SWIMMING WITH A BEAR. 57 



of the lion; dandelion. Get down your 

 botany, now, find the Anglo-Asian name of 

 the flower, and fix this fact on your mind 

 before you read further. 



I know of three men, all old men now, 

 who have their left hands all covered with 

 scars. One is due to the wolf; the others 

 owe their scars to the red mouths of black 

 bears. 



You see, in the old days, out here in Cal 

 ifornia, when the Sierras were full of bold 

 young fellows hunting for gold, quite a 

 number of them had hand-to-hand battles 

 with bears. For when we came out here 

 "the woods were full of 'em." 



Of course, the first thing a man does 

 when he finds himself face to face with a 

 bear that won't run and he has no gun 

 and that is always the time when he finds 

 a bear why, he runs, himself; that is, if 

 the bear will let him. 



But it is generally a good deal like the 

 old Crusader who "caught a Tartar" long 



