78 The Black Bear 



down the trail upon which my camera was set. But 

 he had evidently noticed that something questionable 

 was going on^ and he walked over toward the tree 

 where the larger bear was sitting. The latter, con- 

 scious of his advantage of position, greeted the grizzly's 

 approach with a volley of puffs and snorts, and after 

 looking around him in a disdainful sort of way, the 

 grizzly sauntered over toward the smaller bear's tree, 

 where the same performance was gone through. Here, 

 however, the grizzly found something that aroused 

 his curiosity more keenly than a mere Black Bear, for 

 he discovered my pole and flash-pan. He stood up 

 on his hind legs and easily sniffed the top of the pan 

 and then, discovering the wire, he followed it without 

 touching it away from the pine tree and across the 

 trail to where it was fastened. Then, his curiosity 

 getting the better of him, he raised one front paw 

 and pulled the bush toward him, whereupon the charge 

 of powder exploded with a huge puff of smoke, and as 

 I stood up in my retreat to get a better view of the 

 outcome I caught a glimpse with one eye of a big 

 grizzly turning a double back somersault, while with 

 the other I saw a small Black Bear take one desperate 

 leap from the branches of his pine tree and disappear 

 into the wood in huge leaps. 



When the last act of this little comedy began I had 

 risen to my feet in order to get a clear view of what 

 took place, and when the smaller Black Bear had dis- 



