head of this brook was a pond covered with water-lilies; and a scramble
through a rocky pass took me into a high, wet valley, where the thick
growth of spruce was broken by occasional strips of meadow. In this
valley the moose carcass lay, well at the upper end.

In moccasined feet I trod softly through the soundless woods. Under the
dark branches it was already dusk, and the air had the cool chill
of evening. As I neared the clump where the body lay, I walked with
redoubled caution, watching and listening with strained alertness. Then
I heard a twig snap; and my blood leaped, for I knew the bear was at his
supper. In another moment I saw his shaggy, brown form. He was working
with all his awkward giant strength, trying to bury the carcass,
twisting it to one side and the other with wonderful ease. Once he
got angry and suddenly gave it a tremendous cuff with his paw; in his
bearing he had something half humorous, half devilish. I crept up within
forty yards; but for several minutes he would not keep his head still.
Then something attracted his attention in the forest, and he stood
motionless looking towards it, broadside to me, with his fore-paws
planted on the carcass. This gave me my chance. I drew a very fine bead
between his eye and ear; and pulled trigger. He dropped like a steer
when struck with a pole-axe.

If there is a good hiding-place handy it is better to lie in wait at the
carcass. One day on the head-waters of the Madison, I found that a
bear was coming to an elk I had shot some days before; and I at once
determined to ambush the beast when he came back that evening. The
carcass lay in the middle of a valley a quarter of a mile broad. The
bottom of this valley was covered by an open forest of tall pines; a
thick jungle of smaller evergreens marked where the mountains rose
on either hand. There were a number of large rocks scattered here and