Our national parks . the trunk of a fir that had fallen intothe meadow, his hips almost buried in grass andflowers. He was listening attentively and tryingto catch the scent, showing that in some way hewas aware of our approach. I watched his ges-tures, and tried to make the most of my opportu-nity to learn what I could about him, fearing hewould not stay long. He made a fine picture,standing alert in the sunny garden walled in bythe most beautiful firs in the world. After examining him at leisure, noting thesharp muzzle thrust inquiringly forward, the longshaggy hair on his broad chest, the s
Our national parks . the trunk of a fir that had fallen intothe meadow, his hips almost buried in grass andflowers. He was listening attentively and tryingto catch the scent, showing that in some way hewas aware of our approach. I watched his ges-tures, and tried to make the most of my opportu-nity to learn what I could about him, fearing hewould not stay long. He made a fine picture,standing alert in the sunny garden walled in bythe most beautiful firs in the world. After examining him at leisure, noting thesharp muzzle thrust inquiringly forward, the longshaggy hair on his broad chest, the stiff earsnearly buried in hair, and the slow, heavy way inwhich he moved his head, I foolishly made a rushon him, throwing up my arms and shouting tofrighten him, to see him run. He did not mindthe demonstration much ; only pushed his headfarther forward, and looked at me sharply as ifasking, What now ? If you want to fight, I mready. Then I began to fear that on me wouldfall the work of running. But I was afraid to. A CINNAMON BEAR AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMITE 177 run, lest he should be encouraged to pursue me ;therefore I held my ground, staring him in theface within a dozen yards or so, putting on asbold a look as I could, and hoping the influenceof the human eye would be as great as it is saidto be. Under these strained relations the inter-view seemed to last a long time. Finally, the bear,seeing how still I was, calmly withdrew his hugepaws from the log, gave me a piercing look, as ifwarning me not to follow him, turned, and walkedslowly up the middle of the meadow into the for-est ; stopping every few steps and looking backto make sure that I was not trying to take himat a disadvantage in a rear attack. I was gladto part with him, and greatly enjoyed the van-ishing view as he waded through the lilies andcolumbines. Thenceforth I always tried to give bears re-spectful notice of my approach, and they usu-ally kept well out of my way. Though theyoften came around my cam
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