A Bear-Hunt in the Sierras 



could have jumped into it most comfortably, 

 was the deserted form of the bear, which he 

 had dug in the morning within an hour after 

 Leonard had seen him, and in which the great- 

 er part of the day had been spent, until he had 

 stirred abroad for water, with which to wash 

 down the recollection of his muttons. Al- 

 though ardently hoping that he was behind 

 the tree, I had not in the least expected to 

 find his bed in this particular place. Had he 

 stayed quietly there until our arrival, he would 

 have given one of us a delicious surprise, and 

 the mutual agitation of the moment might 

 have induced a shot with unpremeditated 

 haste, and possibly have caused me to get 

 off that fallen spruce tree in somewhat quick- 

 er time than I had climbed it One naturally 

 would not feel any keen desire to display his 

 acrobatic skill in walking a log for the enter- 

 tainment of an infuriated grizzly. A few hairs 

 proclaimed him a cinnamon, who is either a 

 variety of the grizzly or his first cousin — au- 

 thorities differ ; at all events, he closely resem- 

 bles him except in color, which, although of a 

 uniform light, fady brown, might be an ex- 

 treme type of the "sorrel top" of the Rockies. 

 In size the cinnamon fully holds his own with 



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