with vigorous steps he strode on, letting his
eyes wander at will over the landscape.

"Looks kinder han'some," he said to himself. "I wish Susan Jones was
with me now. Gals like to walk round and look at scenery, and pick
flowers, and so on. As for me, a good field of corn suits me better than
all the flowers in the world. They're only good to smell of; out here
though I'd like a good 'claim' best. It seems cu'rus to think how much
money you can get sometimes from a hole in the ground. Beats cornfields
for profit, by a great sight, if you only get hold of the right place. I
just wish I could find a big nugget, as big as my head. I guess it would
make me the richest man in Green Mountain Mills. I'd be a bigger man
than the old deacon. They'd be glad to make me selectman, and perhaps
send me to Montpelier after a while to make laws. Well, there's no
knowin' what may turn up. Why shouldn't I light on a nugget as well as
the next man?"

In this pleasant channel the thoughts of our Yankee adventurer were
running as he strode over the uneven ground, with all the vigor gained
by his hardy training. But his walk was destined to be interrupted in a
decidedly unpleasant manner. All at once he became conscious of a huge
object, scarcely thirty yards distant, whose attention he had already
attracted. Mr. Onthank had been long enough in California to recognize
in the huge, unwieldy figure--a grizzly bear!

Ebenezer Onthank was no coward, but it must be admitted that when he saw
the eyes of the grizzly fixed upon him he turned pale, and his limbs
trembled. He had heard from fellow-miners stories of the great strength
and ferocity of this most formidable beast. The grizzly bear shows no
fear of man. He is always ready to make an attack, even when not
stimulated by hunger. Even the lion is crafty and cunning, and likes to
attack his enemy unawares; but the grizzly boldly advances to the attack
without seeking to surprise his adversary. If out of humor it makes no
account of odds, but will as readily attack a party as a single foe.
Col. Albert S. Evans, the author of an interesting volume, containing
sketches of life in California, says, "I am satisfied that an average
grizzly could at any time whip the strongest African lion in a fair
stand-up fight, while a full-grown bull is no more to him than a rat is
to the largest house-cats."

Twenty-five years ago the grizzly was to be found in various parts of
California. As the State ha