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.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

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.

[Illustration]

At length the Palette Ranch outfit appeared on the Lower Piney, and the men
got acquainted with the "ugly old fellow." The Cow-punchers, when they saw
him, decided they "hadn't lost any Bears and they had better keep out of
his way and let him mind his business."

[Illustration]

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 h