Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/87

 on a big log, just like a tired old man. He sat there with his forepaws banging down to his side, limp. I never saw a bear do that before or since. Bears like to stand on their hind legs, particularly the younger ones. As they grow heavier and older they are less likely to stand up. Cubs will spar standing up, and I have seen two-year-old, wild silver-tip grizzlies do the same thing.

Bears are large, bulky and look clumsy. They have an odd wallowing, rolling, head-swaying motion peculiar to themselves. To the uninitiated they seem to be slow, but a bear can stop a squirrel, mouse or gopher with a paw movement so quick that the eye can scarcely follow, and, as for speed, they can easily outrun a man. I once had a splendid chance to race a bear along a parallel woodland trail. We started together and I did my best, but, in no time he had left me far behind.

Another opportunity to try out an experiment on one of the largest black bears I had ever seen, offered on one occasion. I came across him suddenly, and we stood face to face on a path. I used a cowboy's trick to "rush him," for I wanted to see if I could scare such an immense animal up a tree. I only had a moment to work but figured he would run. I took off my coat, waved it in his face, and "rushed him" up that tree. I was utterly amazed at his speed as he went straight up. He set his hind legs under him and gave jerky jumps until he was well up among the limbs, when he turned about and faced me. He was apparently more surprised than angry and looked down as much as to say, "What in blazes is the matter with you?" When I walked away. he still bore the same expression.

 



No one experiences greater joy at the arrival of the mailman than the forest lookout at his lonely post in the western mountains, but the sky, not the roads, is watched in this case, for the mail is delivered by plane. Special orders from the chief as well as other communications are dropped in a small package as the airplane, maintained by the forest-patrol service, glides down near the lookout tower and then zooms away for another delivery, miles away.

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