"The sweeping valleys were dotted with herds, both large and small, of
buffalo and elk, and now and then we caught a glimpse of a coyote slinking
into the gulches, returning from night hunting to sleep. While intently
watching some moving body at a distance, we could not yet tell whether of
men or animals, I heard a faint noise behind me and slowly turned my head.
Behold! a grizzly bear sneaking up on all fours and almost ready to
spring!
"'Run!' I yelled into the ear of my companion, and we both leaped to our
feet in a second. 'Separate! separate!' he shouted, and as we did so, the
bear chose me for his meat. I ran downhill as fast as I could, but he was
gaining. 'Dodge around a tree!' screamed Young-Man-Afraid. I took a deep
breath and made a last spurt, desperately circling the first tree I came
to. As the ground was steep just there, I turned a somersault one way and
the bear the other. I picked myself up in time to climb the tree, and was
fairly out of reach when he gathered himself together and came at me more
furiously than ever, holding in one paw the shreds of my breechcloth, for
in the fall he had just scratched my back and cut my belt in two, and
carried off my only garment for a trophy!
"My friend was well up another tree and laughing heartily at my
predicament, and when the bear saw that he could not get at either of us
he reluctantly departed, after I had politely addressed him and promised
to make an offering to his spirit on my safe return. I don't think I ever
had a narrower escape," he concluded.
CHARLES EASTMAN, AMERICAN HORSE CHAPTER X, Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains
