The
blood on the trail had not escaped him. He knew that this was the Bear
of Baxter's canon, this was the Gringo Bear, but he did not know that
this was also his old-time Grizzly Jack. He scrambled out of the pond,
on the other side from that taken by the Grizzly, and, hunter and
hunted, they went their diverse ways.
X. THE EDDY
All the west slopes of Tallac were swept by the fire, and Kellyan
moved to a new hut on the east side, where still were green patches;
so did the grouse and the rabbit and the coyote, and so did Grizzly
Jack. His wound healed quickly, but his memory of the rifle smell
continued; it was a dangerous smell, a new and horrible kind of
smoke--one he was destined to know too well; one, indeed, he was soon
to meet again. Jack was wandering down the side of Tallac, following a
sweet odor that called up memories of former joys--the smell of honey,
though he did not know it. A flock of grouse got leisurely out of his
way and flew to a low tree, when he caught a whiff of man smell, then
heard a crack like that which had stung him in the sheep-corral, and
down fell one of the grouse close beside him. He stepped forward to
sniff just as a man also stepped forward from the opposite bushes.
They were within ten feet of each other, and they recognized each
other, for the hunter saw that it was a singed Bear with a wounded
side, and the Bear smelt the rifle-smoke and the leather clothes.
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