hey had passed about
half the distance at first separating us, he advanced to the edge of the
plain and stood as if inviting attack. The Indians rode up to within a
few rods of the grizzly, and then seeing us in our haven of safety they
realized the situation at a glance, and burst into uproarious laughter.
This seemed to irritate the grizzly, for he uttered a roar of rage and
rushed fiercely at them; then ensued an exciting and amusing scene.

The Indians at first used only the lasso, and in a few seconds three or
four of them had "roped him," and by spurring up their horses, he was
dragged first one way and then another, making frantic efforts to free
himself, and growling savagely all the while. Meanwhile the other
horsemen rode up as near as safety would permit, and fairly riddled him
with arrows. Overcome by superior numbers, "old Eph," at length
succumbed to his fate, and a few lance thrusts soon put an end to his
existence.

Wakometkla and myself quickly descended from our tree fortresses and
joined the party, who greeted us with exclamations expressive of
satisfaction, at having rescued us from our unpleasant predicament: The
bear was soon skinned and cut up, and we returned to the village with
our rescuers. As far as I was concerned, I felt fully satisfied with my
experience as an interviewer of grizzly bears, and had no desire to
repeat it, for although hunting the bear may be a pleasing pastime, it
is not quite so pleasing when the bear _hunts_ you.

However, "all's well that ends well," and if this narrative affords my
readers any amusement, I shall never regret my day spent in a tree top.

CHAPTER XVI.

SOME CURIOUS CUSTOMS.

The winter had been unusually severe, in several instances snow had
fallen; a thing of rare occurrence in these latitudes. Not having
prepared for such weather, by laying in an unusual supply of provisions,
we were reduced to the verge of starvation, having recourse in our dire
extremity to roots and berries, which we dug from the ground. During one
week, I lived solely on the juice expressed from the cactus leaves,
which I procured by stripping the plant of its thorny excrescences and
paring the leaves with my knife. The juice yielded was thick and gummy,
and of a sweetish taste. This diet could not sustain life for any length
of time. Fortunately I had the good luck to discover some mesquite
berries, that had been secreted by one of the tribe. This discovery
proved my