THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 227 



your gun. The bear will come back. Load j-our 

 gun.' 



" It was good advice, and I was not slow to follow 

 it as quickly as I could. Getting up, I found myself 

 almost paralysed with stiflhess, but I managed to 

 load the rifle, and then we hastened off in the direc- 

 tion of the encampment. Sambo ran on in front, 

 carrying a torch in his hand, and leaping and 

 howling like one demented, to frighten the wild 

 beasts. At length we reached the encampment, 

 and when I had satisfied my hunger, I asked my 

 deliverer to tell me what had occurred during my 

 hours of peril. The poor fellow had been vainly 

 endeavouring all day to stimulate the other men to 

 come to my rescue. They had made one demon- 

 stration in the morning, as I told you, but their 

 courage utterly failed them. When night came, 

 Sambo made up his mind to try and rescue me 

 single-handed, and he had resorted to this ingenious 

 expedient : — He had armed himself with a large 

 frying-pan which he had smeared with powder, 

 damped so as to burn slowly, and then putting 

 straw over it with a little dry powder in the midst, 

 he had crowned the whole with a heap of small 

 twigs and dry sticks. By creeping very cautiously 

 he had managed to get within a hundred yards of 

 us before the bear began to suspect his aj)proach. 

 When the bear first noticed him, it was when he 

 rose to his feet and began to growl so furiously. 



Q 2 



