the same: the signs were renewed each spring.

At length the Palette Ranch outfit appeared on the Lower Piney, and the
men got acquainted with the 'ugly old fellow.' The Cowpunchers, when
they saw him, decided they 'had n't lost any Bears and they had better
keep out of his way and let him mind his business.'

They did not often see him, although his tracks and sign-boards were
everywhere. But the owner of this outfit, a born hunter, took a keen
interest in Wahb. He learned something of the old Bear's history from
Colonel Pickett, and found out for himself more than the colonel ever
knew.

He learned that Wahb ranged as far south as the Upper Wiggins Fork and
north to the Stinking Water, and from the Meteetsee to the Shoshones.

He found that Wahb knew more about Bear-traps than most trappers do;
that he either passed them by or tore open the other end of the bait-pen
and dragged out the bait without going near the trap, and by accident or
design Wahb sometimes sprang the trap with one of the logs that formed
the pen. This ranch-owner found also that Wahb disappeared from his
range each year during the heat of the summer, as completely as he did
each winter during his sleep.




II.

Many years ago a wise government set aside the head waters of the