rograde. And that is
to say if a man does not go to the wilds now and then, and work hard
and live some semblance of the life of his progenitors, he will
weaken. It seems that he will, but I am not prepared now to say
whether or not that would be well. The Germans believe they are the
race fittest to survive over all others--and that has made me a
little sick of this Darwin business.

[Illustration: A BLACK BEAR TREED]

To return, however, to the fact that to ride after hounds on a wild
chase is a dangerous and wonderfully exhilarating experience, I will
relate a couple of instances, and I will leave it to my readers to
judge whether or not it is a cowardly sport.

One afternoon a rancher visited our camp and informed us that he had
surprised a big black bear eating the carcass of a dead cow.

"Good! We'll have a bear to-morrow night," declared Teague, in
delight. "We'll get him even if the trail is a day old. But he'll come
back to-night."

Early next morning the young rancher and three other boys rode into
camp, saying they would like to go with us to see the fun. We were
glad to have them, and we rode off through the frosted sage that
crackled like brittle glass under the hoofs of the horses. Our guide
led toward a branch of a park, and when we got within perhaps a
quarter of a mile Teague suggested that R.C. and I go ahead on the
chance of surprising the bear. It was owing to this suggestion that my
brother and I were well ahead of the others. But we did not see any
bear near the carcass of the cow. Old Jim and Sampson were close
behind us, and when Jim came within forty yards of that carcass he
put his nose up with a deep and ringing bay, and he shot by us like a
streak. He never went near the dead cow! Sampson bayed like thunder
and raced after Jim.

"They're off!" I yelled to R.C. "It's a hot scent! Come on!"

We spurred our horses and they broke across the open park to the edge
of the woods. Jim and Sampson were running straight with noses high. I
heard a string of yelps and bellows from our rear.

"Look back!" shouted R.C.

Teague and the cowboys were unleashing the rest of the pack. It surely
was great to see them stretch out, yelping wildly. Like the wind they
passed us. Jim and Sampson headed into the woods with deep bays. I was
riding Teague's best horse for this sort of work and he understood the
game and plainly enjoyed it. R.C.'s horse ran as fast in the woods as
he did in the open. This frig