TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



i. 



A BEAR ON FIRE. 



It is now more than a quarter of a cen 

 tury since I saw the woods of Mount 

 Shasta in flames, and beasts of all sorts, 

 even serpents, crowded together; but I can 

 never forget, never! 



It looked as if we would have a cloud 

 burst that fearful morning. We three were 

 making our way by slow marches from 

 Soda Springs across the south base of 

 Mount Shasta to the Modoc lava beds 

 two English artists and myself. We had 

 saddle horses, or, rather, two saddle horses 

 and a mule, for our own use. Six Indians, 

 with broad leather or elkskin straps across 

 their foreheads, had been chartered to 

 carry the kits and traps. They were men 

 a is 



