und. She kept her nose pointed toward Sullivan, but did not appear
to look at him. The smaller bears moved restlessly about; they
would walk a few steps in advance, stand erect, draw their fore paws
close to their breasts, and sniff, sniff, sniff the air, upward and
in all directions before them. Then they would slowly back up to the
old bear. They all seemed very good-natured.

When Sullivan was unpacking the burro, the wrapping had come off two
hams which were among the supplies, and the wind had carried the
delicious aroma to the bears, who were just out of their winter dens
after weeks of fasting. Of course, sugar-cured hams smelled good to
them. Sullivan repacked the burro and went on. The bears quietly eyed
him for some distance. At a turn in the trail he looked back and saw
the bears clawing and smelling the snow on which the provisions had
lain while he was getting the burro out of the snowdrift. He went on
to the cabin, had supper, and forgot the bears.

The log cabin in which he and Jason lived was a small one; it had a
door in the side and a small window in one end. The roof was made of
a layer of poles thickly covered with earth. A large shepherd-dog often
shared the cabin with the prospectors. He was a playful fellow, and
Sullivan often romped with him. Near their cabin were some vacant
cabins of other prospectors, who had "gone out for the winter" and
were not yet back for summer prospecting.

The evening was mild, and as soon as supper was over Sullivan filled
his pipe, opened the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed for a
smoke, while Jason washed the dishes. He had taken only a few pulls at
his pipe when there was a rattling at the window. Thinking the dog was
outside, Sullivan called, "Why don't you go round to the door?" This
invitation was followed by a momentary silence, then smash! a piece of
sash and fragments of window-glass flew past Sullivan and rattled on
the floor. He jumped to his feet. In the dim candle-light he saw a
bear's head coming in through the window. He threw his pipe of burning
tobacco into the bear's face and eyes, and then grabbed for some steel
drills which lay in the corner on the floor. The earth roof had
leaked, and the drills were ice-covered and frozen fast to the floor.

While Sullivan was dislodging the drills, Jason began to bombard the
bear vigorously with plates from the table. The bear backed out; she
was looking for food, not clean plates. However, the insta