A Photographic Expedition 159 



back and came down my trail; and, accepting this as an 

 omen, I counted a picture of him, broadside on, as already 

 secured. But when he reached the wire, he not only 

 stopped and sniffed at it for several seconds, but then 

 reared up on his hind feet, gave a snort that could have 

 been heard for a hundred yards, and then whirled about 

 like a demoralized coward, and tried to run. Even in my 

 disappointment I could not help laughing at the ludicrous 

 spectacle. I am sure that he touched the ground in at 

 least five places at every jump, and he seemed to think 

 that he was going along at a tremendous gait, whereas, in 

 reality, he was making the slowest kind of time. And he 

 was so frightened that he had no time to look where he 

 was going; he smashed into pretty much everything he 

 came to, and for five minutes I could hear the breaking of 

 brush and dead branches as he crashed through the timber. 



Just as I was about to pack up for the night, I heard 

 a commotion down the trail, and looking up I saw the 

 three bears that I had first met at the canon coming 

 toward me in full flight. They had evidently taken some 

 other path to the feeding ground, and, something having 

 frightened them, they were now coming back my way at 

 their best gait, and quite oblivious of the wire, into which 

 they ran with such force that it parted. This time, how- 

 ever, they did not stop to investigate the result, but acted 

 as though they felt the devil himself was after them, and 

 disappeared up the trail, at what I think must be about 

 the limit of a grizzly's speed. 



I had to leave in the morning for a trip to the Pacific 

 Coast, and now gathered up my outfit and started for 

 camp, supposing that my adventures were at an end. 



