it pause and then the sound of an 

 animal drinking. It was certainly a 

 bear, nothing else makes so much 

 noise. 



I stood up, and not forty feet 

 away was a Grizzly, his back to- 

 ward me. He looked as big as an 

 ox. My eyes, accustomed to the 

 twilight, took in every detail the 

 gleam of his eye as his head turned, 

 the slobber, slobber of his jaws as his 

 deft paw raked into them some 

 blueberries from the bank. 



I do not know how long I stood 

 there staring at him, absolutely 

 motionless, but I know how a prisoner 

 feels when waiting for the hangman. 

 Then I began to think again. 



Here was the chance to distinguish 

 myself. Never was a stage set more 

 dramatically. How the glory of it 

 would ring down through the family 

 annals, unaided, hand to hand, so 

 to speak, encounter of a monster and 

 the wonderful heroism of the woman, 

 etc. Could I do it ? for the sake of my 

 descendants. I must try. My nerves 

 were twitching like a frog's when 

 the electrical current is turned on. 

 Hardly able to control them enough, 



