kward with their eyes,
and being to leeward of them they could not scent me, and I often got in
a second shot before they noticed the smoke. Usually, however, they run
when wounded and hide in the brush. I let them run a good safe time
before I ventured to follow them, and Sandy was pretty sure to find them
dead. If not, he barked and drew their attention, and occasionally
rushed in for a distracting bite, so that I was able to get to a safe
distance for a final shot. Oh yes, bear-hunting is safe enough when
followed in a safe way, though like every other business it has its
accidents, and little doggie and I have had some close calls. Bears like
to keep out of the way of men as a general thing, but if an old, lean,
hungry mother with cubs met a man on her own ground she would, in my
opinion, try to catch and eat him. This would be only fair play anyhow,
for we eat them, but nobody hereabout has been used for bear grub that I
know of."

Brown had left his mountain home ere we arrived, but a considerable
number of Digger Indians still linger in their cedar-bark huts on the
edge of the flat. They were attracted in the first place by the white
hunter whom they had learned to respect, and to whom they looked for
guidance and protection against their enemies the Pah Utes, who
sometimes made raids across from the east side of the Range to plunder
the stores of the comparatively feeble Diggers and steal their wives.

CHAPTER II

IN CAMP ON THE NORTH FORK OF THE MERCED

_June 8._ The sheep, now grassy and good-natured, slowly nibbled their
way down into the valley of the North Fork of the Merced at the foot of
Pilot Peak Ridge to the place selected by the Don for our first central
camp, a picturesque hopper-shaped hollow formed by converging hill
slopes at a bend of the river. Here racks for dishes and provisions were
made in the shade of the river-bank trees, and beds of fern fronds,
cedar plumes, and various flowers, each to the taste of its owner, and a
corral back on the open flat for the wool.

_June 9._ How deep our sleep last night in the mountain's heart, beneath
the trees and stars, hushed by solemn-sounding waterfalls and many small
soothing voices in sweet accord whispering peace! And our first pure
mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless,--how immeasurable it seems, how
serenely wild! I can scarcely remember its beginning. Along the river,
over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on w