28 Animal Life 
from salmon fishmg. Let him tell the story im his own words: “It was late 
afternoon, and I was hurrying along the path, giving chief heed to my feet in the 
ticklish walking, with the cliff above and the river below, when a loud ‘ Hoowuff!’ 
brought me up with a shock. ‘There at a turn im the path not ten yards ahead 
stood a huge bear, calling unmistakably halt, and blocking me im as completely as if 
the mountain had toppled over before me. There was no time to think, the shock 
and scare were too great. I just gasped ‘Hoowwff'/’ instinctively, as the bear had 
shot it out of his deep lungs a moment before, and stood stock still as he was 
domg. He was startled as well as I; that was the only thing I was sure about. 
“T suppose that im each of our heads at first there was just one thought— Tm 
in a fix; how shall I get out. . . . Something, a mate, perhaps, must be calling 
him up-river; else he would have whirled and vanished at the first alarm. : 
I met his eyes squarely with mine and held them, which was perhaps the most 
sensible thing I could have done, though it was all unconscious on my part. In the 
brief moment that followed I did a lot of thinking. ‘There was no escape up or 
down; I must go on or tur back. If I jumped forward with a yell, as I had 
done before under different circumstances, would he not rush at me savagely, as all 
wild creatures do when cornered? No, the time for that had passed with the first 
instant of our meeting. The bluff would now be too apparent; it must be done 
without hesitation or not at all. If I turned back he would follow me to the end 
of the ledge, growing bolder as he came on. . . . All the while I looked at him 
steadily until his eyes began to lose them intentness. . . . Suddenly his eyes 
wavered from mine; he swung his head to look down and up, and I knew that I 
had won the first move—and the path also if I could keep my nerve. 
“T advanced a step or two very quietly, still looking at him steadily. There was 
a suggestion of white teeth under his wrinkled chops; but he turned his head to look 
back over the way he had come, and presently he disappeared. It was only for a 
moment; then his eyes were poked cautiously by the corner of the rock. He was 
peeking to see if I were still there. . . . He was uneasy now; a low, whining growl 
came floating up the path. Then I sat down on a rock, squarely in the path, and 
for the first time some faint suggestion of the humour of the situation gave me a bit 
of consolation. I began to talk to him, not humourously, but as if he were a Scotchman, 
and open to an argument. ‘You're in a fix, Moween, a terrible fix,’ I kept saying to 
him softly. . . . ‘You have put me im a fix, too. Why don’t you climb that spruce 
and get out of the way ?’ 
“JT have noticed that all wild animals grow uneasy at the sound of the human 
voice. . . . I have a theory also that all animals, wild and domestic, understand more 
of our mental attitude than we give them credit for. . . . Near him a spruce tree 
sprang out of the rocks and reached upward to a ledge far above. Slowly he raised 
himself against this. . . . Then an electric shock seemed to hoist him out of the 
trail. He shot up the tree in a succession of nervous, jerky jumps... till he reached 
the level of the ledge above and sprang out upon it, where he stopped and looked 
down to see what I would do next. And there he stayed, his great head hanging 
over the edge of the rock and looking at me intently till I rose and went quietly 
down the trail... . At the point where I had stood when his deep ‘Hoowuff!’ first 
startled me I left a big salmon. . . . Next morning it was gone, and so it may be 
that Moween, on his next journey, found another and a pleasanter surprise awaiting 
him at the turn of the trail.” 
In conclusion we may mention that Mr. Long’s publishers produce many excellent 
nature-study books, and that those who are interested in such should see a copy of 
their catalogue. 
