CHAPTER XIV. 



AN American's adventures. 



WAS hunting in the mountains, rather aim- 

 lessly it must be confessed, when I ran across 

 an old she-bear, bearing in her jaws a lot of 

 roots and vegetables, as if returning from market. I 

 followed her, for the bear seldom, if ever, attacks, unless 

 outrageously provoked, and I was curious to see the 

 family to which she was evidently taking this food. In 

 a crevice in the rocks, near the top of a ledge, lay five — 

 instead of the traditional three — cubs, and looking down 

 upon them I saw her divide the delicacies with maternal 

 impartiality among her tumbling offspring. She treated 

 them in the most affectionate and caressing manner, and 

 they answered her in like fashion, presenting a most 

 charming family picture. Several days later I returned, 

 to find the young scamps playing round the base of the 

 cliff and the old lady away. They w^ere like young dogs 

 in feature and gentleness, but their color was a tawny 

 yellow, relieved with a white necklace. They w^ere ap- 

 parently about two months old, and I resolved to kidnap 

 two for domestication. I selected two at hap-hazard, and 

 seizing them by the nape of the neck, dropped them into 



