It had been a long day, but as the wind was favorable we stopped only for a cup of tea and then pushed on to the very head of the bay.  Here, at the mouth of a salmon stream, we came upon many fresh bear tracks, and passed the night watching.  As we had seen nothing by four o’clock in the morning, we cautiously withdrew, and, going some distance down the shore, camped in an old hunting barabara.  It had been rather a long stretch, when one considers that we had breakfasted a little over twenty-four hours before.  Watching a salmon stream by night is poor sport, but it is the only kind of hunting that one can do at this time of the year.

I slept until seven o’clock, when the men called me, and after a cup of tea we started for the salmon stream, which we followed up beyond where we had watched it the night previous.  We were very careful to wade so as not to give our scent to any bears which might approach the stream from below.  There were many tracks and deep, well-used trails leading in all directions, while every few yards we came upon places where the tall grass was trampled down, showing where bears had been fishing.  These bear trails are quite a feature of the Alaskan country, and some of them are two feet wide and over a foot deep, showing that they have been in constant use for many years.

That night we heard a bear pass within ten yards of us, but could not see it.  We returned to camp next morning at five o’clock, and I wrote up my journal, for this night work is extremely confusing, and one completely loses track of the days unless careful.

My men came to me after their mid-day sleep with very cheerful countenances, and assured me that there was no doubt but that I should surely soon meet with success, for the palm of Nikolai’s hand had been itching, and he had dreamed of blood and a big dog fighting, while Lofka’s eyelid trembled.  My hunters told me in all seriousness that these signs never failed.

In the afternoon we decided to watch a new place.  We carried the baidarka up a small stream and launched it in quite a large and picturesque lake.  We slowly paddled along the shores and watched near the mouths of several salmon streams.  By twelve o’clock we had not even seen a track, so I decided to return to camp and get some much needed sleep.  The natives were to call me early the next morning, for I had decided to return to Paramonoff Bay.

I think this was the only time in my hunting life that I was deliberately lazy; but, although my natives called me several times, I slept right on until nine o’clock.  I was strongly tempted when we got under way to start back by continuing around the Island of Afognak; but Nikolai was anxious to have me give Paramonoff Bay another trial.  He thought the run of the humpback salmon might have begun since we left, and if this was so, we were likely to find some large bears near the streams we had watched the week before.  I had great confidence in his judgment, and therefore decided to retrace our steps.