d Alex; "but if this trail
gets very much fresher I think it is just as well for all of us to
keep out of the thicket and take to the open. Maybe we can find higher
ground on ahead."

They passed on up, making cross-cuts on the trail and circling now and
again through the willow flats as they advanced. Once in a while Alex
would have to search a little before he could pick up the trail, but
always somewhere among the willows he would find the great footprint
of the big bear. Often he showed the boys where the willows had been
broken down by the bear in its feeding, and at some places it left a
path as though a cyclone had gone through.

Having established it in his mind that the bear was steadily advancing
deeper back into the valley they were following, Alex at last left the
willow flats and made for the side of the depression down which a
little stream was coming, striking into the hills at the place where
the valley finally narrowed to a deep coulee. Here they advanced
slowly and cautiously, taking care to be on the side where the wind
would favor them most, and once in a while Alex still dropped down to
the foot of the coulee in search of sign or feeding-ground. As they
advanced, however, the course of the stream became more definite and
the moist ground not so large in extent, so that it became more
difficult to trail any animal on the drier ground. A mile farther on,
none the less, in a little muddy place, they found the track of the
giant bear, still ahead of them. It had sunk eight inches or more into
the soft earth, and a little film of muddy water still was trickling
into the bottom of the track, while at its rim little particles of
mud still hung loose and ragged.

Alex's eyes now gleamed with eagerness, for he saw that the bear was
but a little distance ahead. He examined closely the country about to
see whether the big grizzly was alone, and to his relief found no sign
of the smaller bear.

"I'm not afraid of them both," said he, in a low whisper to Rob, "but
sometimes it's easier to get up to one bear than it is to two, and I
notice it's nearly always the small one that gives the alarm."

The big grizzly, however, still was traveling steadily at times. They
could not locate him in this thicket, and, indeed, a little farther on
found where, apparently but a few moments earlier, he had left this
coulee and crossed a little ridge, apparently intending to change his
course entirely. This was disappointin