WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



there are such things as physical impossibilities. At 

 that altitude it is all a normal man can do to climb 

 over the rocky ground when unencumbered. He is, 

 of course, short of breath, owing to the rarefied air, 

 and he has to proceed with the utmost caution if he 

 would get anywhere near the animals — two conditions 

 which tax his strength greatly. But when you add 

 to these troubles the weight of the camera — say, a full 

 twenty pounds — and the clumsiness of the load, the 

 proposition becomes merely a piece of folly. You 

 cannot reasonably hope to succeed. Had I had unlimited 

 time at my disposal, and been prepared to risk 

 the bitter cold of the nights on the mountain-side, 

 I might eventually have got some feet of film ; but 

 even then success would have been by no means 

 certain. 



Our little four-wheeled buggy had been left on the 

 other side of the Yellowstone River, its load carefully 

 covered over with stones, to prevent the bears from 

 interfering with our stores, and we now started back to 

 it. On the way another terrific thunder-storm broke 

 just over us, without the least warning. I had never 

 seen anything quite like it — the abrupt change from 

 brilliant sunshine to an appalling downpour lasting 

 half an hour. Those storms seem to come regularly, 

 and to have their periods, almost like the geysers. They 

 are dangerous, too, especially when one is up amongst 

 the pinnacles of rock. The lightning plays all around, 



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