CHAPTER VIII 
THE BLACK BEAR-—COMEDIAN 
BLACK bear came into a United States 
A Survey camp one Sunday afternoon 
while all the men were lounging about, 
and walked into the cook’s tent. The cook was 
averse to bears; he tried to go through the rear 
of the tent at a place where there was no door. 
The tent went down on him and the bear. 
The bear, confused and not in the habit of wear- 
ing a tent, made a lively show of it—a sea in a 
storm—as he struggled to get out. 
All were gathered round and watched the 
bear emerge from beneath the tent and climb a 
tree. Out on the first large limb he walked. 
He looked down on us somewhat puzzled and 
inclined to be playful. 
This was at the Thumb in the Yellowstone 
National Park, in the summer of 1891. I was 
the boy of the party. For some years I had been 
interested in wild life, and while in the Park I 
used every opportunity to study tree and animal 
life. I frequently climbed trees to examine the 
fruit they bore, to learn about the insects that 
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