his teeth and claws; but Miller was safe beyond his reach. For fully
four hours the Grizzly watched, then gave it up, and slowly went off
into the bushes till lost to view. Miller watched him from the tree, and
afterward waited nearly an hour to be sure that the Bear was gone. He
then slipped to the ground, got his gun, and set out for camp. But Wahb
was cunning; he had only _seemed_ to go away, and then had sneaked back
quietly to watch. As soon as the man was away from the tree, too far to
return, Wahb dashed after him. In spite of his wounds the Bear could
move the faster. Within a quarter of a mile--well, Wahb did just what
the man had sworn to do to him.

Long afterward his friends found the gun and enough to tell the tale.

The claim-shanty on the Meteetsee fell to pieces. It never again was
used, for no man cared to enter a country that had but few allurements
to offset its evident curse of ill luck, and where such a terrible
Grizzly was always on the war-path.




III.

Then they found good gold on the Upper Meteetsee. Miners came in pairs
and wandered through the peaks, rooting up the ground and spoiling the
little streams--grizzly old men mostly, that had lived their lives in
the mountain and were themselves slowly turning into Grizzly Bears;
digging and grubbing everywhere, not for good, wholesome roots, but for
that shiny yellow sand that they could not eat; living the lives of
Grizzlies, asking nothing but to be let alone to dig.