90 A SPORTING PARADISE 



my weight with his stout lever. I stole along 

 so as to look behind a great tree and there on 

 the other log, not twenty feet away, a big bear 

 was standing, twisting himself uneasily, trying 

 to decide whether to go on or go back on his 

 unstable footing. 



" He discovered me at the instant that my face 

 appeared behind the tree. Such surprise, such 

 wonder I have seldom seen in an animal's face. 

 For a long moment he met my eyes steadily 

 with his. Then he began to twist about while 

 the logs rocked up and down. Again he looked 

 at the strange animal on the other log ; but the 

 face behind the tree had not moved or changed : 

 the eyes looked steadily into his. With a 

 startled movement he plunged off into the under- 

 bush, and but for a swift grip on a branch the 

 sudden lurch would have sent me off backwards 

 among the rocks. As he jumped I heard a swift 

 flutter of wings. I followed it timidly, not 

 knowing where the bear was, and in a moment 

 I had the second partridge stowed away 

 comfortably with his brother in my hunting 

 shirt." 



The Indian tribes have many superstitions 

 concerning the bear, and it is with some of them 



