romantic interest, but reliable in their
fact. As in human life, there are tragedy, and humour, and pathos in the
life of the wild; there are facts of tremendous interest, real happenings
and real lives to be written about, and very small necessity for one to
draw on imagination. In "Kazan" I tried to give the reader a picture of my
years of experience among the wild sledge dogs of the North. In "The
Grizzly" I have scrupulously adhered to facts as I have found them in the
lives of the wild creatures of which I have written. Little Muskwa was with
me all that summer and autumn in the Canadian Rockies. Pipoonaskoos is
buried in the Firepan Range country, with a slab over his head, just like a
white man. The two grizzly cubs we dug out on the Athabasca are dead. And
Thor still lives, for his range is in a country where no hunters go--and
when at last the opportunity came we did not kill him. This year (in July
of 1916) I am going back into the country of Thor and Muskwa. I think I
would know Thor if I saw him again, for he was a monster full-grown. But
in two years Muskwa had grown from cubhood into full bearhood. And yet I
believe that Muskwa would know me should we chance to meet again. I like to
think that he has not forgotten the sugar, and the scores of times he
cuddled up close to me at night, and the hunts we had together after roots
and berries, and the sham fights with which we amused ourselves so often in
camp. But, after all, perhaps he would not forgive me for that last day
when we ran away from him so hard--leaving him alone to his freedom in the
mountains.

JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD.

Owosso, Michigan,
May 5, 1916.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"As Thor had more than once come into contact with porcupine quills, he
hesitated."

"Like the wind Thor bore down on the flank of the caribou, swung a little
to one side, and then without any apparent effort--still like a huge
ball--he bounded in and upward, and the short race was done."

"They headed up the creek-bottom, bending over from their saddles to look
at every strip of sand they passed for tracks. They had not gone a quarter
of a mile when Bruce gave a sudden exclamation and stopped."

"'Come on!' he cried. 'The black's dead! If we hustle we can get our
grizzly!'"

THE GRIZZLY KING

CHAPTER ONE

With the silence and immobility of a great reddish-tinted, rock, Thor stood
for many minutes looking out over his domain. He could not see f