m the Sierras, and I will. But," he added, "you were going to
tell me about your hunting. I should think it would be great sport."

"Son," said Rifle-Eye somewhat sharply, "I never killed a harmless
critter 'for sport,' as you call it, in my life."

"But I thought," gasped Wilbur in astonishment, "that you were hunting
nearly all the time, before you started in as Ranger."

"So I was," was the quiet reply.

"But--but I don't quite see--" Wilbur stopped lamely.

"I said before," resumed the old hunter, "that I never killed a harmless
critter onless I had to. Neither have I. Varmints, o' course, is a
different matter. I've shot plenty o' them, an' once in a while I've had
ter kill fer food. But just shootin' for the sake o' shootin' is the
trick of a coward or a fool or a tenderfoot or a mixture of all three.
It's plumb unnecessary, an' it's dead wrong."

"You mean shooting deer and so forth?"

"I mean just that, son, if the shootin's only fer antlers an' what these
here greenhorns calls 'trophies.' If venison is needed, why, I ain't got
nothin' to say. A man's life is worth more than a deer's when he needs
food, but a man's conceit ain't worth more than a deer's life."

"How about bear, then, and trapping for skins?" asked the boy.

"I said 'harmless critters.' Now, a bear ain't harmless, leastways, not
as you'd notice it. Bear will take young stock, an' they're particularly
partial to young pig, an' down among these here foothills we've been
passin' through there's a lot o' shiftless hog-rustlers as depends on
pork fer a livin'. As for bearskins, why, o' course you use the pelts.
What's the idee o' leavin' them around? It ain't any kind o' good tryin'
to spare an animal's feelin's when he's plenty good an' dead. But I've
made this here section of the Sierras pretty hot for wolves."

"I heard down at the ranch," the boy remarked, "that you had bagged
forty-seven wolves last season."

"I did have a good year," assented the Ranger, "an', of course, I can't
give much time to it. But I reckon I've disposed of more'n a thousand
wolves in my day, one way and another. An' as I look at it, that's
makin' pretty good use of time."

"Are wolves worse than bear?" queried Wilbur surprisedly.

"They do a lot more harm in the long run. Cattlemen reckon that a wolf
will get away with about four head a year. Myself, I think that's
pressin' the average some; I'd put it at somewhere between two an'
three. But it's generally f