fire the host of baidarkas of the sea otter party silently
glided by like shadows. We joined them, for my men had much to tell of
their four months with the white hunter, and many questions were asked
on both sides.

Some miles from Afognak the baidarkas drew up side by side in a long,
even line, our baidarka joining in. _Drasti_ and _Chemi_[6]
came to me from all sides, for I had from time to time met most of the
native hunters of this island, and they seemed to regard me as quite one
of them.

[Footnote 6: Russian and Aleut for "How do you do?"]

When all the straggling baidarkas had caught up and taken their places
in the line, the chief gave the word _Kedar_ ("Come on"), and we
all paddled forward, and just as the sun was rising above the hills we
reached our journey's end.

Two days later my friend joined me. He also had been successful, and had
killed a good sized male bear in Little Uganuk Bay on Kadiak Island.

Our bear hunt was now over, and we had been fortunate in accomplishing
all we had hoped for.

IV.

THE WHITE SHEEP OF KENAI PENINSULA

The last of July Blake and I sailed from the Kadiak Islands, and one
week later were landed at the little settlement of Kenai, on the Kenai
Peninsula.

The mountains of this region are unquestionably the finest big-game
shooting grounds in North America at the present day. Here one may
expect to find four different kinds of bears--black, two species of
brown, and the Alaska grizzly--the largest of moose, and the Kenai form
of the white sheep (_Ovis dalli_).

These hills lie back from the coast some thirty miles, and may be
reached by one of several rivers. It takes a couple of days to ascend
some of these streams, but we determined to select a country more
difficult to enter, thinking it would be less often visited by the local
native hunters. We therefore chose the mountains lying adjacent to the
Kenai Lake--a district which it took from a week to ten days to reach.

On August 14, shortly after noon, we started up the river which was to
lead us to our shooting grounds. One cannot oppose the great tides of
Cook Inlet, and all plans are based on them. Therefore we did not leave
until the flood, when we were carried up the stream some twelve
miles--the tide limit--where we camped.

The next morning we were up at daylight, for at this point began the
hard river work. There was much brush on the banks, but our natives
proved themselves most expert in p