V. 



IN SWIMMING WITH A BEAR. 



What made these ugly rows of scars on 

 my left hand? 



Well, it might have been buckshot; only 

 it wasn't. Besides, buckshot would be scat 

 tered about, "sort of promiscuous like," as 

 backwoodsmen say. But these ugly little 

 holes are all in a row, or rather in two 

 rows. Now a wolf might have made these 

 holes with his fine white teeth, or a bear 

 might have done it with his dingy and 

 ugly teeth, long ago. I must here tell you 

 that the teeth of a bear are not nearly so 

 fine as the teeth of a wolf. And the teeth 

 of a lion are the ugliest of them all. They 

 are often broken and bent; and they are 

 always of a dim yellow color. It is from 

 this yellow hue of the lion's teeth that we 

 have the name of one of the most famous 

 early flowers of May: dent de lion, tooth 



56 



