sinews and bones, though when in good condition he
could not have weighed less than eight hundred pounds. We, however,
managed to get some ham and a few steaks out of him, and a small supply
of fat, while his skin afforded a very acceptable addition to our bed
coverings. Just as the operation was concluded, Short, who had gone
out, came back, saying that, a little snow having fallen in the first
part of the night, he could make out the bear's trail.

"If we follow it up, we may come upon Mrs Bear's lodgings, and find
some young ones at home. Who's for the game?" he exclaimed.

The project suited our tastes, and the young Raggets and I, with two or
three others, declared ourselves ready to set out forthwith. Off we
set, with a little pemmican and bread in our pockets, and our rifles and
long poles in our hands, fully expecting some good sport. Short said
that the she-bears and cubs are supposed to hibernate; but that no doubt
we should be able to poke them out of their holes. We soon left the
plain, when the trail led us up among the rugged defiles of the
mountains. I confess that I could not have distinguished the marks of
the bear's feet in the snow; but Short's more practised eye did so, and
he every now and then pointed them out to me, so that we knew we were on
the right track.

Our undertaking was a very hazardous one. There is not a more
ferocious, at the same time powerful and cunning monster, among all wild
beasts than the grizzly bear. When he meets a man, he has something to
fight for besides the honour of victory; for he eats him for his dinner
or supper as the case may be. As we advanced we found ourselves in a
scene of almost terrific wildness. Dark rocks rising out of the snow
towered above our heads, so as to completely shut us in, while
mountain-ranges appeared one beyond the other, showing us the elevation
we had attained. The old grizzly had certainly chosen a very
inaccessible post for his domicile. The cold was very intense, though
the exercise we were performing kept our blood in circulation. I own
that I felt very much inclined to turn back, for the hug the old bear
had given me had made my bones ache, and I doubted, as the French say,
"whether the game was worth the candle;" in other words, whether it was
worth while running so great a risk as we were doing, and getting so
cold, and enduring so much fatigue, merely for the sake of killing an
old she-bear. However, I said nothing,