him. My mate jest managed to crawl in here and shut the door, and
here I found him an hour later, as near dead as any man I ever saw.
The bear had torn him dreadfully and bitten him, and, I tell you, he
took some nursing to pull him through; but he did live, and is going
still. However, you may be sure as he don't scoff and joke any more
about bears.'

'I should think not, indeed,' said Jack. 'What an escape he had! Did
the bear come back again?'

'No,' answered Joe. 'I followed her up carefully, and shot her with
that 'ere rifle of mine as you see there in the corner. But I didn't
fool with her, for I've done more bear-hunting than any man in the
States, and know by experience you must be cautious. Yes, I killed
her, and the two cubs as well. She was a grizzly, and a fierce un,
too.'

'Are there many different kinds of bears on these mountains?' asked
Jack, who was very interested in the subject.

'A good many,' returned the hunter. 'We've got the black, brown, and
cinnamon bears, which 'll avoid you if they can; and then we've the
grizzlies and silver-tipped bears, which are a kind of grizzly. The
latter ain't quite so fierce as the real grizzly, but ain't pleasant to
face when they're wounded.'

Joe went on to tell how hunters tracked the creatures by the way they
tore up ant-holes and rolled over big stones in their clumsy way of
walking, and how they were often caught in traps set for them at the
time when the wild raspberries and gooseberries were ripe, as then they
came wandering down along the creeks, looking for the berries they
liked so well.

Next morning, before they started, Joe showed Jack the exact spot where
the fight had taken place between the miner and the bear; and then they
put Captain into the buckboard, and began the last stage of the ascent.

It was a wonderfully clear day, and as they looked down, the country
lay spread out below them like a gigantic map. The ranches, creeks and
villages all looked so tiny and scattered to them, gazing as they did
over hundreds of miles of prairie land.

Above them the sharp peaks seemed to pierce the keen blue sky, and the
snow still lying on the mountain-sides was so dazzling from the sun's
rays, that Champion Joe put on a pair of dark blue 'goggles,' and tied
a piece of black veiling over Jack's face, to protect their eyes from
getting snow-blind.

Higher and higher they went slowly on, and Joe remarked: 'Well, Jack, I
guess we're abou