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The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film6s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, 11 est f\\m6 A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY IS Drawings ERNEST SETON-THOMPSON # jtlllllMIMfiKlllllKMKI 'MUM ^2^m^2E3^E^^E^^L or ot ^1 of f he S&ndhlU Sf &g Wild Amnt.iU s I Have Known Art, *al(5nr^ of Animawls [iMnm&U of MMiitobOk. B i rd s of MMiitpbtk Published by The Cen c the Library 'p^d^s«W-"'*'*-?,^^ter\oo Copyright, 1899, 1900, by The Century Co. Copyright, 1900, by Ernest Seton-Thompson. First Impression April 14 1900 ^^ A H B \ J THE OE VINNE PREM i 1 t r^ A v/ H ^' A H c/«^^%>v 1 B u ' \ This Book is dedicated to the memory of the days spent at the Palette Ranch on the Gray- bull, where from hunter, miner, personal experience, and the host himself, I gathered many chapters of the History of Wahb. wi A H B w \ J I I V: 1 ! 1 1 r^ II .A. v/ • \^' A i A H ; H B B ^,r::\^ u.»iC:tov w KlJ In this Book the designs for title- page, cover, and general make- up, were done by Mrs. Gra:e Gallatin Seton-Thompson. \^ A H B V E A ^ 1-^ A H B List of Full- Page Drawings Page They all Rushed Under it like a Lot of Little Pigs 14 Like Children Playing 'Hands*. . . 18 He Stayed in the Tree till near fAorn- i"g 32 A Savage Bobcat . . . Warned Him to go Back 44 Wahb Yelled and Jerked Back . . 50 He Struck one Fearful, Crushing Blow 74 Ain't He an Awful Size, Though? . . 90 Wahb Smashed His Skull .... 1 02 Causing the Pool to Overflow . . .113 He Deliberately Stood up on the Pine Root 142 The Roachback Fled into the Woods . 150 He Paused a Moment at the Gate . 1 65 r>^ ^ V/ rw A A H H B B V/ A H B Iwl A H B Part I THE CUBHOOD OF WAHB '&■ w 4*' fr A H B \ iL r^^ -^- V/ t w A A H H B B 1 V .-.(C*^ ^ I was born over a score of years ago, away up in the wild- est 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 GraybuU, 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. The woolly-coated little crea- tures were having a fine time, and reveled in the lovely mountain sum- mer 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 v/ A H B 1 V/ A H B , V/ A H B "they all rushed under it like a lot of little pigs." \ A H B 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 yel- low 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 i i* \ ' \( the common little brov/n 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 cac- tus-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 ^rain 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 1 r^ V/ A H B .,«*£%^ \d ■ V/ A H B it ^ir \ \ M A J- 1 V/ A H B LIKE CHILDREN PLAYING 'HANDS.'" v/ A H B 1. 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 soui 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.'' First she went to the lower end i k t is of the pool and stirred up a cloud of mud which hung in *' still water, and sent a long tau noating 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 sud- den attack sent them off in a panic, and (hey 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 r^ V/ " A H B vry V I 4^ # ,.A.. r^ W iw A A H H B B ..-«!f>~ . ^t<^*~ \^ - v"y «£-r/' noisily on these funny, short snakes that could not get away, and gob- bled 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. 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 be- r>^-.-^i i'^' '//I <*< t^ I' ^\">^N.^ •:^-- \ A =? % twcen her Mother's ^reat arms, for she was a gentle, petted little thing. The largest, the one after- ward known as Wahb, sprawled over on his back and began to worry a root that stuck up, grum- bling to himself as he chewed it, or slapped it with his paw for not staying where he wanted it. Pres- ently 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 ov> rand over on the grass, and, before they knew it, down a bank, and away out of sight toward the river. Almost immediately there was an outcry of yells for help from the w A H B V / \ f v/ A H B little wrestlers. There could be no mistaking the real terror in their voices. Some dreadful danger was threatening. 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 yel- low 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 bound- ing ball of yellow fur. Mother Griz- zly was upon him. Him ! the mon- arch of the herd, the master of all these plains, what had he to fear? He bellowed his deep war-cry, and ^ *) i „ 1«' ' 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 shoul- ders, raking the flesh from his ribs with sweep after sweep of her ter- rific claws. The Bull roared with rage, and plunged and reared, dragging Mo- ther 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. This wa'' a lucky thing for him, for the Grizzly did not want to fol- low 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. A H B ^fv V/ A H B II !LD 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 #--f: 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?" The Colonel took down his new rifle, a 45-90 repeater. ^* May as well/'he said; ^^thisismymonth '' ; 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 roar- ing 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,' v/ r A H ■ B v«Ct.v w \ I IN A H B A H B 77 J was covered with blood. His back and sides were torn as by a Moun- tain-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. i ''.■; lit* "(«■"■ ' If ' ■ ^-■>mvi % ( f I I •>■■■■! *^ Run for the woods/' growled the Mother Grizzly, for she knew that men carried ^uns. 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 be- gan. ^cng! and Mother Grizzly felt a deadly pang. ^angl 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. 'Bang! and she fell paralyzed and dying with a high shoulder v/ A H B N i\ r^ 11 r^ V/ K V/ A ■1 A H H H B H B i.t C^ lowed, 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 kill- ing 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 GraybuU 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. ) \ \ i It k: \ 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 or. he had seen on that day of sorrow. At the same mo- men I he heard a ban^, and some A H B r>^ W A H •■ ' B t^«<^ w m w m t V i l! hi. ¥ W I' ' "A SAVAGE BOBCAT . . . WARNED HIM TO GO BACK." \\ 1 -A. V/ A H B ^o^ ^ 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 be- fore. He soon got into a gully and fol- lowed it into the canon. An open- ing between two cliffs seemed to offer shelter^ but as he ran toward it a Range-cow came trotting be- tween, 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 5 J. •< "// ""■■•■^^, / I and scrambled up a rocky bank into the pinon woods that border the benches of the Meteetsee. The Pine Squirrels seemed to resent his comin^^ and barked furi- ously. They were thinking about their pifion-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 mi^ht 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. V/ A H B v/ A H B IV 'AHB 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 ai^ainst 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 •*1 I bi^. 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 gran- aries 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 cafion now, living mostly in the V/ A H B 5- - A H B .'i \4 m Q u OS "1 Q Q U S V/ A H B 51 n Q u u •-» Q *<: Q U H-] .J ca 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 sud- den 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 im- movable. Every little while he ^- ^Igi m i ^ynfimm p f - ^■^^1) 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 be- hind; but still it clung, biting into his flesh. He made lor 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. 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, r.nd bearing down as it slid av^ay, the trap jaws opened and the foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to A H B \3 A H B A H B 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 dread- ful 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. It was now the season when the Elk were buglingon 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 k ./ M-"'^ rr 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 remem- bered 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 be- hind. 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* m p> A A Hi H B B .,%<^ .^r.^ ^^ W It made Wabb jump ; but he ^ot 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, Wabb 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 un- der 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 clearto be draped I ' ' A ''''^W^^^i^i^M % anew. It drifted over the moun- tains and poured down the funnel- like ravines, blowing off the peaks and ridges, and filling up the hol- lows level with their rimso It piled up over Wahb's den, shutting out the cold of the winter, shutting out itself: and Wahb slept and slept. '■, y r^ 1 \sr ii [ A .1 H B 'i v'«A^t■v 1 W i 1 ( r-^ Vv^ i A ' 1 H B .^-t^ w V |E slept all winter with- out waking, for such is the way of Bears, and yet when spring came and aroused knew that he had been asleep a long time. He was not much changed — he had grown in height, and yet was but little thin- ner. 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. ll !l I: There were no pinon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants ; but Wahb's nose led him away up the caiion 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 Di- vide into the Warhouse Valley. It was warm and sunny there, vege- tation 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 • I' A H B 58 A A H H B D v^A"\^ v-t;C»-- \^J ^ 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 him- self 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, stoppmg from time to time to dig up the quamash-roots and wild turnips. He was a monster. Wahbinstinc- I'l \J I ' * ..!■ tively 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 Di- vid(; in CO the Meteetsee Canon, and realised 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 v/ A H B r^ r^ wi V/ A A H H B B ^<::*^ ./«<:«>v \^ lei. back against some convenient tree. He never climbed now: his claws were too long, and bis arms,tbough growing big and strong, were losing that suppleness of wrist that makes cub Grizzlies and all Blackbears ^reat 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- y 4 4^. A f- \ ^ fi, f : ■'Sv.^ii'.-' '^^>yv*; '?^ ••.', tree, and thus it was that his ran^e 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 furi- ous against the interloper. As the Blackbear came nearer Wahb no- ticed 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 P: this was the black coward ad chased him down the Piney long ago. But how he had shrunken 1 Before, he had looked like a giant; now Wahb felt he could crush him with one paw. Re- venge is sweet, Wahb felt, though w A H B A H B 6j he did not exactly say it, and be went for that red-nosed Bear. But the Black one went up a small tree like a Squirrel. Wahb tried to fol- low 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 de- rision. Later on that day, when the Grizzly passed again, the red- nosed one had gone. As the summer waned, the up- per 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 car- cass was another that jumped about in the moonlight in a fool- ish 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 I The Coyote was caught in a W A H B W A H B A H B 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 be- fore clankf 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 wan- dered down-stream ; but more and more often he got whiffs of that hor- rible odor, so he turned and went back to his quiet piiion benches. aJ^. «^» Ov < III ' ^y a iP-^ ■Si^- ^^r^ c J v/ A H B 66 y/ % fw A H B \t7j Part II THE DAYS OF HIS STRENGTH -t A H B V/ A H B I ^AHB'S third sum- mer 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-col- ored now, and this was why Spah- wat, 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 Meteetsec he knew that he was on the ran^e 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. Hegrowled 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. 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 rA • V/ A H B t^?r't;»v \yoJ jv y *%o i ^ -*- \\r A H B 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 quiet- ly climbed farther up the moun- tain to another resting-place. But again he sensed the Indian's ap- proach, and made off. Several times this happeiied, and at length there was a second shot and an- other galling wound, Wahb was furious now. There was nothing that really frightened him but that horribleodorofman,iron,andguns, 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 fC R V m li':^ ::l 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 ; gloating joyfully over each bloody print that meant such an- guish 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 A H B \7\J iw A H B i «l i It HE STRUCK ONE FEARFUL, CRUSHING BLOW. A H B 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. Th'is he learned that one must fight oj peace; for he never saw that In- dian again, and he had time to r^st and recover. n sm ■ar Il' ii '••I I! II' I i ! n I H E years went on as before, except that each winter Wahb slept less soundly, and each spring be came out earlier and was a bigger Grizzly, with fewer enemies that dared tc face him. When his sixth year came he was a very big, strong, sullen Bear, with neither friend- ship nor love in his life since that evil day on the Lower Piney. No one ever heard of Wahb's 1 [ r^ ' ^aT A H B t,.,-'."*^ ■ W 1 V r^ ^ Vv^ v/ A A H H B B ..».-OVv . .^^*^ \!lJ 1 [^ % 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 ha- bitual 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 Metcetsee Valley since first he betook him- self there, and his character had been shaped by many little adven- tures with traps and his wild rivals of the mountains. But there was none of the latter that henow feared, and he knew enough to avoid the first, for that penetrating odor of •— x^i^fanHUiH man and iron was a never-failing warning, especially after an experi- ence which befell him in his sixth year. His ever-reliable nose told him that there was a dead Elk down among the timber. He went up the wind, and there, sure enough, was the great de- licious 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 for- ward, and at once was caught by his left paw in an enormous Bear- trap. He roared with pain and w A H B ^|: A H B A H D Vy 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. Heplacedthe trap between his hind legs, with a hind paw on each spring, and pressed down with all bis weight. But it was not enough . H e 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. 11 I I. 1 p 1 1 V ) 1 i l 1 1 ■ 1 With a bind foot on each spring and his mighty shoulders under- neath the tree, he bore down with his titanic strength : the great steel springs gave way, the jaws ^ J relaxed, and be tore out his foot. ird So Wabb was free again, though \ / , be left behind a great toe which had been nearly severed by the first snap of the steel. Again Wabb bad a painful wound to nurse, and as be 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 dis- ablement 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 be never A H B \Z^ V. T r<\l AaT A H B ^«< I IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V {/ /c ^ .5^^^. A ^ 'do ^ 1.0 1.25 21 12.5 2.2 ■" 136 I u 1.4 V] / ^^ o>% '/ # Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N.y MSM (716) S/2-4S03 ,\ iV 4 i Li>' ch and every thing had a voice of its own for him; and yet it was far better than a voic?, for every one knows that a good nose is better than eyes ana ears together. And each of these myriads of voices kept on crying^ ** Here and such am V The juniper-berries, the rose- hips, the strawberries, each had a soft, sweet little voice, calling, ^^Here we are — Berries, Berries/^ The <^reat 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. ^A/' H B aaJL H B \^ A H B 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 canon-banks sang a song too, as fine as its thread- like 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. f i 1 ! -A. A H and every flower that ^rew, and ^ every rock and stone and shape \!y on earth told out its tale and sang its little story to his nose. Day or nighty fog or bright, that great, moist nose told him most of the things he needed to know, or passed unnoticed those of no con- cern, and he depended on it more and more. If his eyes and ears to- gether 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 ^^^^2 were indifferent to him, a good ;:^^C^y7. ■^ .- A H B v/ A H B log 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 /W he could scarcely use that le^, and one day, while thus crippled, the west wind came down the canon 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 moun- tain 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 A H B f~~ A H B 10 v/ A H B before — up a bank of whitish sand to a bench of the same color, v^here 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 vith 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 '^. (1 V--' { 3 his skin. He put in both feet, and little by little went in farther, caus- ing the pool to overflow on all sides, till he was lying at full length in the warm, almost hot, sulphur- spring, and swelterii'g in the green- ish water, while the wind drifted the steam about overhead. There are plenty of these sul- phur-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 re- markably well and supple. The stiffness of his hind leg was gone. He shook the water from his shr ggy coat. A broad ledge in full A H B A H D CAU^^lNli THE POOL TO OVKKFLUW. v/ A H D ■> I v^: 4^ „. v/ A H B 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 mis- take. 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 i\ ' : I realized that he was really feeling very well now. He did not say to himself, '* I am troubled with that unpleasant disease called rheuma- tism, 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. . A H B V / E .♦t ii A H B A H B ;•'' ^-H* I- « -t Il ' J it ! I r^ 1 r^ V/ V/ A A H H B B w<<^t~ .-^Ct- ViisJ V»9/ r Part Hi THE WANING '& ,*./ lvN ^ I H B 130 v/ A H B \^ A H B t I 'EARS went by. Wahb grew no big- ger, — there was no need for that, — but he got whiter, Gross- er, and more dangerous. H e 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. re l-^^ — • 5 / V "^ II .ANY years ago a wise government set aside the bead wa- ters of the Yellow- stone to be a sanc- tuary of wild life forever. In tbe limits of tbis great Wonderland tbe ideal of tbe Royal Singer was to be realized, and none were to barm or make afraid. No violence was to be offered to any bird or beast, no ax was to be carried into its primi- tive forests, and tbe streams were I iP'^-vV".",,.,, i.' ' "' '«*lv N '•V *V'A\'/» .t ■^v ki> 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 surround- ing country in numbers not else- where to be seen. ^ ■ \3^' '^oSp ►V .A, A H B 26 ',«^ ii*i!,.ii < m Ml .vW, «'-j*,'H^'-'^ n h A H B ^^^ t^' v/ A H B '^V'-^/^/ -.'^^^'' The Bears are especially nu- merous about the Fountain Ho- tel. 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 par- take of it. It is a common thing now to see a dozen Bears feast- ing there at one time. They are of all kinds — Black, Brown, Cin- namon, 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 vio- lence is allowed, and the most fe- A. An. >. rocious of them have here put on a new behavior. Although scores of Bears roam about this choice re- sort, 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 sum- mer during the short season when the hotel is in use, and that they disappear again, no man knowmg 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 wenr to the Bear ban- A H B 138 Vs/- A H B 128 V A H D •jmJ! C-i-sfV quet-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, 'Ms 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 ! If 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.*' I • t» i}'\ I ^*It ain^t possible/* said the other, **for he 's here every sum- mer, 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 sup- pose 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 th^ first season he appeared, before v/ A H B 130 k > I r^ 1 rN wl w A A H H B B .,x^^ ,..;{":«-. V^ <& he fully knew the ways of the Park. He wandered over to the h 1, one day, and in at the front do r. 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 11 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 oc- casion 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 V/ A H B IJ2 1: IV/ A H B -, •-/ ^.^* could bully all the other Black- bears^ 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 apprehen- sively 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 repu- tation of being a peaceable, well- behaved Bear. Most persons be- lieved that he came from some remote mountains where were neither guns nor traps to make him sullen and revengeful. '^1 V/ A H B III ,VERY one knows that a Bitter-root Grizzly is a bad Bear. The Bitter- root Ran^e is the roughest part of the mountains. The ground is everywhere cut up with deep ravines and overgrown with dense and tangled under- brush. It is an impossible country for horses, and difficult for gunners, and there is any amount of good 1 1 -A. A H B A H B 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 col- lege 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, clogs, 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 --^^^ii hi I h 11 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 bul- lets, and that is why the Grizzlies of the Bad Lands were all killed off. iw A H B 36y . 'I « I. A H B H B So the hunters have learned that they never know what a Roachback will do; but they do know that he is goin^ 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 in- creasing in their own wild moun- tains. 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 ^ood school^ so that he was cunning enough to get on very well else- where. 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 V/ A H B v/ A H B r v/ A H B I 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 coun- try 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 coun- try 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, t't, a simple Bear would have ^one 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 H , B ! A H B " HE DELIBERATELY STOOD UP ON THE PINE ROOT." t ' ! A-y B 4V' 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 shoul- ders, 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 may- be design, but when the Roach- back jumped from the root it rolled to one side. Baldy went on down the canon, 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 V/ A H B I i v/ A H B A H B 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 in- terloper's marks towering far above his own — a monstrous Bear evi- dently, 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 tar above his own. He often smelled him on the wind ; but he never saw him, for the old Grizzly's eyes had I \ grown very dim of late years; things but a little way off were mere 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 con- tinual 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. A H B A H B v/ A H B IV HE Roachback's life was one of contin- ual vigilance, always ready to run^ doub- ling and shifting to avoid the encounter that must mean insiunt death to him. Many a time from some hiding-place he watched the great Bear, and trembled lest the wind should betray him. Sev- eral times his very impudence saved him, and more than once he was nearly cornered in a box- 'i'> .^.. ••• %^. .^^,,^" -^^. w ■<(rj H ! |b| w A H B \e. r-^fr only natural, and as he was always in more or less pain now, it amount- ed 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, seek- ing among the barren aspen groves for a few roots, or the wormy partridge-berries that were too poor A H B ^ • i I fi A H B ' r^ : V/ A H B ...^•N^v W 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, — oncehe would have leaped it, — andthe 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 weie 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 V' yi N^ i Y c._. ) the dreadful foe. He limped pain- fully along the north bank of the Piney, keeping in the hollows and among the trees. H e 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 be 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, de- throned 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 A H B \i6oJ a ^a i v/ A H B 1 60 A H B yey were gone from his once mighty limbs; he took 'hree 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 every- thing 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. It was in his line of flight, and he hobbled slowly toward the place. He went nearer, nearer, i ntil 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 qualify m 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 plac j. 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; V/ A H B A A H » H B B ^/-."ov. .^