26o THE BEAR FAMILY 



bear, and my leg was pulled and twisted in such a way 

 that I feared it would break. I had started to raise my 

 rifle, but shooting was now out of the question and my 

 only thought was to extricate my leg, and I urged the 

 orderly to hold his pony alongside while 1 attempted to 

 untwist the lariat. We whirled around several times 

 on the edge of the terrace and at one time came near 

 going down into the valley. The bear sat up for some 

 moments but did not offer to charge us, and before I 

 could shoot he had dropped on all fours and moved 

 slowly away through the bushes, and was soon out of 

 sight in the woods. When at length I had freed my 

 foot, I cantered forward some distance along the edge 

 of the terrace and then descended into the woods 

 and moved cautiously forward to meet the bear. The 

 soldier strongly advised against our proceeding into 

 the woods. It was wet, muddy, and slippery under- 

 foot, and vines hung from the trees overhead. I was 

 riding without a saddle, since I expected to go only a 

 short distance from camp. It was evident that if the 

 bear charged there was great danger of my being dis- 

 mounted or of the pony slipping and falling, and when 

 it occurred to me that it would be impossible to shoot 

 from the back of the terrified animal, I decided to give 

 the bear up, for that day at least, and try for him again 

 when I at least had some stirrups to assist me in keep- 

 ing my seat. We had pushed through the woods nearly 

 to the point where the bear entered them, and I was 

 satisfied, when I thought the matter over later, that 

 although he did not appear much afraid of us and was 

 not inclined to give up his berries, he evidently must 

 have heard us coming and sought safety in flight. 



