He laid
himself prone upon the platform, held his breath and hoped fervently
that his heart would not thump loudly enough to attract the bear's
intention. The bear ate his fill of the quivering veal, and then
reared on his haunches to survey the surroundings. The man from San
Francisco solemnly assured the guide in the morning, when he got back
to camp, that when Pinto sat up he actually looked down on that
platform and could have walked over to the tree and picked him off like
a ripe persimmon, and he thanked heaven devoutly that it did not come
into Pinto's head that that would be a good thing to do. So the man
from San Francisco broke camp and went home with some new and valuable
ideas about hunting Grizzlies, chief of which was the very clear idea
that he did not care for the sport.

[Illustration: Pinto Looked Down on the Platform.]

This is the sort of bear Old Pinto was, eminently entitled to the name
that Lewis and dark applied to his tribe--Ursus Ferox. Of course he
was called "Old Clubfoot" and "Reelfoot" by people who did not know
him, just as every big Grizzly has been called in California since the
clubfooted-bear myth became part of the folk lore of the Golden State,
but his feet were all sound and whole. The Clubfoot legend is another
story and has nothing to do with the big bear of the Castac.

Pinto was a "bravo" and a killer, a solitary, cross-grained,
crusty-tempered old outlaw of the range. What he would or might do
under any circumstances could not be predicated upon the basis of what
another one of his species had done under similar circumstances. The
man who generalizes the conduct of the Grizzly is liable to serious
error, for the Grizzly's individuality is strong and his disposition
various. Because one Grizzly scuttled into the brush at the sight of a
man, it does not follow that another Grizzly will behave similarly.
The other Grizzly's education may have been different. One bear lives
in a region infested only by small game, such as rabbits, wood-mice,
ants and grubs, and when he cannot get a meal by turning over flat
rocks or stripping the bark from a decaying tree, he digs roots for a
living. He is not accustomed to battle and he is not a killer, and he
may be timorous in the presence of man. Another Grizzly haunts the
cattle or sheep ranges and is accustomed to seeing men and beasts flee
before him for their lives. He lives by the strong arm, takes what he
wants like a robb