MY FIRST GRIZZLY. 39 



All alone I waited ; got hot, cold, thirsty, 

 cross as a bear and so sick of sitting there 

 that I was about to go to my blankets, for 

 the flames had almost died out on the hills, 

 leaving only a circle of little dots and dying 

 embers, like a fading diadem on the mighty 

 lifted brow of the glorious Manzanita 

 mountain. And now the new moon came, 

 went softly and sweetly by, like a shy, 

 sweet maiden, hiding down, down out of 

 sight. 



Crash! His head was thrown back, not 

 over his shoulder, as you may read but 

 never see, but down by his left foot, as he 

 looked around and back up the brown 

 mountain side. He had stumbled, or 

 rather, he had stepped on himself, for a 

 bear gets down hill sadly. If a bear ever 

 gets after you, you had better do down 

 hill and go down hill fast. It will make 

 him mad, but that is not your affair. I 

 never saw a bear go down hill in a good 

 humor. What nature meant by making a 

 bear so short in the arms I don't know. 



