in his old wounds, and though he could have risen on the spur of the
moment to fight any number of Grizzlies of any size, still the continual
apprehension, the knowledge that he must hold himself ready at any
moment to fight this young monster, weighed on his spirits and began to
tell on his general health.




IV.

The Roachback's life was one of continual vigilance, always ready to
run, doubling and shifting to avoid the encounter that must mean instant
death to him. Many a time from some hiding-place he watched the great
Bear, and trembled lest the wind should betray him. Several times his
very impudence saved him, and more than once he was nearly cornered in
a box-canon. Once he escaped only by climbing up a long crack in a
cliff, which Wahb's huge frame could not have entered. But still, in a
mad persistence, he kept on marking the trees farther into the range.

At last he scented and followed up the sulphur-bath. He did not
understand it at all. It had no appeal to him, but hereabouts were the
tracks of the owner. In a spirit of mischief the Roachback scratched
dirt into the spring, and then seeing the rubbing-tree, he stood
sidewise on the rocky ledge, and was thus able to put his mark fully
five feet above that of Wahb. Then he nervously jumped down, and was
running about, defiling the bath and keeping a sharp lookout, when he
heard a noise in the woods below. Instantly he was all alert. The sound
drew near, then the wind brought the sure proof, and the Roachback, in
terror, turned and fled into the woods.