400 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



precipice above us while he stood on the very edge 

 of a sheer fall of a hundred or so feet. There 

 was no time to be frightened and nothing to be 

 done if I were, but there was a glorious chance for 

 a picture and I clutched at the fastenings of my 

 camera, praying that the straps would come loose 

 quickly. Ned was as earnest about his rifle as I 

 with my camera if I may judge from the ejacu- 

 lations that reached my ears. He remarked to 

 me later that it was no credit to a man to be cool 

 when it was his friend who was to be eaten first. 

 There seemed no escape from a hand to hand 

 encounter, but the grizzlies found one and man- 

 aged to crawl up a crumbled ledge of rock to a 

 bench thirty feet above the trail. We scrambled 

 after them and reached the bench with hearts 

 beating like trip hammers in wild efforts to feed 

 our lungs with oxygen from the rarefied air. 

 The grizzlies were climbing over the crest of a 

 mountain some two hundred yards away and I 

 am sure Ned's shot went wild, while even with 

 the camera I missed. The expression of my. 

 companion's indignation was addressed equally 



