. And Wahb, + as he saw this shape of Death relentless on his track, and smelled the + hated smell, poised his bulk at heavy cost upon his quivering, mangled + arm, there held until the proper instant came, then to his sound arm's + matchless native force he added all the weight of desperate hate as down + he struck one fearful, crushing blow. The Indian sank without a cry, and + then dropped out of sight. Wahb rose, and sought again a quiet nook where + he might nurse his wounds. Thus he learned that one must fight for peace; + for he never saw that Indian again, and he had time to rest and recover. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART2" id="link2H_PART2"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART II + </h2> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + The years went on as before, except that each winter Wahb slept less + soundly, and each spring he came out earlier and was a bigger Grizzly, + with fewer enemies that dared to face him. When his sixth year came he was + a very big, strong, sullen Bear, with neither friendship nor love in his + life since that evil day on the Lower Piney. + </p> + <p> + No one ever heard of Wahb's mate. No one believes that he ever had one. + The love-season of Bears came and went year after year, but left him alone + in his prime as he had been in his youth. It is not good for a Bear to be + alone; it is bad for him in every way. His habitual moroseness grew with + his strength, and any one chancing to meet him now would have called him a + dangerous Grizzly. + </p> + <p> + He had lived in the Meteetsee Valley since first he betook himself there, + and his character had been shaped by many little adventures with traps and + his wild rivals of the mountains. But there was none of the latter that he + now feared, and he knew enough to avoid the first, for that penetrating + odor of man and iron was a never-failing warning, especially after an + experience which befell him in his sixth year. + </p> + <p> + His ever-reliable nose told him that there was a dead Elk down among the + timber. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + He went up the wind, and there, sure enough, was the great delicious + carcass, already torn open at the very best place. True, there was that + terrible man-and-iron taint, but it was so slight and the feast so + tempting that after circling around and inspecting the carcass from his + eight feet of stature, as he stood erect, he went cautiously forward, and + at once was caught by his left paw in an enormous Bear-trap. He roared + with pain and slashed about in a fury. But this was no Beaver-trap; it was + a big forty-pound Bear-catcher, and he was surely caught. + </p> + <p> + Wahb fairly foamed with rage, and madly grit his teeth upon the trap. Then + he remembered his former experiences. He placed the trap between his hind + legs, with a hind paw on each spring, and pressed down with all his + weight. But it was not enough. He dragged off the trap and its clog, and + went clanking up the mountain. Again and again he tried to free his foot, + but in vain, till he came where a great trunk crossed the trail a few feet + from the ground. By chance, or happy thought, he reared again under this + and made a new attempt. With a hind foot on each spring and his mighty + shoulders underneath the tree, he bore down with his titanic strength: the + great steel springs gave way, the jaws relaxed, and he tore out his foot. + So Wahb was free again, though he left behind a great toe which had been + nearly severed by the first snap of the steel. + </p> + <p> + Again Wahb had a painful wound to nurse, and as he was a left-handed Bear,—that + is, when he wished to turn a rock over he stood on the right paw and + turned with the left,—one result of this disablement was to rob him + for a time of all those dainty foods that are found under rocks or logs. + The wound healed at last, but he never forgot that experience, and + thenceforth the pungent smell of man and iron, even without the gun smell, + never failed to enrage him. + </p> + <p> + Many experiences had taught him that it is better to run if he only + smelled the hunter or heard him far away, but to fight desperately if the + man was close at hand. And the cow-boys soon came to know that the Upper + Meteetsee was the range of a Bear that was better let alone. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + One day after a long absence Wahb came into the lower part of his range, + and saw to his surprise one of the wooden dens that men make for + themselves. As he came around to get the wind, he sensed the taint that + never failed to infuriate him now, and a moment later he heard a loud <i>bang</i> + and felt a stinging shock in his left hind leg, the old stiff leg. He + wheeled about, in time to see a man running toward the new-made shanty. + Had the shot been in his shoulder Wahb would have been helpless, but it + was not. + </p> + <p> + Mighty arms that could toss pine logs like broomsticks, paws that with one + tap could crush the biggest Bull upon the range, claws that could tear + huge slabs of rock from the mountain-side—what was even the deadly + rifle to them! + </p> + <p> + When the man's partner came home that night he found him on the reddened + shanty floor. The bloody trail from outside and a shaky, scribbled note on + the back of a paper novel told the tale. + </p> + <p> + It was Wahb done it. I seen him by the spring and wounded him. I tried to + git on the shanty, but he ketched me. My God, how I suffer! JACK. It was + all fair. The man had invaded the Bear's country, had tried to take the + Bear's life, and had lost his own. But Jack's partner swore he would kill + that Bear. + </p> + <p> + He took up the trail and followed it up the caņon, and there bushwhacked + and hunted day after day. He put out baits and traps, and at length one + day he heard a <i>crash, clatter, thump</i>, and a huge rock bounded down + a bank into a wood, scaring out a couple of deer that floated away like + thistle-down. Miller thought at first that it was a land-slide; but he + soon knew that it was Wahb that had rolled the boulder over merely for the + sake of two or three ants beneath it. + </p> + <p> + The wind had not betrayed him, so on peering through the bush Miller saw + the great Bear as he fed, favoring his left hind leg and growling sullenly + to himself at a fresh twinge of pain. Miller steadied himself, and + thought, "Here goes a finisher or a dead miss." He gave a sharp whistle, + the Bear stopped every move, and, as he stood with ears acock, the man + fired at his head. + </p> + <p> + But at that moment the great shaggy head moved, only an infuriating + scratch was given, the smoke betrayed the man's place, and the Grizzly + made savage, three-legged haste to catch his foe. + </p> + <p> + Miller dropped his gun and swung lightly into a tree, the only large one + near. Wahb raged in vain against the trunk. He tore off the bark with his + teeth and claws; but Miller was safe beyond his reach. For fully four + hours the Grizzly watched, then gave it up, and slowly went off into the + bushes till lost to view. Miller watched him from the tree, and afterward + waited nearly an hour to be sure that the Bear was gone. He then slipped + to the ground, got his gun, and set out for camp. But Wahb was cunning; he + had only <i>seemed</i> to go away, and then had sneaked back quietly to + watch. As soon as the man was away from the tree, too far to return, Wahb + dashed after him. In spite of his wounds the Bear could move the faster. + Within a quarter of a mile—well, Wahb did just what the man had + sworn to do to him. + </p> + <p> + Long afterward his friends found the gun and enough to tell the tale. + </p> + <p> + The claim-shanty on the Meteetsee fell to pieces. It never again was used, + for no man cared to enter a country that had but few allurements to offset + its evident curse of ill luck, and where such a terrible Grizzly was + always on the war-path. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + Then they found good gold on the Upper Meteetsee. Miners came in pairs and + wandered through the peaks, rooting up the ground and spoiling the little + streams—grizzly old men mostly, that had lived their lives in the + mountain and were themselves slowly turning into Grizzly Bears; digging + and grubbing everywhere, not for good, wholesome roots, but for that shiny + yellow sand that they could not eat; living the lives of Grizzlies, asking + nothing but to be let alone to dig. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + They seemed to understand Grizzly Wahb. The first time they met, Wahb + reared up on his hind legs, and the wicked green lightnings began to + twinkle in his small eyes. The elder man said to his mate: + </p> + <p> + "Let him alone, and he won't bother you." + </p> + <p> + "Ain't he an awful size, though?" replied the other, nervously. + </p> + <p> + Wahb was about to charge, but something held him back—a something + that had no reference to his senses, that was felt only when they were + still; a something that in Bear and Man is wiser than his wisdom, and that + points the way at every doubtful fork in the dim and winding trail. + </p> + <p> + Of course Wahb did not understand what the men said, but he did feel that + there was something different here. The smell of man and iron was there, + but not of that maddening kind, and he missed the pungent odor that even + yet brought back the dark days of his cubhood. + </p> + <p> + The men did not move, so Wahb rumbled a subterranean growl, dropped down + on his four feet, and went on. + </p> + <p> + Late the same year Wahb ran across the red-nosed Blackbear. How that Bear + did keep on shrinking! Wahb could have hurled him across the Graybull with + one tap now. + </p> + <p> + But the Blackbear did not mean to let him try. He hustled his fat, podgy + body up a tree at a rate that made him puff. Wahb reached up nine feet + from the ground, and with one rake of his huge claws tore off the bark + clear to the shining white wood and down nearly to the ground; and the + Blackbear shivered and whimpered with terror as the scraping of those + awful claws ran up the trunk and up his spine in a way that was horribly + suggestive. + </p> + <p> + What was it that the sight of that Blackbear stirred in Wahb? Was it + memories of the Upper Piney, long forgotten; thoughts of a woodland rich + in food? + </p> + <p> + Wahb left him trembling up there as high as he could get, and without any + very clear purpose swung along the upper benches of the Meteetsee down to + the Graybull, around the foot of the Rimrock Mountain; on, till hours + later he found himself in the timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, and among + the berries and ants of the old times. + </p> + <p> + He had forgotten what a fine land the Piney was: plenty of food, no miners + to spoil the streams, no hunters to keep an eye on, and no mosquitos or + flies, but plenty of open, sunny glades and sheltering woods, backed up by + high, straight cliffs to turn the colder winds. There were, moreover, no + resident Grizzlies, no signs even of passing travelers, and the Blackbears + that were in possession did not count. + </p> + <p> + Wahb was well pleased. He rolled his vast bulk in an old Buffalo-wallow, + and rearing up against a tree where the Piney Caņon quits the Graybull + Caņon, he left on it his mark fully eight feet from the ground. + </p> + <p> + In the days that followed he wandered farther and farther up among the + rugged spurs of the Shoshones, and took possession as he went. He found + the signboards of several Blackbears, and if they were small dead trees he + sent them crashing to earth with a drive of his giant paw. If they were + green, he put his own mark over the other mark, and made it clearer by + slashing the bark with the great pickaxes that grew on his toes. + </p> + <p> + The Upper Piney had so long been a Blackbear range that the Squirrels had + ceased storing their harvest in hollow trees, and were now using the + spaces under flat rocks, where the Blackbears could not get at them; so + Wahb found this a land of plenty: every fourth or fifth rock in the pine + woods was the roof of a Squirrel or Chipmunk granary, and when he turned + it over, if the little owner were there, Wahb did not scruple to flatten + him with his paw and devour him as an agreeable relish to his own + provisions. And wherever Wahb went he put up his sign-board: + </p> + <p> + Trespassers beware! + </p> + <p> + It was written on the trees as high up as he could reach, and every one + that came by understood that the scent of it and the hair in it were those + of the great Grizzly Wahb. + </p> + <p> + If his Mother had lived to train him, Wahb would have known that a good + range in spring may be a bad one in summer. Wahb found out by years of + experience that a total change with the seasons is best. In the early + spring the Cattle and Elk ranges, with their winter-killed carcasses, + offer a bountiful feast. In early summer the best forage is on the warm + hill-sides where the quamash and the Indian turnip grow. In late summer + the berry-bushes along the river-flat are laden with fruit, and in autumn + the pine woods gave good chances to fatten for the winter. So he added to + his range each year. He not only cleared out the Blackbears from the Piney + and the Meteetsee, but he went over the Divide and killed that old fellow + that had once chased him out of the Warhouse Valley. And, more than that, + he held what he had won, for he broke up a camp of tenderfeet that were + looking for a ranch location on the Middle Meteetsee; he stampeded their + horses, and made general smash of the camp. And so all the animals, + including man, came to know that the whole range from Frank's Peak to the + Shoshone spurs was the proper domain of a king well able to defend it, and + the name of that king was Meteetsee Wahb. + </p> + <p> + Any creature whose strength puts him beyond danger of open attack is apt + to lose in cunning. Yet Wahb never forgot his early experience with the + traps. He made it a rule never to go near that smell of man and iron, and + that was the reason that he never again was caught. + </p> + <p> + So he led his lonely life and slouched around on the mountains, throwing + boulders about like pebbles, and huge trunks like matchwood, as he sought + for his daily food. And every beast of hill and plain soon came to know + and fly in fear of Wahb, the one time hunted, persecuted Cub. And more + than one Blackbear paid with his life for the ill-deed of that other, long + ago. And many a cranky Bobcat flying before him took to a tree, and if + that tree were dead and dry, Wahb heaved it down, and tree and Cat alike + were dashed to bits. Even the proud-necked Stallion, leader of the mustang + band, thought well for once to yield the road. The great, grey + Timberwolves, and the Mountain Lions too, left their new kill and sneaked + in sullen fear aside when Wahb appeared. And if, as he hulked across the + sage-covered river-flat sending the scared Antelope skimming like birds + before him, he was faced perchance, by some burly Range-bull, too young to + be wise and too big to be afraid, Wahb smashed his skull with one blow of + that giant paw, and served him as the Range-cow would have served himself + long years ago. + </p> + <p> + The All-mother never fails to offer to her own, twin cups, one gall, and + one of balm. Little or much they may drink, but equally of each. The + mountain that is easy to descend must soon be climbed again. The grinding + hardship of Wahb's early days, had built his mighty frame. All usual + pleasures of a grizzly's life had been denied him but <i>power</i> + bestowed in more than double share. So he lived on year after year, + unsoftened by mate or companion, sullen, fearing nothing, ready to fight, + but asking only to be let alone—quite alone. He had but one keen + pleasure in his sombre life—the lasting glory in his matchless + strength—the small but never failing thrill of joy as the foe fell + crushed and limp, or the riven boulders grit and heaved when he turned on + them the measure of his wondrous force. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + Everything has a smell of its own for those that have noses to smell. Wahb + had been learning smells all his life, and knew the meaning of most of + those in the mountains. It was as though each and every thing had a voice + of its own for him; and yet it was far better than a voice, for every one + knows that a good nose is better than eyes and ears together. And each of + these myriads of voices kept on crying, "Here and such am I." + </p> + <p> + The juniper-berries, the rosehips, the strawberries, each had a soft, + sweet little voice, calling, "Here we are—Berries, Berries." + </p> + <p> + The great pine woods had a loud, far-reaching voice, "Here are we, the + Pine-trees," but when he got right up to them Wahb could hear the low, + sweet call of the piņon-nuts, "Here are we, the Piņon-nuts." + </p> + <p> + And the quamash beds in May sang a perfect chorus when the wind was right: + "Quamash beds, Quamash beds." + </p> + <p> + And when he got among them he made out each single voice. + </p> + <p> + Each root had its own little piece to say to his nose: "Here am I, a big + Quamash, rich and ripe," or a tiny, sharp voice, "Here am I, a + good-for-nothing, stringy little root." + </p> + <p> + And the broad, rich russulas in the autumn called aloud, "I am a fat, + wholesome Mushroom," and the deadly amanita cried, "I am an Amanita. Let + me alone, or you'll be a sick Bear." And the fairy harebell of the + caņon-banks sang a song too, as fine as its threadlike stem, and as soft + as its dainty blue; but the warden of the smells had learned to report it + not, for this, and a million other such, were of no interest to Wahb. + </p> + <p> + So every living thing that moved, and every flower that grew, and every + rock and stone and shape on earth told out its tale and sang its little + story to his nose. Day or night, fog or bright, that great, moist nose + told him most of the things he needed to know, or passed unnoticed those + of no concern, and he depended on it more and more. If his eyes and ears + together reported so and so, he would not even then believe it until his + nose said, "Yes; that is right." + </p> + <p> + But this is something that man cannot understand, for he has sold the + birthright of his nose for the privilege of living in towns. + </p> + <p> + While hundreds of smells were agreeable to Wahb, thousands were + indifferent to him, a good many were unpleasant, and some actually put him + in a rage. + </p> + <p> + He had often noticed that if a west wind were blowing when he was at the + head of the Piney Caņon there was an odd, new scent. Some days he did not + mind, it, and some days it disgusted him; but he never followed it up. On + other days a north wind from the high Divide brought a most awful smell, + something unlike any other, a smell that he wanted only to get away from. + </p> + <p> + Wahb was getting well past his youth now, and he began to have pains in + the hind leg that had been wounded so often. After a cold night or a long + time of wet weather he could scarcely use that leg, and one day, while + thus crippled, the west wind came down the caņon with an odd message to + his nose. Wahb could not clearly read the message, but it seemed to say, + 'Come,' and something within him said, 'Go.' The smell of food will draw a + hungry creature and disgust a gorged one. We do not know why, and all that + any one can learn is that the desire springs from a need of the body. So + Wahb felt drawn by what had long disgusted him, and he slouched up the + mountain path, grumbling to himself and slapping savagely back at branches + that chanced to switch his face. + </p> + <p> + The odd odor grew very strong; it led him where he had never been before—up + a bank of whitish sand to a bench of the same color, where there was + unhealthy-looking water running down, and a kind of fog coming out of a + hole. Wahb threw up his nose suspiciously—such a peculiar smell! He + climbed the bench. + </p> + <p> + A snake wriggled across the sand in front. Wahb crushed it with a blow + that made the near trees shiver and sent a balanced boulder toppling down, + and he growled a growl that rumbled up the valley like distant thunder. + Then he came to the foggy hole. It was full of water that moved gently and + steamed. Wahb put in his foot, and found it was quite warm and that it + felt pleasantly on his skin. He put in both feet, and little by little + went in farther, causing the pool to overflow on all sides, till he was + lying at full length in the warm, almost hot, sulphur-spring, and + sweltering in the greenish water, while the wind drifted the steam about + overhead. + </p> + <p> + There are plenty of these sulphur-springs in the Rockies, but this chanced + to be the only one on Wahb's range. He lay in it for over an hour; then, + feeling that he had had enough, he heaved his huge bulk up on the bank, + and realized that he was feeling remarkably well and supple. The stiffness + of his hind leg was gone. + </p> + <p> + He shook the water from his shaggy coat. A broad ledge in full sun-heat + invited him to stretch himself out and dry. But first he reared against + the nearest tree and left a mark that none could mistake. True, there were + plenty of signs of other animals using the sulphur-bath for their ills; + but what of it? Thenceforth that tree bore this inscription, in a language + of mud, hair, and smell, that every mountain creature could read: + </p> + <p> + My bath. Keep away! + </p> + <p> + (Signed) WAHB. + </p> + <p> + Wahb lay on his belly till his back was dry, then turned on his broad back + and squirmed about in a ponderous way till the broiling sun had wholly + dried him. He realized that he was really feeling very well now. He did + not say to himself, "I am troubled with that unpleasant disease called + rheumatism, and sulphur-bath treatment is the thing to cure it." But what + he did know was, "I have dreadful pains; I feel better when I am in this + stinking pool." So thenceforth he came back whenever the pains began + again, and each time he was cured. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_PART3" id="link2H_PART3"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PART III. + </h2> + <h3> + THE WANING + </h3> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <h3> + I. + </h3> + <p> + Years went by. Wahb grew no bigger,—there was no need for that,—but + he got whiter, crosser, and more dangerous. He really had an enormous + range now. Each spring, after the winter storms had removed his + notice-boards, he went around and renewed them. It was natural to do so, + for, first of all, the scarcity of food compelled him to travel all over + the range. There were lots of clay wallows at that season, and the itching + of his skin, as the winter coat began to shed, made the dressing of cool, + wet clay very pleasant, and the exquisite pain of a good scratching was + one of the finest pleasures he knew. So, whatever his motive, the result + was the same: the signs were renewed each spring. + </p> + <p> + At length the Palette Ranch outfit appeared on the Lower Piney, and the + men got acquainted with the 'ugly old fellow.' The Cowpunchers, when they + saw him, decided they 'had n't lost any Bears and they had better keep out + of his way and let him mind his business.' + </p> + <p> + They did not often see him, although his tracks and sign-boards were + everywhere. But the owner of this outfit, a born hunter, took a keen + interest in Wahb. He learned something of the old Bear's history from + Colonel Pickett, and found out for himself more than the colonel ever + knew. + </p> + <p> + He learned that Wahb ranged as far south as the Upper Wiggins Fork and + north to the Stinking Water, and from the Meteetsee to the Shoshones. + </p> + <p> + He found that Wahb knew more about Bear-traps than most trappers do; that + he either passed them by or tore open the other end of the bait-pen and + dragged out the bait without going near the trap, and by accident or + design Wahb sometimes sprang the trap with one of the logs that formed the + pen. This ranch-owner found also that Wahb disappeared from his range each + year during the heat of the summer, as completely as he did each winter + during his sleep. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. + </h2> + <p> + Many years ago a wise government set aside the head waters of the + Yellowstone to be a sanctuary of wild life forever. In the limits of this + great Wonderland the ideal of the Royal Singer was to be realized, and + none were to harm or make afraid. No violence was to be offered to any + bird or beast, no ax was to be carried into its primitive forests, and the + streams were to flow on forever unpolluted by mill or mine. All things + were to bear witness that such as this was the West before the white man + came. + </p> + <p> + The wild animals quickly found out all this. They soon learned the + boundaries of this unfenced Park, and, as every one knows, they show a + different nature within its sacred limits. They no longer shun the face of + man, they neither fear nor attack him, and they are even more tolerant of + one another in this land of refuge. + </p> + <p> + Peace and plenty are the sum of earthly good; so, finding them here, the + wild creatures crowd into the Park from the surrounding country in numbers + not elsewhere to be seen. + </p> + <p> + The Bears are especially numerous about the Fountain Hotel. In the woods, + a quarter of a mile away, is a smooth open place where the steward of the + hotel has all the broken and waste food put out daily for the Bears, and + the man whose work it is has become the Steward of the Bears' Banquet. + Each day it is spread, and each year there are more Bears to partake of + it. It is a common thing now to see a dozen Bears feasting there at one + time. They are of all kinds—Black, Brown, Cinnamon, Grizzly, + Silvertip, Roach-backs, big and small, families and rangers, from all + parts of the vast surrounding country. All seem to realize that in the + Park no violence is allowed, and the most ferocious of them have here put + on a new behavior. Although scores of Bears roam about this choice resort, + and sometimes quarrel among themselves, not one of them has ever yet + harmed a man. + </p> + <p> + Year after year they have come and gone. The passing travellers see them. + The men of the hotel know many of them well. They know that they show up + each summer during the short season when the hotel is in use, and that + they disappear again, no man knowing whence they come or whither they go. + </p> + <p> + One day the owner of the Palette Ranch came through the Park. During his + stay at the Fountain Hotel, he went to the Bear banquet-hall at high + meal-tide. There were several Blackbears feasting, but they made way for a + huge Silvertip Grizzly that came about sundown. + </p> + <p> + "That," said the man who was acting as guide, "is the biggest Grizzly in + the Park; but he is a peaceable sort, or Lud knows what'd happen." + </p> + <p> + "That!" said the ranchman, in astonishment, as the Grizzly came hulking + nearer, and loomed up like a load of hay among the piney pillars of the + Banquet Hall. "That! It that is not Meteetsee Wahb, I never saw a Bear in + my life! Why, that is the worst Grizzly that ever rolled a log in the Big + Horn Basin." "It ain't possible," said the other, "for he's here every + summer, July and August, an' I reckon he don't live so far away." + </p> + <p> + "Well, that settles it," said the ranchman; "July and August is just the + time we miss him on the range; and you can see for yourself that he is a + little lame behind and has lost a claw of his left front foot. Now I know + where he puts in his summers; but I did not suppose that the old reprobate + would know enough to behave himself away from home." + </p> + <p> + The big Grizzly became very well known during the successive hotel + seasons. Once only did he really behave ill, and that was the first season + he appeared, before he fully knew the ways of the Park. + </p> + <p> + He wandered over to the hotel, one day, and in at the front door. In the + hall he reared up his eight feet of stature as the guests fled in terror; + then he went into the clerk's office. The man said: "All right; if you + need this office more than I do, you can have it," and leaping over the + counter, locked himself in the telegraph-office, to wire the + superintendent of the Park: "Old Grizzly in the office now, seems to want + to run hotel; may we shoot?" + </p> + <p> + The reply came: "No shooting allowed in Park; use the hose." Which they + did, and, wholly taken by surprise, the Bear leaped over the counter too, + and ambled out the back way, with a heavy <i>thud-thudding</i> of his + feet, and a rattling of his claws on the floor. He passed through the + kitchen as he went, and, picking up a quarter of beef, took it along. + </p> + <p> + This was the only time he was known to do ill, though on one occasion he + was led into a breach of the peace by another Bear. This was a large + she-Blackbear and a noted mischief-maker. She had a wretched, sickly cub + that she was very proud of—so proud that she went out of her way to + seek trouble on his behalf. And he, like all spoiled children, was the + cause of much bad feeling. She was so big and fierce that she could bully + all the other Blackbears, but when she tried to drive off old Wahb she + received a pat from his paw that sent her tumbling like a football. He + followed her up, and would have killed her, for she had broken the peace + of the Park, but she escaped by climbing a tree, from the top of which her + miserable little cub was apprehensively squealing at the pitch of his + voice. So the affair was ended; in future the Blackbear kept out of Wahb's + way, and he won the reputation of being a peaceable, well-behaved Bear. + Most persons believed that he came from some remote mountains where were + neither guns nor traps to make him sullen and revengeful. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. + </h2> + <p> + Every one knows that a Bitter-root Grizzly is a bad Bear. The Bitter-root + Range is the roughest part of the mountains. The ground is everywhere cut + up with deep ravines and overgrown with dense and tangled underbrush. + </p> + <p> + It is an impossible country for horses, and difficult for gunners, and + there is any amount of good Bear-pasture. So there are plenty of Bears and + plenty of trappers. + </p> + <p> + The Roachbacks, as the Bitter-root Grizzlies are called, are a cunning and + desperate race. An old Roachback knows more about traps than half a dozen + ordinary trappers; he knows more about plants and roots than a whole + college of botanists. He can tell to a certainty just when and where to + find each kind of grub and worm, and he knows by a whiff whether the + hunter on his trail a mile away is working with guns, poison, dogs, traps, + or all of them together. And he has one general rule, which is an endless + puzzle to the hunter: 'Whatever you decide to do, do it quickly and follow + it right up.' So when a trapper and a Roachback meet, the Bear at once + makes up his mind to run away as hard as he can, or to rush at the man and + fight to a finish. + </p> + <p> + The Grizzlies of the Bad Lands did not do this: they used to stand on + their dignity and growl like a thunder-storm, and so gave the hunters a + chance to play their deadly lightning; and lightning is worse than thunder + any day. Men can get used to growls that rumble along the ground and up + one's legs to the little house where one's courage lives; but Bears cannot + get used to 45-90 soft-nosed bullets, and that is why the Grizzlies of the + Bad Lands were all killed off. + </p> + <p> + So the hunters have learned that they never know what a Roachback will do; + but they do know that he is going to be quick about it. + </p> + <p> + Altogether these Bitter-root Grizzlies have solved very well the problem + of life, in spite of white men, and are therefore increasing in their own + wild mountains. + </p> + <p> + Of course a range will hold only so many Bears, and the increase is + crowded out; so that when that slim young Bald-faced Roachback found he + could not hold the range he wanted, he went out perforce to seek his + fortune in the world. + </p> + <p> + He was not a big Bear, or he would not have been crowded out; but he had + been trained in a good school, so that he was cunning enough to get on + very well elsewhere. How he wandered down to the Salmon River Mountains + and did not like them; how he traveled till he got among the barb-wire + fences of the Snake Plains and of course could not stay there; how a mere + chance turned him from going eastward to the Park, where he might have + rested; how he made for the Snake River Mountains and found more hunters + than berries; how he crossed into the Tetons and looked down with disgust + on the teeming man colony of Jackson's Hole, does not belong to this + history of Wahb. But when Baldy Roachback crossed the Gros Ventre Range + and over the Wind River Divide to the head of the Graybull, he does come + into the story, just as he did into the country and the life of the + Meteetsee Grizzly. + </p> + <p> + The Roachback had not found a man-sign since he left Jackson's Hole, and + here he was in a land of plenty of food. He feasted on all the delicacies + of the season, and enjoyed the easy, brushless country till he came on one + of Wahb's sign-posts. + </p> + <p> + "Trespassers beware!" it said in the plainest manner. The Roachback reared + up against it. + </p> + <p> + "Thunder! what a Bear!" The nose-mark was a head and neck above Baldy's + highest reach. Now, a simple Bear would have gone quietly away after this + discovery; but Baldy felt that the mountains owed him a living, and here + was a good one if he could keep out of the way of the big fellow. He nosed + about the place, kept a sharp lookout for the present owner, and went on + feeding wherever he ran across a good thing. + </p> + <p> + A step or two from this ominous tree was an old pine stump. In the + Bitter-roots there are often mice-nests under such stumps, and Baldy + jerked it over to see. There was nothing. The stump rolled over against + the sign-post. Baldy had not yet made up his mind about it; but a new + notion came into his cunning brain. He turned his head on this side, then + on that. He looked at the stump, then at the sign, with his little + pig-like eyes. Then he deliberately stood up on the pine root, with his + back to the tree, and put his mark away up, a head at least above that of + Wahb. He rubbed his back long and hard, and he sought some mud to smear + his head and shoulders, then came back and made the mark so big, so + strong, and so high, and emphasized it with such claw-gashes in the bark, + that it could be read only in one way—a challenge to the present + claimant from some monstrous invader, who was ready, nay anxious, to fight + to a finish for this desirable range. + </p> + <p> + Maybe it was accident and maybe design, but when the Roach-back jumped + from the root it rolled to one side. Baldy went on down the caņon, keeping + the keenest lookout for his enemy. + </p> + <p> + It was not long before Wahb found the trail of the interloper, and all the + ferocity of his outside-the-Park nature was aroused. + </p> + <p> + He followed the trail for miles on more than one occasion. But the small + Bear was quick-footed as well as quick-witted, and never showed himself. + He made a point, however, of calling at each sign-post, and if there was + any means of cheating, so that his mark might be put higher, he did it + with a vim, and left a big, showy record. But if there was no chance for + any but a fair register, he would not go near the tree, but looked for a + fresh tree near by with some log or side-ledge to reach from. + </p> + <p> + Thus Wahb soon found the interloper's marks towering far above his own—a + monstrous Bear evidently, that even he could not be sure of mastering. But + Wahb was no coward. He was ready to fight to a finish any one that might + come; and he hunted the range for that invader. Day after day Wahb sought + for him and held himself ready to fight. He found his trail daily, and + more and more often he found that towering record far above his own. He + often smelled him on the wind; but he never saw him, for the old Grizzly's + eyes had grown very dim of late years; things but a little way off were + blurs to him. The continual menace could not but fill Wahb with + uneasiness, for he was not young now, and his teeth and claws were worn + and blunted. He was more than ever troubled with pains in his old wounds, + and though he could have risen on the spur of the moment to fight any + number of Grizzlies of any size, still the continual apprehension, the + knowledge that he must hold himself ready at any moment to fight this + young monster, weighed on his spirits and began to tell on his general + health. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. + </h2> + <p> + The Roachback's life was one of continual vigilance, always ready to run, + doubling and shifting to avoid the encounter that must mean instant death + to him. Many a time from some hiding-place he watched the great Bear, and + trembled lest the wind should betray him. Several times his very impudence + saved him, and more than once he was nearly cornered in a box-caņon. Once + he escaped only by climbing up a long crack in a cliff, which Wahb's huge + frame could not have entered. But still, in a mad persistence, he kept on + marking the trees farther into the range. + </p> + <p> + At last he scented and followed up the sulphur-bath. He did not understand + it at all. It had no appeal to him, but hereabouts were the tracks of the + owner. In a spirit of mischief the Roachback scratched dirt into the + spring, and then seeing the rubbing-tree, he stood sidewise on the rocky + ledge, and was thus able to put his mark fully five feet above that of + Wahb. Then he nervously jumped down, and was running about, defiling the + bath and keeping a sharp lookout, when he heard a noise in the woods + below. Instantly he was all alert. The sound drew near, then the wind + brought the sure proof, and the Roachback, in terror, turned and fled into + the woods. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <p> + It was Wahb. He had been failing in health of late; his old pains were on + him again, and, as well as his hind leg, had seized his right shoulder, + where were still lodged two rifle-balls. He was feeling very ill, and + crippled with pain. He came up the familiar bank at a jerky limp, and + there caught the odor of the foe; then he saw the track in the mud—his + eyes said the track of a <i>small</i> Bear, but his eyes were dim now, and + his nose, his unerring nose, said, "This is the track of the huge + invader." Then he noticed the tree with his sign on it, and there beyond + doubt was the stranger's mark far above his own. His eyes and nose were + agreed on this; and more, they told him that the foe was close at hand, + might at any moment come. + </p> + <p> + Wahb was feeling ill and weak with pain. He was in no mood for a desperate + fight. A battle against such odds would be madness now. So, without taking + the treatment, he turned and swung along the bench away from the direction + taken by the stranger—the first time since his cubhood that he had + declined to fight. + </p> + <p> + That was a turning-point in Wahb's life. If he had followed up the + stranger he would have found the miserable little craven trembling, + cowering, in an agony of terror, behind a log in a natural trap, a + walled-in glade only fifty yards away, and would surely have crushed him. + Had he even taken the bath, his strength and courage would have been + renewed, and if not, then at least in time he would have met his foe, and + his after life would have been different. But he had turned. This was the + fork in the trail, but he had no means of knowing it. + </p> + <p> + He limped along, skirting the lower spurs of the Shoshones, and soon came + on that horrid smell that he had known for years, but never followed up or + understood. It was right in his road, and he traced it to a small, barren + ravine that was strewn over with skeletons and dark objects, and Wahb, as + he passed, smelled a smell of many different animals, and knew by its + quality that they were lying dead in this treeless, grassless hollow. For + there was a cleft in the rocks at the upper end, whence poured a deadly + gas; invisible but heavy, it filled the little gulch like a brimming + poison bowl, and at the lower end there was a steady overflow. But Wahb + knew only that the air that poured from it as he passed made him dizzy and + sleepy, and repelled him, so that he got quickly away from it and was glad + once more to breathe the piny wind. Once Wahb decided to retreat, it was + all too easy to do so next time; and the result worked double disaster. + For, since the big stranger was allowed possession of the sulphur-spring, + Wahb felt that he would rather not go there. Sometimes when he came across + the traces of his foe, a spurt of his old courage would come back. He + would rumble that thunder-growl as of old, and go painfully lumbering + along the trail to settle the thing right then and there. But he never + overtook the mysterious giant, and his rheumatism, growing worse now that + he was barred from the cure, soon made him daily less capable of either + running or fighting. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes Wahb would sense his foe's approach when he was in a bad place + for fighting, and, without really running, he would yield to a wish to be + on a better footing, where he would have a fair chance. This better + footing never led him nearer the enemy, for it is well known that the one + awaiting has the advantage. + </p> + <p> + Some days Wahb felt so ill that it would have been madness to have staked + everything on a fight, and when he felt well or a little better, the + stranger seemed to keep away. + </p> + <p> + Wahb soon found that the stranger's track was most often on the Warhouse + and the west slope of the Piney, the very best feeding-grounds. To avoid + these when he did not feel equal to fighting was only natural, and as he + was always in more or less pain now, it amounted to abandoning to the + stranger the best part of the range. + </p> + <p> + Weeks went by. Wahb had meant to go back to his bath, but he never did. + His pains grew worse; he was now crippled in his right shoulder as well as + in his hind leg. + </p> + <p> + The long strain of waiting for the fight begot anxiety, that grew to be + apprehension, which, with the sapping of his strength, was breaking down + his courage, as it always must when courage is founded on muscular force. + His daily care now was not to meet and fight the invader, but to avoid him + till he felt better. + </p> + <p> + Thus that first little retreat grew into one long retreat. Wahb had to go + farther and farther down the Piney to avoid an encounter. He was daily + worse fed, and as the weeks went by was daily less able to crush a foe. + </p> + <p> + He was living and hiding at last on the Lower Piney—the very place + where once his Mother had brought him with his little brothers. The life + he led now was much like the one he had led after that dark day. Perhaps + for the same reason. If he had had a family of his own all might have been + different. As he limped along one morning, seeking among the barren aspen + groves for a few roots, or the wormy partridge-berries that were too poor + to interest the Squirrel and the Grouse, he heard a stone rattle down the + western slope into the woods, and, a little later, on the wind was borne + the dreaded taint. He waded through the ice-cold Piney,—once he + would have leaped it,—and the chill water sent through and up each + great hairy limb keen pains that seemed to reach his very life. He was + retreating again—which way? There seemed but one way now—toward + the new ranch-house. + </p> + <p> + But there were signs of stir about it long before he was near enough to be + seen. His nose, his trustiest friend, said, "Turn, turn and seek the + hills," and turn he did even at the risk of meeting there the dreadful + foe. He limped painfully along the north bank of the Piney, keeping in the + hollows and among the trees. He tried to climb a cliff that of old he had + often bounded up at full speed. When half-way up his footing gave way, and + down he rolled to the bottom. A long way round was now the only road, for + onward he must go—on—on. But where? There seemed no choice now + but to abandon the whole range to the terrible stranger. + </p> + <p> + And feeling, as far as a Bear can feel, that he is fallen, defeated, + dethroned at last, that he is driven from his ancient range by a Bear too + strong for him to face, he turned up the west fork, and the lot was drawn. + The strength and speed were gone from his once mighty limbs; he took three + times as long as he once would to mount each well-known ridge, and as he + went he glanced backward from time to time to know if he were pursued. + Away up the head of the little branch were the Shoshones, bleak, + forbidding; no enemies were there, and the Park was beyond it all—on, + on he must go. But as he climbed with shaky limbs, and short uncertain + steps, the west wind brought the odor of Death Gulch, that fearful little + valley where everything was dead, where the very air was deadly. It used + to disgust him and drive him away, but now Wahb felt that it had a message + for him; he was drawn by it. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} line of flight, and he hobbled slowly toward the place. He + went nearer, nearer, until he stood upon the entering ledge. A Vulture + that had descended to feed on one of the victims was slowly going to sleep + on the untouched carcass. Wahb swung his great grizzled muzzle and his + long white beard in the wind. The odor that he once had hated was + attractive now. There was a strange biting quality in the air. His body + craved it. For it seemed to numb his pain and it promised sleep, as it did + that day when first he saw the place. + </p> + <p> + Far below him, to the right and to the left and on and on as far as the + eye could reach, was the great kingdom that once had been his; where he + had lived for years in the glory of his strength; where none had dared to + meet him face to face. The whole earth could show no view more beautiful. + But Wahb had no thought of its beauty; he only knew that it was a good + land to live in; that it had been his, but that now it was gone, for his + strength was gone, and he was flying to seek a place where he could rest + and be at peace. + </p> + <p> + Away over the Shoshones, indeed, was the road to the Park, but it was far, + far away, with a doubtful end to the long, doubtful journey. But why so + far? Here in this little gulch was all he sought; here were peace and + painless sleep. He knew it; for his nose, his never-erring nose, said, "<i>Here! + here now!</i>" + </p> + <p> + He paused a moment at the gate, and as he stood the wind-borne fumes began + their subtle work. Five were the faithful wardens of his life, and the + best and trustiest of them all flung open wide the door he long had kept. + A moment still Wahb stood in doubt. His lifelong guide was silent now, had + given up his post. But another sense he felt within. The Angel of the Wild + Things was standing there, beckoning, in the little vale. Wahb did not + understand. He had no eyes to see the tear in the Angel's eyes, nor the + pitying smile that was surely on his lips. He could not even see the + Angel. But he <i>felt</i> him beckoning, beckoning. A rush of his ancient + courage surged in the Grizzly's rugged breast. He turned aside into the + little gulch. The deadly vapors entered in, filled his huge chest and + tingled in his vast, heroic limbs as he calmly lay down on the rocky, + herbless floor and as gently went to sleep, as he did that day in his + Mother's arms by the Graybull, long ago. + </p> + <p> + {Illustration} + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Biography of a Grizzly, by +Ernest Seton-Thompson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + +***** This file should be named 9330-h.htm or 9330-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/3/3/9330/ + + +Text file produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Biography of a Grizzly + +Author: Ernest Seton-Thompson + + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9330] +This file was first posted on September 23, 2003 +Last Updated: May 7, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + + + + + + + + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY + +by Ernest Seton-Thompson + +With 75 Drawings (not available in this file) + +Author of: The Trail of the Sandhill Stag Wild Animals I Have +Known Art Anatomy of Animals Mammals of Manitoba Birds of Manitoba + + +1899 + + +This Book is dedicated to the memory of the days spent at the +Palette Ranch on the Graybull, where from hunter, miner, personal +experience, and the host himself, I gathered many chapters of the +History of Wahb. + +[Illustration: ] In this Book the designs for title-page, cover, and +general makeup, were done by Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson. + +[Illustration: ] List of Full-Page Drawings + +They all Rushed Under it like a Lot of Little Pigs + +Like Children Playing 'Hands' + +He Stayed in the Tree till near Morning + +A Savage Bobcat ... Warned Him to go Back + +Wahb Yelled and Jerked Back + +He Struck one Fearful, Crushing Blow + +Ain't He an Awful Size, Though? + +Wahb Smashed His Skull + +Causing the Pool to Overflow + +He Deliberately Stood up on the Pine Root + +The Roachback Fled into the Woods + +He Paused a Moment at the Gate + + + + +PART I + +THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB + +[Illustration:] + + +I. + +He was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wildest part of +the wild West, on the head of the Little Piney, above where the Palette +Ranch is now. + +His Mother was just an ordinary Silvertip, living the quiet life that +all Bears prefer, minding her own business and doing her duty by her +family, asking no favors of any one excepting to let her alone. It was +July before she took her remarkable family down the Little Piney to the +Graybull, and showed them what strawberries were, and where to find +them. + +Notwithstanding their Mother's deep conviction, the cubs were not +remarkably big or bright; yet they were a remarkable family, for there +were four of them, and it is not often a Grizzly Mother can boast of +more than two. + +[Illustration] + +The woolly-coated little creatures were having a fine time, and reveled +in the lovely mountain summer and the abundance of good things. Their +Mother turned over each log and flat stone they came to, and the moment +it was lifted they all rushed under it like a lot of little pigs to lick +up the ants and grubs there hidden. + +It never once occurred to them that Mammy's strength might fail +sometime, and let the great rock drop just as they got under it; nor +would any one have thought so that might have chanced to see that huge +arm and that shoulder sliding about under the great yellow robe she +wore. No, no; that arm could never fail. The little ones were quite +right. So they hustled and tumbled one another at each fresh log in +their haste to be first, and squealed little squeals, and growled little +growls, as if each was a pig, a pup, and a kitten all rolled into one. + +They were well acquainted with the common little brown ants that harbor +under logs in the uplands, but now they came for the first time on one +of the hills of the great, fat, luscious Wood-ant, and they all crowded +around to lick up those that ran out. But they soon found that they were +licking up more cactus-prickles and sand than ants, till their Mother +said in Grizzly, "Let me show you how." + +She knocked off the top of the hill, then laid her great paw flat on it +for a few moments, and as the angry ants swarmed on to it she licked +them up with one lick, and got a good rich mouthful to crunch, without a +grain of sand or a cactus-stinger in it. The cubs soon learned. Each +put up both his little brown paws, so that there was a ring of paws all +around the ant-hill, and there they sat, like children playing 'hands,' +and each licked first the right and then the left paw, or one cuffed his +brother's ears for licking a paw that was not his own, till the ant-hill +was cleared out and they were ready for a change. + +Ants are sour food and made the Bears thirsty, so the old one led down +to the river. After they had drunk as much as they wanted, and dabbled +their feet, they walked down the bank to a pool, where the old one's +keen eye caught sight of a number of Buffalo-fish basking on the bottom. +The water was very low, mere pebbly rapids between these deep holes, so +Mammy said to the little ones: + +"Now you all sit there on the bank and learn something new." + +[Illustration: ] + +First she went to the lower end of the pool and stirred up a cloud of +mud which hung in the still water, and sent a long tail floating like a +curtain over the rapids just below. Then she went quietly round by land, +and sprang into the upper end of the pool with all the noise she could. +The fish had crowded to that end, but this sudden attack sent them off +in a panic, and they dashed blindly into the mud-cloud. Out of fifty +fish there is always a good chance of some being fools, and half a dozen +of these dashed through the darkened water into the current, and before +they knew it they were struggling over the shingly shallow. The old +Grizzly jerked them out to the bank, and the little ones rushed noisily +on these funny, short snakes that could not get away, and gobbled and +gorged till their little bellies looked like balloons. + +They had eaten so much now, and the sun was so hot, that all were quite +sleepy. So the Mother-bear led them to a quiet little nook, and as soon +as she lay down, though they were puffing with heat, they all snuggled +around her and went to sleep, with their little brown paws curled in, +and their little black noses tucked into their wool as though it were a +very cold day. + +[Illustration: ] + +After an hour or two they began to yawn and stretch themselves, except +little Fuzz, the smallest; she poked out her sharp nose for a moment, +then snuggled back between her Mother's great arms, for she was a +gentle, petted little thing. The largest, the one afterward known as +Wahb, sprawled over on his back and began to worry a root that stuck up, +grumbling to himself as he chewed it, or slapped it with his paw for not +staying where he wanted it. Presently Mooney, the mischief, began +tugging at Frizzle's ears, and got his own well boxed. They clenched for +a tussle; then, locked in a tight, little grizzly yellow ball, they +sprawled over and over on the grass, and, before they knew it, down a +bank, and away out of sight toward the river. + +[Illustration: ] + +Almost immediately there was an outcry of yells for help from the little +wrestlers. There could be no mistaking the real terror in their voices. +Some dreadful danger was threatening. + +[Illustration: ] + +Up jumped the gentle Mother, changed into a perfect demon, and over the +bank in time to see a huge Range-bull make a deadly charge at what he +doubtless took for a yellow dog. In a moment all would have been over +with Frizzle, for he had missed his footing on the bank; but there was a +thumping of heavy feet, a roar that startled even the great Bull, and, +like a huge bounding ball of yellow fur, Mother Grizzly was upon him. +Him! the monarch of the herd, the master of all these plains, what had +he to fear? He bellowed his deep war-cry, and charged to pin the old one +to the bank; but as he bent to tear her with his shining horns, she +dealt him a stunning blow, and before he could recover she was on his +shoulders, raking the flesh from his ribs with sweep after sweep of her +terrific claws. + +The Bull roared with rage, and plunged and reared, dragging Mother +Grizzly with him; then, as he hurled heavily off the slope, she let go +to save herself, and the Bull rolled down into the river. + +[Illustration] + +This was a lucky thing for him, for the Grizzly did not want to follow +him there; so he waded out on the other side, and bellowing with +fury and pain, slunk off to join the herd to which he belonged. + +[Illustration: desc. Mountain peaks] + + + + +II. + +Old Colonel Pickett, the cattle king, was out riding the range. The +night before, he had seen the new moon descending over the white cone of +Pickett's Peak. + +"I saw the last moon over Frank's Peak," said he, "and the luck was +against me for a month; now I reckon it's my turn." + +Next morning his luck began. A letter came from Washington granting his +request that a post-office be established at his ranch, and contained +the polite inquiry, "What name do you suggest for the new post-office?" + +[Illustration] + +The Colonel took down his new rifle, a 45-90 repeater. "May as well," +he said; "this is my month"; and he rode up the Graybull to see how the +cattle were doing. + +As he passed under the Rimrock Mountain he heard a far-away roaring as +of Bulls fighting, but thought nothing of it till he rounded the point +and saw on the flat below a lot of his cattle pawing the dust and +bellowing as they always do when they smell the blood of one of their +number. He soon saw that the great Bull, 'the boss of the bunch,' was +covered with blood. His back and sides were torn as by a Mountain-lion, +and his head was battered as by another Bull. + +"Grizzly," growled the Colonel, for he knew the mountains. He quickly +noted the general direction of the Bull's back trail, then rode toward a +high bank that offered a view. This was across the gravelly ford of the +Graybull, near the mouth of the Piney. His horse splashed through the +cold water and began jerkily to climb the other bank. + +As soon as the rider's head rose above the bank his hand grabbed the +rifle, for there in full sight were five Grizzly Bears, an old one and +four cubs. "Run for the woods," growled the Mother Grizzly, for she knew +that men carried guns. Not that she feared for herself; but the idea of +such things among her darlings was too horrible to think of. She set off +to guide them to the timber-tangle on the Lower Piney. But an awful, +murderous fusillade began. + +_Bang_! and Mother Grizzly felt a deadly pang. + +_Bang_! and poor little Fuzz rolled over with a scream of pain and lay +still. + +With a roar of hate and fury Mother Grizzly turned to attack the enemy. + +[Illustration] + +_Bang_! and she fell paralyzed and dying with a high shoulder shot. And +the three little cubs, not knowing what to do, ran back to their Mother. + +_Bang! bang_! and Mooney and Frizzle sank in dying agonies beside her, +and Wahb, terrified and stupefied, ran in a circle about them. Then, +hardly knowing why, he turned and dashed into the timber-tangle, and +disappeared as a last _bang_ left him with a stinging pain and a +useless, broken hind paw. + + * * * * * + +That is why the post-office was called Four-Bears. The Colonel seemed +pleased with what he had done; indeed, he told of it himself. + +[Illustration] + +But away up in the woods of Anderson's Peak that night a little lame +Grizzly might have been seen wandering, limping along, leaving a +bloody spot each time he tried to set down his hind paw; whining and +whimpering, "Mother! Mother! Oh, Mother, where are you?" for he was cold +and hungry, and had such a pain in his foot. But there was no Mother +to come to him, and he dared not go back where he had left her, so he +wandered aimlessly about among the pines. + +[Illustration: description: bear paw prints] + +Then he smelled some strange animal smell and heard heavy footsteps; +and not knowing what else to do, he climbed a tree. Presently a band of +great, long-necked, slim-legged animals, taller than his Mother, came by +under the tree. He had seen such once before and had not been afraid of +them then, because he had been with his Mother. But now he kept very +quiet in the tree, and the big creatures stopped picking the grass when +they were near him, and blowing their noses, ran out of sight. + +[Illustration] + +He stayed in the tree till near morning, and then he was so stiff with +cold that he could scarcely get down. But the warm sun came up, and he +felt better as he sought about for berries and ants, for he was very +hungry. Then he went back to the Piney and put his wounded foot in the +ice-cold water. + +He wanted to get back to the mountains again, but still he felt he must +go to where he had left his Mother and brothers. When the afternoon grew +warm, he went limping down the stream through the timber, and down on +the banks of the Graybull till he came to the place where yesterday they +had had the fish-feast; and he eagerly crunched the heads and remains +that he found. But there was an odd and horrid smell on the wind. It +frightened him, and as he went down to where he last had seen his Mother +the smell grew worse. He peeped out cautiously at the place, and saw +there a lot of Coyotes, tearing at something. What it was he did not +know; but he saw no Mother, and the smell that sickened and terrified +him was worse than ever, so he quietly turned back toward the +timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, and nevermore came back to look for +his lost family. He wanted his Mother as much as ever, but something +told him it was no use. + +As cold night came down, he missed her more and more again, and he +whimpered as he limped along, a miserable, lonely, little, motherless +Bear--not lost in the mountains, for he had no home to seek, but so +sick and lonely, and with such a pain in his foot, and in his stomach a +craving for the drink that would nevermore be his. That night he found a +hollow log, and crawling in, he tried to dream that his Mother's great, +furry arms were around him, and he snuffled himself to sleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +III. + +Wahb had always been a gloomy little Bear; and the string of misfortunes +that came on him just as his mind was forming made him more than ever +sullen and morose. It seemed as though every one were against him. He +tried to keep out of sight in the upper woods of the Piney, seeking his +food by day and resting at night in the hollow log. But one evening +he found it occupied by a Porcupine as big as himself and as bad as a +cactus-bush. Wahb could do nothing with him. He had to give up the log +and seek another nest. + +[Illustration] + +One day he went down on the Graybull flat to dig some roots that his +Mother had taught him were good. But before he had well begun, a +grayish-looking animal came out of a hole in the ground and rushed at +him, hissing and growling. Wahb did not know it was a Badger, but he saw +it was a fierce animal as big as himself. He was sick, and lame too, +so he limped away and never stopped till he was on a ridge in the next +canyon. Here a Coyote saw him, and came bounding after him, calling at +the same time to another to come and join the fun. Wahb was near a +tree, so he scrambled up to the branches. The Coyotes came bounding and +yelping below, but their noses told them that this was a young Grizzly +they had chased, and they soon decided that a young Grizzly in a tree +means a Mother Grizzly not far away, and they had better let him alone. + +[Illustration] + +After they had sneaked off Wahb came down and returned to the Piney. +There was better feeding on the Graybull, but every one seemed against +him there now that his loving guardian was gone, while on the Piney he +had peace at least sometimes, and there were plenty of trees that he +could climb when an enemy came. + +His broken foot was a long time in healing; indeed, it never got +quite well. The wound healed and the soreness wore off, but it left a +stiffness that gave him a slight limp, and the sole-balls grew together +quite unlike those of the other foot. It particularly annoyed him when +he had to climb a tree or run fast from his enemies; and of them he +found no end, though never once did a friend cross his path. When he +lost his Mother he lost his best and only friend. She would have taught +him much that he had to learn by bitter experience, and would have saved +him from most of the ills that befell him in his cubhood--ills so many +and so dire that but for his native sturdiness he never could have +passed through alive. + +The pinons bore plentifully that year, and the winds began to shower +down the ripe, rich nuts. Life was becoming a little easier for Wahb. He +was gaining in health and strength, and the creatures he daily met now +let him alone. But as he feasted on the pinons one morning after a gale, +a great Black-bear came marching down the hill. 'No one meets a friend +in the woods,' was a byword that Wahb had learned already. He swung up +the nearest tree. At first the Black-bear was scared, for he smelled the +smell of Grizzly; but when he saw it was only a cub, he took courage and +came growling at Wahb. He could climb as well as the little Grizzly, or +better, and high as Wahb went, the Blackbear followed, and when +Wahb got out on the smallest and highest twig that would carry him, the +Blackbear cruelly shook him off, so that he was thrown to the ground, +bruised and shaken and half-stunned. He limped away moaning, and the +only thing that kept the Blackbear from following him up and perhaps +killing him was the fear that the old Grizzly might be about. So Wahb +was driven away down the creek from all the good pinon woods. + +There was not much food on the Graybull now. The berries were nearly all +gone; there were no fish or ants to get, and Wahb, hurt, lonely, +and miserable, wandered on and on, till he was away down toward the +Meteetsee. A Coyote came bounding and barking through the sage-brush +after him. Wahb tried to run, but it was no use; the Coyote was soon up +with him. Then with a sudden rush of desperate courage Wahb turned and +charged his foe. The astonished Coyote gave a scared yowl or two, and +fled with his tail between his legs. Thus Wahb learned that war is the +price of peace. + +But the forage was poor here; there were too many cattle; and Wahb was +making for a far-away pinon woods in the Meteetsee Canon when he saw a +man, just like the one he had seen on that day of sorrow. At the same +moment he heard a _bang_, and some sage-brush rattled and fell just over +his back. All the dreadful smells and dangers of that day came back to +his memory, and Wahb ran as he never had run before. + +He soon got into a gully and followed it into the canyon. An opening +between two cliffs seemed to offer shelter, but as he ran toward it a +Range-cow came trotting between, shaking her head at him and snorting +threats against his life. + +He leaped aside upon a long log that led up a bank, but at once a savage +Bobcat appeared on the other end and warned him to go back. It was no +time to quarrel. Bitterly Wahb felt that the world was full of enemies. +But he turned and scrambled up a rocky bank into the pinon woods that +border the benches of the Meteetsee. + +The Pine Squirrels seemed to resent his coming, and barked furiously. +They were thinking about their pinon-nuts. They knew that this Bear was +coming to steal their provisions, and they followed him overhead to +scold and abuse him, with such an outcry that an enemy might have +followed him by their noise, which was exactly what they intended. + +There was no one following, but it made Wahb uneasy and nervous. So he +kept on till he reached the timber line, where both food and foes were +scarce, and here on the edge of the Mountain-sheep land at last he got a +chance to rest. + +[Illustration] + + + + +IV. + +Wahb never was sweet-tempered like his baby sister, and the persecutions +by his numerous foes were making him more and more sour. Why could not +they let him alone in his misery? Why was every one against him? If only +he had his Mother back! If he could only have killed that Black-bear +that had driven him from his woods! It did not occur to him that some +day he himself would be big. And that spiteful Bobcat, that took +advantage of him; and the man that had tried to kill him. He did not +forget any of them, and he hated them all. + +Wahb found his new range fairly good, because it was a good nut year. He +learned just what the Squirrels feared he would, for his nose directed +him to the little granaries where they had stored up great quantities +of nuts for winter's use. It was hard on the Squirrels, but it was good +luck for Wahb, for the nuts were delicious food. And when the days +shortened and the nights began to be frosty, he had grown fat and +well-favored. + +He traveled over all parts of the canyon now, living mostly in the higher +woods, but coming down at times to forage almost as far as the river. +One night as he wandered by the deep-water a peculiar smell reached his +nose. It was quite pleasant, so he followed it up to the water's edge. +It seemed to come from a sunken log. As he reached over toward this, +there was a sudden _clank_, and one of his paws was caught in a strong, +steel Beaver-trap. + +Wahb yelled and jerked back with all his strength, and tore up the stake +that held the trap. He tried to shake it off, then ran away through the +bushes trailing it. He tore at it with his teeth; but there it hung, +quiet, cold, strong, and immovable. Every little while he tore at it +with his teeth and claws, or beat it against the ground. He buried it in +the earth, then climbed a low tree, hoping to leave it behind; but still +it clung, biting into his flesh. He made for his own woods, and sat down +to try to puzzle it out. He did not know what it was, but his little +green-brown eyes glared with a mixture of pain, fright, and fury as he +tried to understand his new enemy. + +[Illustration] + +He lay down under the bushes, and, intent on deliberately crushing the +thing, he held it down with one paw while he tightened his teeth on the +other end, and bearing down as it slid away, the trap jaws opened and +the foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to +squeeze both springs at once. He did not understand it, but he did not +forget it, and he got these not very clear ideas: 'There is a dreadful +little enemy that hides by the water and waits for one. It has an odd +smell. It bites one's paws and is too hard for one to bite. But it can +be got off by hard squeezing.' + +For a week or more the little Grizzly had another sore paw, but it was +not very bad if he did not do any climbing. + +[Illustration: ] + +It was now the season when the Elk were bugling on the mountains. Wahb +heard them all night, and once or twice had to climb to get away from +one of the big-antlered Bulls. It was also the season when the trappers +were coming into the mountains, and the Wild Geese were honking +overhead. There were several quite new smells in the woods, too. Wahb +followed one of these up, and it led to a place where were some small +logs piled together; then, mixed with the smell that had drawn him, was +one that he hated--he remembered it from the time when he had lost his +Mother. He sniffed about carefully, for it was not very strong, and +learned that this hateful smell was on a log in front, and the sweet +smell that made his mouth water was under some brush behind. So he went +around, pulled away the brush till he got the prize, a piece of meat, +and as he grabbed it, the log in front went down with a heavy _chock_. +It made Wahb jump; but he got away all right with the meat and some new +ideas, and with one old idea made stronger, and that was, 'When that +hateful smell is around it always means trouble.' + +As the weather grew colder, Wahb became very sleepy; he slept all day +when it was frosty. He had not any fixed place to sleep in; he knew a +number of dry ledges for sunny weather, and one or two sheltered nooks +for stormy days. He had a very comfortable nest under a root, and one +day, as it began to blow and snow, he crawled into this and curled up +to sleep. The storm howled without. The snow fell deeper and deeper. It +draped the pine-trees till they bowed, then shook themselves clear to +be draped anew. It drifted over the mountains and poured down the +funnel-like ravines, blowing off the peaks and ridges, and filling up +the hollows level with their rims. It piled up over Wahb's den, shutting +out the cold of the winter, shutting out itself: and Wahb slept and +slept. + + + + +V. + +He slept all winter without waking, for such is the way of Bears, and +yet when spring came and aroused him, he knew that he had been asleep a +long time. He was not much changed--he had grown in height, and yet was +but little thinner. He was now very hungry, and forcing his way through +the deep drift that still lay over his den, he set out to look for food. +There were no pinon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants; but Wahb's nose +led him away up the canyon to the body of a winter-killed Elk, where he +had a fine feast, and then buried the rest for future use. + +Day after day he came back till he had finished it. Food was very scarce +for a couple of months, and after the Elk was eaten, Wahb lost all the +fat he had when he awoke. One day he climbed over the Divide into the +Warhouse Valley. It was warm and sunny there, vegetation was well +advanced, and he found good forage. He wandered down toward the thick +timber, and soon smelled the smell of another Grizzly. This grew +stronger and led him to a single tree by a Bear-trail. Wahb reared up +on his hind feet to smell this tree. It was strong of Bear, and was +plastered with mud and Grizzly hair far higher, than he could reach; +and Wahb knew that it must have been a very large Bear that had rubbed +himself there. He felt uneasy. He used to long to meet one of his own +kind, yet now that there was a chance of it he was filled with dread. + +No one had shown him anything but hatred in his lonely, unprotected +life, and he could not tell what this older Bear might do. As he stood +in doubt, he caught sight of the old Grizzly himself slouching along a +hillside, stopping from time to time to dig up the quamash-roots and +wild turnips. + +He was a monster. Wahb instinctively distrusted him, and sneaked +away through the woods and up a rocky bluff where he could watch. + +Then the big fellow came on Wahb's track and rumbled a deep growl of +anger; he followed the trail to the tree, and rearing up, he tore the +bark with his claws, far above where Wahb had reached. Then he strode +rapidly along Wahb's trail. But the cub had seen enough. He fled back +over the Divide into the Meteetsee Canon, and realized in his dim, +bearish way that he was at peace there because the Bear-forage was so +poor. + +As the summer came on, his coat was shed. His skin got very itchy, and +he found pleasure in rolling in the mud and scraping his back against +some convenient tree. He never climbed now: his claws were too long, and +his arms, though growing big and strong, were losing that suppleness of +wrist that makes cub Grizzlies and all Blackbears great climbers. He now +dropped naturally into the Bear habit of seeing how high he could reach +with his nose on the rubbing-post, whenever he was near one. + +He may not have noticed it, yet each time he came to a post, after a +week or two away, he could reach higher, for Wahb was growing fast and +coming into his strength. + +Sometimes he was at one end of the country that he felt was his, and +sometimes at another, but he had frequent use for the rubbing-tree, +and thus it was that his range was mapped out by posts with his own mark +on them. + +One day late in summer he sighted a stranger on his land, a glossy +Blackbear, and he felt furious against the interloper. As the Blackbear +came nearer Wahb noticed the tan-red face, the white spot on his breast, +and then the bit out of his ear, and last of all the wind brought a +whiff. There could be no further doubt; it was the very smell: this was +the black coward that had chased him down the Piney long ago. But how he +had shrunken! Before, he had looked like a giant; now Wahb felt he could +crush him with one paw. Revenge is sweet, Wahb felt, though he did not +exactly say it, and he went for that red-nosed Bear. But the Black one +went up a small tree like a Squirrel. Wahb tried to follow as the other +once followed him, but somehow he could not. He did not seem to know +how to take hold now, and after a while he gave it up and went away, +although the Blackbear brought him back more than once by coughing +in derision. Later on that day, when the Grizzly passed again, the +red-nosed one had gone. + +[Illustration] + +As the summer waned, the upper forage-grounds began to give out, and +Wahb ventured down to the Lower Meteetsee one night to explore. There +was a pleasant odor on the breeze, and following it up, Wahb came to the +carcass of a Steer. A good distance away from it were some tiny Coyotes, +mere dwarfs compared with those he remembered. Right by the carcass was +another that jumped about in the moonlight in a foolish way. For some +strange reason it seemed unable to get away. Wahb's old hatred broke +out. He rushed up. In a flash the Coyote bit him several times before, +with one blow of that great paw, Wahb smashed him into a limp, furry +rag; then broke in all his ribs with a crunch or two of his jaws. Oh, +but it was good to feel the hot, bloody juices oozing between his teeth! + +The Coyote was caught in a trap. Wahb hated the smell of the iron, so he +went to the other side of the carcass, where it was not so strong, +and had eaten but little before _clank_, and his foot was caught in a +Wolf-trap that he had not seen. + +But he remembered that he had once before been caught and had escaped by +squeezing the trap. He set a hind foot on each spring and pressed till +the trap opened and released his paw. About the carcass was the smell +that he knew stood for man, so he left it and wandered down-stream; but +more and more often he got whiffs of that horrible odor, so he turned +and went back to his quiet pinon benches. Wahb's third summer had +brought him the stature of a large-sized Bear, though not nearly the +bulk and power that in time were his. He was very light-colored now, and +this was why Spahwat, a Shoshone Indian who more than once hunted him, +called him the Whitebear, or Wahb. + +Spahwat was a good hunter, and as soon as he saw the rubbing-tree on the +Upper Meteetsee he knew that he was on the range of a big Grizzly. He +bushwhacked the whole valley, and spent many days before he found a +chance to shoot; then Wahb got a stinging flesh-wound in the shoulder. +He growled horribly, but it had seemed to take the fight out of him; he +scrambled up the valley and over the lower hills till he reached a quiet +haunt, where he lay down. + +[Illustration] + +His knowledge of healing was wholly instinctive. He licked the wound and +all around it, and sought to be quiet. The licking removed the dirt, and +by massage reduced the inflammation, and it plastered the hair down as a +sort of dressing over the wound to keep out the air, dirt, and microbes. +There could be no better treatment. + +But the Indian was on his trail. Before long the smell warned Wahb that +a foe was coming, so he quietly climbed farther up the mountain to +another resting-place. But again he sensed the Indian's approach, and +made off. Several times this happened, and at length there was a second +shot and another galling wound. Wahb was furious now. There was nothing +that really frightened him but that horrible odor of man, iron, and +guns, that he remembered from the day when he lost his Mother; but now +all fear of these left him. He heaved painfully up the mountain again, +and along under a six-foot ledge, then up and back to the top of the +bank, where he lay flat. On came the Indian, armed with knife and gun; +deftly, swiftly keeping on the trail; floating joyfully over each bloody +print that meant such anguish to the hunted Bear. Straight up the slide +of broken rock he came, where Wahb, ferocious with pain, was waiting +on the ledge. On sneaked the dogged hunter; his eye still scanned the +bloody slots or swept the woods ahead, but never was raised to glance +above the ledge. And Wahb, as he saw this shape of Death relentless on +his track, and smelled the hated smell, poised his bulk at heavy cost +upon his quivering, mangled arm, there held until the proper instant +came, then to his sound arm's matchless native force he added all the +weight of desperate hate as down he struck one fearful, crushing blow. +The Indian sank without a cry, and then dropped out of sight. Wahb rose, +and sought again a quiet nook where he might nurse his wounds. Thus he +learned that one must fight for peace; for he never saw that Indian +again, and he had time to rest and recover. + +[Illustration] + + + + +PART II + +I. + +The years went on as before, except that each winter Wahb slept less +soundly, and each spring he came out earlier and was a bigger Grizzly, +with fewer enemies that dared to face him. When his sixth year came he +was a very big, strong, sullen Bear, with neither friendship nor love in +his life since that evil day on the Lower Piney. + +No one ever heard of Wahb's mate. No one believes that he ever had one. +The love-season of Bears came and went year after year, but left him +alone in his prime as he had been in his youth. It is not good for +a Bear to be alone; it is bad for him in every way. His habitual +moroseness grew with his strength, and any one chancing to meet him now +would have called him a dangerous Grizzly. + +He had lived in the Meteetsee Valley since first he betook himself +there, and his character had been shaped by many little adventures with +traps and his wild rivals of the mountains. But there was none of the +latter that he now feared, and he knew enough to avoid the first, for +that penetrating odor of man and iron was a never-failing warning, +especially after an experience which befell him in his sixth year. + +His ever-reliable nose told him that there was a dead Elk down among the +timber. + +[Illustration] + +He went up the wind, and there, sure enough, was the great delicious +carcass, already torn open at the very best place. True, there was that +terrible man-and-iron taint, but it was so slight and the feast so +tempting that after circling around and inspecting the carcass from his +eight feet of stature, as he stood erect, he went cautiously forward, +and at once was caught by his left paw in an enormous Bear-trap. +He roared with pain and slashed about in a fury. But this was no +Beaver-trap; it was a big forty-pound Bear-catcher, and he was surely +caught. + +Wahb fairly foamed with rage, and madly grit his teeth upon the trap. +Then he remembered his former experiences. He placed the trap between +his hind legs, with a hind paw on each spring, and pressed down with all +his weight. But it was not enough. He dragged off the trap and its clog, +and went clanking up the mountain. Again and again he tried to free his +foot, but in vain, till he came where a great trunk crossed the trail a +few feet from the ground. By chance, or happy thought, he reared again +under this and made a new attempt. With a hind foot on each spring and +his mighty shoulders underneath the tree, he bore down with his titanic +strength: the great steel springs gave way, the jaws relaxed, and he +tore out his foot. So Wahb was free again, though he left behind a great +toe which had been nearly severed by the first snap of the steel. + +Again Wahb had a painful wound to nurse, and as he was a left-handed +Bear,--that is, when he wished to turn a rock over he stood on the right +paw and turned with the left,--one result of this disablement was to rob +him for a time of all those dainty foods that are found under rocks or +logs. The wound healed at last, but he never forgot that experience, +and thenceforth the pungent smell of man and iron, even without the gun +smell, never failed to enrage him. + +Many experiences had taught him that it is better to run if he only +smelled the hunter or heard him far away, but to fight desperately if +the man was close at hand. And the cow-boys soon came to know that the +Upper Meteetsee was the range of a Bear that was better let alone. + + + + +II. + +One day after a long absence Wahb came into the lower part of his +range, and saw to his surprise one of the wooden dens that men make for +themselves. As he came around to get the wind, he sensed the taint that +never failed to infuriate him now, and a moment later he heard a loud +_bang_ and felt a stinging shock in his left hind leg, the old stiff +leg. He wheeled about, in time to see a man running toward the new-made +shanty. Had the shot been in his shoulder Wahb would have been helpless, +but it was not. + +Mighty arms that could toss pine logs like broomsticks, paws that with +one tap could crush the biggest Bull upon the range, claws that could +tear huge slabs of rock from the mountain-side--what was even the deadly +rifle to them! + +When the man's partner came home that night he found him on the reddened +shanty floor. The bloody trail from outside and a shaky, scribbled note +on the back of a paper novel told the tale. + + +It was Wahb done it. I seen him by the spring and wounded him. I tried +to git on the shanty, but he ketched me. My God, how I suffer! JACK. It +was all fair. The man had invaded the Bear's country, had tried to take +the Bear's life, and had lost his own. But Jack's partner swore he would +kill that Bear. + +He took up the trail and followed it up the canyon, and there bushwhacked +and hunted day after day. He put out baits and traps, and at length one +day he heard a _crash, clatter, thump_, and a huge rock bounded down a +bank into a wood, scaring out a couple of deer that floated away like +thistle-down. Miller thought at first that it was a land-slide; but he +soon knew that it was Wahb that had rolled the boulder over merely for +the sake of two or three ants beneath it. + +The wind had not betrayed him, so on peering through the bush Miller +saw the great Bear as he fed, favoring his left hind leg and growling +sullenly to himself at a fresh twinge of pain. Miller steadied himself, +and thought, "Here goes a finisher or a dead miss." He gave a sharp +whistle, the Bear stopped every move, and, as he stood with ears acock, +the man fired at his head. + +But at that moment the great shaggy head moved, only an infuriating +scratch was given, the smoke betrayed the man's place, and the Grizzly +made savage, three-legged haste to catch his foe. + +Miller dropped his gun and swung lightly into a tree, the only large one +near. Wahb raged in vain against the trunk. He tore off the bark with +his teeth and claws; but Miller was safe beyond his reach. For fully +four hours the Grizzly watched, then gave it up, and slowly went off +into the bushes till lost to view. Miller watched him from the tree, and +afterward waited nearly an hour to be sure that the Bear was gone. He +then slipped to the ground, got his gun, and set out for camp. But Wahb +was cunning; he had only _seemed_ to go away, and then had sneaked back +quietly to watch. As soon as the man was away from the tree, too far to +return, Wahb dashed after him. In spite of his wounds the Bear could +move the faster. Within a quarter of a mile--well, Wahb did just what +the man had sworn to do to him. + +Long afterward his friends found the gun and enough to tell the tale. + +The claim-shanty on the Meteetsee fell to pieces. It never again was +used, for no man cared to enter a country that had but few allurements +to offset its evident curse of ill luck, and where such a terrible +Grizzly was always on the war-path. + + + + +III. + +Then they found good gold on the Upper Meteetsee. Miners came in pairs +and wandered through the peaks, rooting up the ground and spoiling the +little streams--grizzly old men mostly, that had lived their lives in +the mountain and were themselves slowly turning into Grizzly Bears; +digging and grubbing everywhere, not for good, wholesome roots, but for +that shiny yellow sand that they could not eat; living the lives of +Grizzlies, asking nothing but to be let alone to dig. + +[Illustration] + +They seemed to understand Grizzly Wahb. The first time they met, Wahb +reared up on his hind legs, and the wicked green lightnings began to +twinkle in his small eyes. The elder man said to his mate: + +"Let him alone, and he won't bother you." + +"Ain't he an awful size, though?" replied the other, nervously. + +Wahb was about to charge, but something held him back--a something that +had no reference to his senses, that was felt only when they were still; +a something that in Bear and Man is wiser than his wisdom, and that +points the way at every doubtful fork in the dim and winding trail. + +Of course Wahb did not understand what the men said, but he did feel +that there was something different here. The smell of man and iron was +there, but not of that maddening kind, and he missed the pungent odor +that even yet brought back the dark days of his cubhood. + +The men did not move, so Wahb rumbled a subterranean growl, dropped down +on his four feet, and went on. + +Late the same year Wahb ran across the red-nosed Blackbear. How that +Bear did keep on shrinking! Wahb could have hurled him across the +Graybull with one tap now. + +But the Blackbear did not mean to let him try. He hustled his fat, podgy +body up a tree at a rate that made him puff. Wahb reached up nine feet +from the ground, and with one rake of his huge claws tore off the bark +clear to the shining white wood and down nearly to the ground; and the +Blackbear shivered and whimpered with terror as the scraping of those +awful claws ran up the trunk and up his spine in a way that was horribly +suggestive. + +What was it that the sight of that Blackbear stirred in Wahb? Was it +memories of the Upper Piney, long forgotten; thoughts of a woodland rich +in food? + +Wahb left him trembling up there as high as he could get, and without +any very clear purpose swung along the upper benches of the Meteetsee +down to the Graybull, around the foot of the Rimrock Mountain; on, till +hours later he found himself in the timber-tangle of the Lower Piney, +and among the berries and ants of the old times. + +He had forgotten what a fine land the Piney was: plenty of food, no +miners to spoil the streams, no hunters to keep an eye on, and no +mosquitos or flies, but plenty of open, sunny glades and sheltering +woods, backed up by high, straight cliffs to turn the colder winds. +There were, moreover, no resident Grizzlies, no signs even of passing +travelers, and the Blackbears that were in possession did not count. + +Wahb was well pleased. He rolled his vast bulk in an old Buffalo-wallow, +and rearing up against a tree where the Piney Canon quits the Graybull +Canon, he left on it his mark fully eight feet from the ground. + +In the days that followed he wandered farther and farther up among the +rugged spurs of the Shoshones, and took possession as he went. He found +the signboards of several Blackbears, and if they were small dead trees +he sent them crashing to earth with a drive of his giant paw. If they +were green, he put his own mark over the other mark, and made it clearer +by slashing the bark with the great pickaxes that grew on his toes. + +The Upper Piney had so long been a Blackbear range that the Squirrels +had ceased storing their harvest in hollow trees, and were now using the +spaces under flat rocks, where the Blackbears could not get at them; so +Wahb found this a land of plenty: every fourth or fifth rock in the pine +woods was the roof of a Squirrel or Chipmunk granary, and when he turned +it over, if the little owner were there, Wahb did not scruple to flatten +him with his paw and devour him as an agreeable relish to his own +provisions. And wherever Wahb went he put up his sign-board: + +Trespassers beware! + +It was written on the trees as high up as he could reach, and every one +that came by understood that the scent of it and the hair in it were +those of the great Grizzly Wahb. + +If his Mother had lived to train him, Wahb would have known that a good +range in spring may be a bad one in summer. Wahb found out by years of +experience that a total change with the seasons is best. In the early +spring the Cattle and Elk ranges, with their winter-killed carcasses, +offer a bountiful feast. In early summer the best forage is on the warm +hill-sides where the quamash and the Indian turnip grow. In late +summer the berry-bushes along the river-flat are laden with fruit, and +in autumn the pine woods gave good chances to fatten for the winter. So +he added to his range each year. He not only cleared out the Blackbears +from the Piney and the Meteetsee, but he went over the Divide and killed +that old fellow that had once chased him out of the Warhouse Valley. +And, more than that, he held what he had won, for he broke up a camp +of tenderfeet that were looking for a ranch location on the Middle +Meteetsee; he stampeded their horses, and made general smash of the +camp. And so all the animals, including man, came to know that the +whole range from Frank's Peak to the Shoshone spurs was the proper +domain of a king well able to defend it, and the name of that king was +Meteetsee Wahb. + +Any creature whose strength puts him beyond danger of open attack is apt +to lose in cunning. Yet Wahb never forgot his early experience with the +traps. He made it a rule never to go near that smell of man and iron, +and that was the reason that he never again was caught. + +So he led his lonely life and slouched around on the mountains, throwing +boulders about like pebbles, and huge trunks like matchwood, as he +sought for his daily food. And every beast of hill and plain soon came +to know and fly in fear of Wahb, the one time hunted, persecuted Cub. +And more than one Blackbear paid with his life for the ill-deed of that +other, long ago. And many a cranky Bobcat flying before him took to a +tree, and if that tree were dead and dry, Wahb heaved it down, and tree +and Cat alike were dashed to bits. Even the proud-necked Stallion, +leader of the mustang band, thought well for once to yield the road. The +great, grey Timberwolves, and the Mountain Lions too, left their new +kill and sneaked in sullen fear aside when Wahb appeared. And if, as he +hulked across the sage-covered river-flat sending the scared Antelope +skimming like birds before him, he was faced perchance, by some burly +Range-bull, too young to be wise and too big to be afraid, Wahb smashed +his skull with one blow of that giant paw, and served him as the +Range-cow would have served himself long years ago. + +The All-mother never fails to offer to her own, twin cups, one gall, and +one of balm. Little or much they may drink, but equally of each. The +mountain that is easy to descend must soon be climbed again. The +grinding hardship of Wahb's early days, had built his mighty frame. All +usual pleasures of a grizzly's life had been denied him but _power_ +bestowed in more than double share. So he lived on year after year, +unsoftened by mate or companion, sullen, fearing nothing, ready to +fight, but asking only to be let alone--quite alone. He had but one +keen pleasure in his sombre life--the lasting glory in his matchless +strength--the small but never failing thrill of joy as the foe fell +crushed and limp, or the riven boulders grit and heaved when he turned +on them the measure of his wondrous force. + + + + +IV. + +Everything has a smell of its own for those that have noses to smell. +Wahb had been learning smells all his life, and knew the meaning of most +of those in the mountains. It was as though each and every thing had a +voice of its own for him; and yet it was far better than a voice, for +every one knows that a good nose is better than eyes and ears together. +And each of these myriads of voices kept on crying, "Here and such am +I." + +The juniper-berries, the rosehips, the strawberries, each had a soft, +sweet little voice, calling, "Here we are--Berries, Berries." + +The great pine woods had a loud, far-reaching voice, "Here are we, the +Pine-trees," but when he got right up to them Wahb could hear the low, +sweet call of the pinon-nuts, "Here are we, the Pinon-nuts." + +And the quamash beds in May sang a perfect chorus when the wind was +right: "Quamash beds, Quamash beds." + +And when he got among them he made out each single voice. + +Each root had its own little piece to say to his nose: "Here am I, a +big Quamash, rich and ripe," or a tiny, sharp voice, "Here am I, a +good-for-nothing, stringy little root." + +And the broad, rich russulas in the autumn called aloud, "I am a fat, +wholesome Mushroom," and the deadly amanita cried, "I am an Amanita. +Let me alone, or you'll be a sick Bear." And the fairy harebell of the +canyon-banks sang a song too, as fine as its threadlike stem, and as soft +as its dainty blue; but the warden of the smells had learned to report +it not, for this, and a million other such, were of no interest to Wahb. + +So every living thing that moved, and every flower that grew, and every +rock and stone and shape on earth told out its tale and sang its little +story to his nose. Day or night, fog or bright, that great, moist nose +told him most of the things he needed to know, or passed unnoticed those +of no concern, and he depended on it more and more. If his eyes and ears +together reported so and so, he would not even then believe it until his +nose said, "Yes; that is right." + +But this is something that man cannot understand, for he has sold the +birthright of his nose for the privilege of living in towns. + +While hundreds of smells were agreeable to Wahb, thousands were +indifferent to him, a good many were unpleasant, and some actually put +him in a rage. + +He had often noticed that if a west wind were blowing when he was at the +head of the Piney Canon there was an odd, new scent. Some days he did +not mind, it, and some days it disgusted him; but he never followed it +up. On other days a north wind from the high Divide brought a most awful +smell, something unlike any other, a smell that he wanted only to get +away from. + + +Wahb was getting well past his youth now, and he began to have pains in +the hind leg that had been wounded so often. After a cold night or a +long time of wet weather he could scarcely use that leg, and one day, +while thus crippled, the west wind came down the canyon with an odd +message to his nose. Wahb could not clearly read the message, but it +seemed to say, 'Come,' and something within him said, 'Go.' The smell +of food will draw a hungry creature and disgust a gorged one. We do not +know why, and all that any one can learn is that the desire springs from +a need of the body. So Wahb felt drawn by what had long disgusted him, +and he slouched up the mountain path, grumbling to himself and slapping +savagely back at branches that chanced to switch his face. + +The odd odor grew very strong; it led him where he had never been +before--up a bank of whitish sand to a bench of the same color, where +there was unhealthy-looking water running down, and a kind of fog coming +out of a hole. Wahb threw up his nose suspiciously--such a peculiar +smell! He climbed the bench. + +A snake wriggled across the sand in front. Wahb crushed it with a blow +that made the near trees shiver and sent a balanced boulder toppling +down, and he growled a growl that rumbled up the valley like distant +thunder. Then he came to the foggy hole. It was full of water that moved +gently and steamed. Wahb put in his foot, and found it was quite warm +and that it felt pleasantly on his skin. He put in both feet, and little +by little went in farther, causing the pool to overflow on all +sides, till he was lying at full length in the warm, almost hot, +sulphur-spring, and sweltering in the greenish water, while the wind +drifted the steam about overhead. + +There are plenty of these sulphur-springs in the Rockies, but this +chanced to be the only one on Wahb's range. He lay in it for over an +hour; then, feeling that he had had enough, he heaved his huge bulk +up on the bank, and realized that he was feeling remarkably well and +supple. The stiffness of his hind leg was gone. + +He shook the water from his shaggy coat. A broad ledge in full sun-heat +invited him to stretch himself out and dry. But first he reared against +the nearest tree and left a mark that none could mistake. True, there +were plenty of signs of other animals using the sulphur-bath for their +ills; but what of it? Thenceforth that tree bore this inscription, in +a language of mud, hair, and smell, that every mountain creature could +read: + + +My bath. Keep away! + +(Signed) WAHB. + +Wahb lay on his belly till his back was dry, then turned on his broad +back and squirmed about in a ponderous way till the broiling sun had +wholly dried him. He realized that he was really feeling very well now. +He did not say to himself, "I am troubled with that unpleasant disease +called rheumatism, and sulphur-bath treatment is the thing to cure it." +But what he did know was, "I have dreadful pains; I feel better when +I am in this stinking pool." So thenceforth he came back whenever the +pains began again, and each time he was cured. + + + + +PART III. + + +THE WANING + +[Illustration] + +I. + +Years went by. Wahb grew no bigger,--there was no need for that,--but he +got whiter, crosser, and more dangerous. He really had an enormous range +now. Each spring, after the winter storms had removed his notice-boards, +he went around and renewed them. It was natural to do so, for, first of +all, the scarcity of food compelled him to travel all over the range. +There were lots of clay wallows at that season, and the itching of his +skin, as the winter coat began to shed, made the dressing of cool, wet +clay very pleasant, and the exquisite pain of a good scratching was one +of the finest pleasures he knew. So, whatever his motive, the result was +the same: the signs were renewed each spring. + +At length the Palette Ranch outfit appeared on the Lower Piney, and the +men got acquainted with the 'ugly old fellow.' The Cowpunchers, when +they saw him, decided they 'had n't lost any Bears and they had better +keep out of his way and let him mind his business.' + +They did not often see him, although his tracks and sign-boards were +everywhere. But the owner of this outfit, a born hunter, took a keen +interest in Wahb. He learned something of the old Bear's history from +Colonel Pickett, and found out for himself more than the colonel ever +knew. + +He learned that Wahb ranged as far south as the Upper Wiggins Fork and +north to the Stinking Water, and from the Meteetsee to the Shoshones. + +He found that Wahb knew more about Bear-traps than most trappers do; +that he either passed them by or tore open the other end of the bait-pen +and dragged out the bait without going near the trap, and by accident or +design Wahb sometimes sprang the trap with one of the logs that formed +the pen. This ranch-owner found also that Wahb disappeared from his +range each year during the heat of the summer, as completely as he did +each winter during his sleep. + + + + +II. + +Many years ago a wise government set aside the head waters of the +Yellowstone to be a sanctuary of wild life forever. In the limits of +this great Wonderland the ideal of the Royal Singer was to be realized, +and none were to harm or make afraid. No violence was to be offered to +any bird or beast, no ax was to be carried into its primitive forests, +and the streams were to flow on forever unpolluted by mill or mine. All +things were to bear witness that such as this was the West before the +white man came. + +The wild animals quickly found out all this. They soon learned the +boundaries of this unfenced Park, and, as every one knows, they show a +different nature within its sacred limits. They no longer shun the +face of man, they neither fear nor attack him, and they are even more +tolerant of one another in this land of refuge. + +Peace and plenty are the sum of earthly good; so, finding them here, +the wild creatures crowd into the Park from the surrounding country in +numbers not elsewhere to be seen. + +The Bears are especially numerous about the Fountain Hotel. In the +woods, a quarter of a mile away, is a smooth open place where the +steward of the hotel has all the broken and waste food put out daily for +the Bears, and the man whose work it is has become the Steward of the +Bears' Banquet. Each day it is spread, and each year there are more +Bears to partake of it. It is a common thing now to see a dozen Bears +feasting there at one time. They are of all kinds--Black, Brown, +Cinnamon, Grizzly, Silvertip, Roach-backs, big and small, families and +rangers, from all parts of the vast surrounding country. All seem to +realize that in the Park no violence is allowed, and the most ferocious +of them have here put on a new behavior. Although scores of Bears roam +about this choice resort, and sometimes quarrel among themselves, not +one of them has ever yet harmed a man. + +Year after year they have come and gone. The passing travellers see +them. The men of the hotel know many of them well. They know that they +show up each summer during the short season when the hotel is in use, +and that they disappear again, no man knowing whence they come or +whither they go. + +One day the owner of the Palette Ranch came through the Park. During his +stay at the Fountain Hotel, he went to the Bear banquet-hall at high +meal-tide. There were several Blackbears feasting, but they made way for +a huge Silvertip Grizzly that came about sundown. + +"That," said the man who was acting as guide, "is the biggest Grizzly in +the Park; but he is a peaceable sort, or Lud knows what'd happen." + +"That!" said the ranchman, in astonishment, as the Grizzly came hulking +nearer, and loomed up like a load of hay among the piney pillars of the +Banquet Hall. "That! It that is not Meteetsee Wahb, I never saw a Bear +in my life! Why, that is the worst Grizzly that ever rolled a log in the +Big Horn Basin." "It ain't possible," said the other, "for he's here +every summer, July and August, an' I reckon he don't live so far away." + +"Well, that settles it," said the ranchman; "July and August is just the +time we miss him on the range; and you can see for yourself that he is +a little lame behind and has lost a claw of his left front foot. Now I +know where he puts in his summers; but I did not suppose that the old +reprobate would know enough to behave himself away from home." + +The big Grizzly became very well known during the successive hotel +seasons. Once only did he really behave ill, and that was the first +season he appeared, before he fully knew the ways of the Park. + +He wandered over to the hotel, one day, and in at the front door. In +the hall he reared up his eight feet of stature as the guests fled in +terror; then he went into the clerk's office. The man said: "All right; +if you need this office more than I do, you can have it," and leaping +over the counter, locked himself in the telegraph-office, to wire the +superintendent of the Park: "Old Grizzly in the office now, seems to +want to run hotel; may we shoot?" + +The reply came: "No shooting allowed in Park; use the hose." Which they +did, and, wholly taken by surprise, the Bear leaped over the counter +too, and ambled out the back way, with a heavy _thud-thudding_ of his +feet, and a rattling of his claws on the floor. He passed through the +kitchen as he went, and, picking up a quarter of beef, took it along. + +This was the only time he was known to do ill, though on one occasion +he was led into a breach of the peace by another Bear. This was a large +she-Blackbear and a noted mischief-maker. She had a wretched, sickly cub +that she was very proud of--so proud that she went out of her way to +seek trouble on his behalf. And he, like all spoiled children, was the +cause of much bad feeling. She was so big and fierce that she could +bully all the other Blackbears, but when she tried to drive off old Wahb +she received a pat from his paw that sent her tumbling like a football. +He followed her up, and would have killed her, for she had broken the +peace of the Park, but she escaped by climbing a tree, from the top of +which her miserable little cub was apprehensively squealing at the pitch +of his voice. So the affair was ended; in future the Blackbear kept +out of Wahb's way, and he won the reputation of being a peaceable, +well-behaved Bear. Most persons believed that he came from some remote +mountains where were neither guns nor traps to make him sullen and +revengeful. + + + + +III. + +Every one knows that a Bitter-root Grizzly is a bad Bear. The +Bitter-root Range is the roughest part of the mountains. The ground is +everywhere cut up with deep ravines and overgrown with dense and tangled +underbrush. + +It is an impossible country for horses, and difficult for gunners, and +there is any amount of good Bear-pasture. So there are plenty of Bears +and plenty of trappers. + +The Roachbacks, as the Bitter-root Grizzlies are called, are a cunning +and desperate race. An old Roachback knows more about traps than half +a dozen ordinary trappers; he knows more about plants and roots than a +whole college of botanists. He can tell to a certainty just when and +where to find each kind of grub and worm, and he knows by a whiff +whether the hunter on his trail a mile away is working with guns, +poison, dogs, traps, or all of them together. And he has one general +rule, which is an endless puzzle to the hunter: 'Whatever you decide +to do, do it quickly and follow it right up.' So when a trapper and a +Roachback meet, the Bear at once makes up his mind to run away as hard +as he can, or to rush at the man and fight to a finish. + +The Grizzlies of the Bad Lands did not do this: they used to stand on +their dignity and growl like a thunder-storm, and so gave the hunters +a chance to play their deadly lightning; and lightning is worse than +thunder any day. Men can get used to growls that rumble along the ground +and up one's legs to the little house where one's courage lives; but +Bears cannot get used to 45-90 soft-nosed bullets, and that is why the +Grizzlies of the Bad Lands were all killed off. + +So the hunters have learned that they never know what a Roachback will +do; but they do know that he is going to be quick about it. + +Altogether these Bitter-root Grizzlies have solved very well the problem +of life, in spite of white men, and are therefore increasing in their +own wild mountains. + +Of course a range will hold only so many Bears, and the increase is +crowded out; so that when that slim young Bald-faced Roachback found he +could not hold the range he wanted, he went out perforce to seek his +fortune in the world. + +He was not a big Bear, or he would not have been crowded out; but he had +been trained in a good school, so that he was cunning enough to get on +very well elsewhere. How he wandered down to the Salmon River Mountains +and did not like them; how he traveled till he got among the barb-wire +fences of the Snake Plains and of course could not stay there; how a +mere chance turned him from going eastward to the Park, where he might +have rested; how he made for the Snake River Mountains and found more +hunters than berries; how he crossed into the Tetons and looked down +with disgust on the teeming man colony of Jackson's Hole, does not +belong to this history of Wahb. But when Baldy Roachback crossed the +Gros Ventre Range and over the Wind River Divide to the head of the +Graybull, he does come into the story, just as he did into the country +and the life of the Meteetsee Grizzly. + +The Roachback had not found a man-sign since he left Jackson's Hole, +and here he was in a land of plenty of food. He feasted on all the +delicacies of the season, and enjoyed the easy, brushless country till +he came on one of Wahb's sign-posts. + +"Trespassers beware!" it said in the plainest manner. The Roachback +reared up against it. + +"Thunder! what a Bear!" The nose-mark was a head and neck above Baldy's +highest reach. Now, a simple Bear would have gone quietly away after +this discovery; but Baldy felt that the mountains owed him a living, and +here was a good one if he could keep out of the way of the big fellow. +He nosed about the place, kept a sharp lookout for the present owner, +and went on feeding wherever he ran across a good thing. + +A step or two from this ominous tree was an old pine stump. In the +Bitter-roots there are often mice-nests under such stumps, and Baldy +jerked it over to see. There was nothing. The stump rolled over against +the sign-post. Baldy had not yet made up his mind about it; but a new +notion came into his cunning brain. He turned his head on this side, +then on that. He looked at the stump, then at the sign, with his little +pig-like eyes. Then he deliberately stood up on the pine root, with his +back to the tree, and put his mark away up, a head at least above that +of Wahb. He rubbed his back long and hard, and he sought some mud to +smear his head and shoulders, then came back and made the mark so big, +so strong, and so high, and emphasized it with such claw-gashes in the +bark, that it could be read only in one way--a challenge to the present +claimant from some monstrous invader, who was ready, nay anxious, to +fight to a finish for this desirable range. + +Maybe it was accident and maybe design, but when the Roach-back +jumped from the root it rolled to one side. Baldy went on down the +canyon, keeping the keenest lookout for his enemy. + +It was not long before Wahb found the trail of the interloper, and all +the ferocity of his outside-the-Park nature was aroused. + +He followed the trail for miles on more than one occasion. But the small +Bear was quick-footed as well as quick-witted, and never showed himself. +He made a point, however, of calling at each sign-post, and if there was +any means of cheating, so that his mark might be put higher, he did it +with a vim, and left a big, showy record. But if there was no chance for +any but a fair register, he would not go near the tree, but looked for a +fresh tree near by with some log or side-ledge to reach from. + +Thus Wahb soon found the interloper's marks towering far above his +own--a monstrous Bear evidently, that even he could not be sure of +mastering. But Wahb was no coward. He was ready to fight to a finish any +one that might come; and he hunted the range for that invader. Day after +day Wahb sought for him and held himself ready to fight. He found his +trail daily, and more and more often he found that towering record far +above his own. He often smelled him on the wind; but he never saw him, +for the old Grizzly's eyes had grown very dim of late years; things but +a little way off were blurs to him. The continual menace could not but +fill Wahb with uneasiness, for he was not young now, and his teeth and +claws were worn and blunted. He was more than ever troubled with pains +in his old wounds, and though he could have risen on the spur of the +moment to fight any number of Grizzlies of any size, still the continual +apprehension, the knowledge that he must hold himself ready at any +moment to fight this young monster, weighed on his spirits and began to +tell on his general health. + + + + +IV. + +The Roachback's life was one of continual vigilance, always ready to +run, doubling and shifting to avoid the encounter that must mean instant +death to him. Many a time from some hiding-place he watched the great +Bear, and trembled lest the wind should betray him. Several times his +very impudence saved him, and more than once he was nearly cornered in +a box-canyon. Once he escaped only by climbing up a long crack in a +cliff, which Wahb's huge frame could not have entered. But still, in a +mad persistence, he kept on marking the trees farther into the range. + +At last he scented and followed up the sulphur-bath. He did not +understand it at all. It had no appeal to him, but hereabouts were the +tracks of the owner. In a spirit of mischief the Roachback scratched +dirt into the spring, and then seeing the rubbing-tree, he stood +sidewise on the rocky ledge, and was thus able to put his mark fully +five feet above that of Wahb. Then he nervously jumped down, and was +running about, defiling the bath and keeping a sharp lookout, when he +heard a noise in the woods below. Instantly he was all alert. The sound +drew near, then the wind brought the sure proof, and the Roachback, in +terror, turned and fled into the woods. + +[Illustration] + +It was Wahb. He had been failing in health of late; his old pains +were on him again, and, as well as his hind leg, had seized his right +shoulder, where were still lodged two rifle-balls. He was feeling very +ill, and crippled with pain. He came up the familiar bank at a jerky +limp, and there caught the odor of the foe; then he saw the track in the +mud--his eyes said the track of a _small_ Bear, but his eyes were dim +now, and his nose, his unerring nose, said, "This is the track of the +huge invader." Then he noticed the tree with his sign on it, and there +beyond doubt was the stranger's mark far above his own. His eyes and +nose were agreed on this; and more, they told him that the foe was close +at hand, might at any moment come. + +Wahb was feeling ill and weak with pain. He was in no mood for a +desperate fight. A battle against such odds would be madness now. So, +without taking the treatment, he turned and swung along the bench away +from the direction taken by the stranger--the first time since his +cubhood that he had declined to fight. + +That was a turning-point in Wahb's life. If he had followed up the +stranger he would have found the miserable little craven trembling, +cowering, in an agony of terror, behind a log in a natural trap, a +walled-in glade only fifty yards away, and would surely have crushed +him. Had he even taken the bath, his strength and courage would have +been renewed, and if not, then at least in time he would have met his +foe, and his after life would have been different. But he had turned. +This was the fork in the trail, but he had no means of knowing it. + +He limped along, skirting the lower spurs of the Shoshones, and soon +came on that horrid smell that he had known for years, but never +followed up or understood. It was right in his road, and he traced it +to a small, barren ravine that was strewn over with skeletons and dark +objects, and Wahb, as he passed, smelled a smell of many different +animals, and knew by its quality that they were lying dead in this +treeless, grassless hollow. For there was a cleft in the rocks at the +upper end, whence poured a deadly gas; invisible but heavy, it filled +the little gulch like a brimming poison bowl, and at the lower end there +was a steady overflow. But Wahb knew only that the air that poured from +it as he passed made him dizzy and sleepy, and repelled him, so that +he got quickly away from it and was glad once more to breathe the piny +wind. Once Wahb decided to retreat, it was all too easy to do so next +time; and the result worked double disaster. For, since the big stranger +was allowed possession of the sulphur-spring, Wahb felt that he would +rather not go there. Sometimes when he came across the traces of his +foe, a spurt of his old courage would come back. He would rumble that +thunder-growl as of old, and go painfully lumbering along the trail +to settle the thing right then and there. But he never overtook the +mysterious giant, and his rheumatism, growing worse now that he was +barred from the cure, soon made him daily less capable of either running +or fighting. + +Sometimes Wahb would sense his foe's approach when he was in a bad place +for fighting, and, without really running, he would yield to a wish to +be on a better footing, where he would have a fair chance. This better +footing never led him nearer the enemy, for it is well known that the +one awaiting has the advantage. + +Some days Wahb felt so ill that it would have been madness to have +staked everything on a fight, and when he felt well or a little better, +the stranger seemed to keep away. + +Wahb soon found that the stranger's track was most often on the Warhouse +and the west slope of the Piney, the very best feeding-grounds. To avoid +these when he did not feel equal to fighting was only natural, and as he +was always in more or less pain now, it amounted to abandoning to the +stranger the best part of the range. + +Weeks went by. Wahb had meant to go back to his bath, but he never did. +His pains grew worse; he was now crippled in his right shoulder as well +as in his hind leg. + +The long strain of waiting for the fight begot anxiety, that grew to be +apprehension, which, with the sapping of his strength, was breaking +down his courage, as it always must when courage is founded on muscular +force. His daily care now was not to meet and fight the invader, but to +avoid him till he felt better. + +Thus that first little retreat grew into one long retreat. Wahb had to +go farther and farther down the Piney to avoid an encounter. He was +daily worse fed, and as the weeks went by was daily less able to crush a +foe. + +He was living and hiding at last on the Lower Piney--the very place +where once his Mother had brought him with his little brothers. The life +he led now was much like the one he had led after that dark day. Perhaps +for the same reason. If he had had a family of his own all might have +been different. As he limped along one morning, seeking among the barren +aspen groves for a few roots, or the wormy partridge-berries that were +too poor to interest the Squirrel and the Grouse, he heard a stone +rattle down the western slope into the woods, and, a little later, on +the wind was borne the dreaded taint. He waded through the ice-cold +Piney,--once he would have leaped it,--and the chill water sent through +and up each great hairy limb keen pains that seemed to reach his very +life. He was retreating again--which way? There seemed but one way +now--toward the new ranch-house. + +But there were signs of stir about it long before he was near enough to +be seen. His nose, his trustiest friend, said, "Turn, turn and seek the +hills," and turn he did even at the risk of meeting there the dreadful +foe. He limped painfully along the north bank of the Piney, keeping in +the hollows and among the trees. He tried to climb a cliff that of old +he had often bounded up at full speed. When half-way up his footing gave +way, and down he rolled to the bottom. A long way round was now the only +road, for onward he must go--on--on. But where? There seemed no choice +now but to abandon the whole range to the terrible stranger. + +And feeling, as far as a Bear can feel, that he is fallen, defeated, +dethroned at last, that he is driven from his ancient range by a Bear +too strong for him to face, he turned up the west fork, and the lot was +drawn. The strength and speed were gone from his once mighty limbs; +he took three times as long as he once would to mount each well-known +ridge, and as he went he glanced backward from time to time to know +if he were pursued. Away up the head of the little branch were the +Shoshones, bleak, forbidding; no enemies were there, and the Park was +beyond it all--on, on he must go. But as he climbed with shaky limbs, +and short uncertain steps, the west wind brought the odor of Death +Gulch, that fearful little valley where everything was dead, where the +very air was deadly. It used to disgust him and drive him away, but now +Wahb felt that it had a message for him; he was drawn by it. + +[Illustration] line of flight, and he hobbled slowly toward the place. +He went nearer, nearer, until he stood upon the entering ledge. A +Vulture that had descended to feed on one of the victims was slowly +going to sleep on the untouched carcass. Wahb swung his great grizzled +muzzle and his long white beard in the wind. The odor that he once had +hated was attractive now. There was a strange biting quality in the +air. His body craved it. For it seemed to numb his pain and it promised +sleep, as it did that day when first he saw the place. + +Far below him, to the right and to the left and on and on as far as the +eye could reach, was the great kingdom that once had been his; where he +had lived for years in the glory of his strength; where none had dared +to meet him face to face. The whole earth could show no view more +beautiful. But Wahb had no thought of its beauty; he only knew that it +was a good land to live in; that it had been his, but that now it was +gone, for his strength was gone, and he was flying to seek a place where +he could rest and be at peace. + +Away over the Shoshones, indeed, was the road to the Park, but it was +far, far away, with a doubtful end to the long, doubtful journey. But +why so far? Here in this little gulch was all he sought; here were peace +and painless sleep. He knew it; for his nose, his never-erring nose, +said, "_Here! here now!_" + +He paused a moment at the gate, and as he stood the wind-borne fumes +began their subtle work. Five were the faithful wardens of his life, and +the best and trustiest of them all flung open wide the door he long had +kept. A moment still Wahb stood in doubt. His lifelong guide was silent +now, had given up his post. But another sense he felt within. The Angel +of the Wild Things was standing there, beckoning, in the little vale. +Wahb did not understand. He had no eyes to see the tear in the Angel's +eyes, nor the pitying smile that was surely on his lips. He could not +even see the Angel. But he _felt_ him beckoning, beckoning. A rush of +his ancient courage surged in the Grizzly's rugged breast. He turned +aside into the little gulch. The deadly vapors entered in, filled his +huge chest and tingled in his vast, heroic limbs as he calmly lay down +on the rocky, herbless floor and as gently went to sleep, as he did that +day in his Mother's arms by the Graybull, long ago. + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Biography of a Grizzly, by +Ernest Seton-Thompson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY *** + +***** This file should be named 9330.txt or 9330.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/3/3/9330/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG +Distributed Proofreaders from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical +Microreproductions + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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