bark, that it could be read only in one way--a challenge to the present
claimant from some monstrous invader, who was ready, nay anxious, to
fight to a finish for this desirable range.

Maybe it was accident and maybe design, but when the Roach-back
jumped from the root it rolled to one side. Baldy went on down the
canon, keeping the keenest lookout for his enemy.

It was not long before Wahb found the trail of the interloper, and all
the ferocity of his outside-the-Park nature was aroused.

He followed the trail for miles on more than one occasion. But the small
Bear was quick-footed as well as quick-witted, and never showed himself.
He made a point, however, of calling at each sign-post, and if there was
any means of cheating, so that his mark might be put higher, he did it
with a vim, and left a big, showy record. But if there was no chance for
any but a fair register, he would not go near the tree, but looked for a
fresh tree near by with some log or side-ledge to reach from.

Thus Wahb soon found the interloper's marks towering far above his
own--a monstrous Bear evidently, that even he could not be sure of
mastering. But Wahb was no coward. He was ready to fight to a finish any
one that might come; and he hunted the range for that invader. Day after
day Wahb sought for him and held himself ready to fight. He found his
trail daily, and more and more often he found that towering record far
above his own. He often smelled him on the wind; but he never saw him,
for the old Grizzly's eyes had grown very dim of late years; things but
a little way off were blurs to him. The continual menace could not but
fill Wahb with uneasiness, for he was not young now, and his teeth and
claws were worn and blunted. He was more than ever troubled with pains