hich is so
commonly believed, that different species of bears interbreed like dogs,
is entirely wrong.

III.

MY BIG BEAR OF SHUYAK

As I had been fortunate in shooting bears upon the Island of Kadiak and
the Alaska Peninsula, nothing remained but for me to obtain a specimen
from one of the outlying islands of the Kadiak group, to render my trip
in every way successful.

I therefore determined to take my two natives and hunt from a baidarka
the deep bays of the Island of Afognak, while Blake, not yet having
obtained his bear from Kadiak, went back to hunt there.

He had been extremely good to his men, and in settling with them on his
return from the Alaska Peninsula had good-naturedly paid the excessive
demands they made. The result was that his kindness was mistaken for
weakness, and just as he was about to leave his hunters struck for an
increase of pay. He sent them to the right-about, and fortunately
succeeded in filling their places.

A sportsman in going into a new country owes it to those who follow to
resist firmly exorbitant demands and at the same time to be fair and
just in all his dealings.

I have already described bear hunting in the spring, when we stalked our
game upon the snowy hillsides, and again on the Alaska Peninsula, where
we hunted across the open on foot, and also in the baidarka. I will now
speak of another form.

Toward the end of June the red salmon begin to run. These go up only the
streams that have their sources in lakes. After the red salmon, come the
humpbacks, and after the humpbacks, the dog salmon. Both of these latter
in great numbers force their way up all the streams, and are the
favorite food of the bears, which come down from the mountains by deep,
well-defined trails to catch the fish in the shallow streams. When the
salmon have begun to run, the only practical way of hunting these bears
is by watching some likely spot on the bank of a stream.

Early in July Blake and I parted, intending to meet again two weeks
later. My friend sailed away in a small schooner, while I left with my
two natives in the baidarka. In Fedor's place I had engaged a native by
the name of Lofka. We three paddled with a will, as we were anxious to
reach a deep bay on the north side of the Island of Afognak as soon as
possible.

This was all familiar country to me, for I had spent over a month in
this locality the year before, and as we camped for the night I could
hardly realize that