ring arbor in a hop, skip and jump
fashion. In spite of the apparent confusion, however, every participant
was on the alert for the slightest movement of the bear man.

All of a sudden, a brave gave the warning, and we scattered in an
instant over the little plain between the den and our village. Everybody
seemed to be running for dear life, and I soon found myself some yards
behind the rest. I had gone in boldly, partly because of conversations
with certain boys who proposed to participate, and whom I usually
outdistanced in foot races. But it seemed that they had not carried
out their intentions and I was left alone. I looked back once or twice,
although I was pretty busy with my legs, and I imagined that my pursuer,
the bear man, looked twice as fearful as a real bear. He was dressed and
painted up with a view to terrify the crowd. I did not want the others
to guess that I was at all dismayed, so I tried to give the war-whoop;
but my throat was so dry at the moment that I am sure I must have given
it very poorly.

Just as it seemed that I was about to be overtaken, the dancers who
had deserted me suddenly slackened their speed, and entered upon the
amusement of tormenting the bear man with gunpowder and switches, with
which they touched him far from gently upon his naked body. They now
chased him in turn, and he again retreated to his den.

We rested until we heard the tom-tom and the song once more, and then
we rushed forth with fresh eagerness to the mimic attack. This time I
observed all necessary precautions for my own safety. I started in
my flight even before the warning was given, for I saw the bear man
gathering himself up to spring upon the dancers. Thus I had plenty of
leeway to observe what occurred. The bear man again pursued the yelling
and retreating mob, and was dealt with unmercifully by the swift-footed.
He became much excited as he desperately chased a middle-aged man, who
occasionally turned and fired off his gun, but was suddenly tripped by
an ant-hill and fell to the ground, with the other on top of him. The
excitement was intense. The bear man returned to his companion, and the
dancers gathered in little knots to exchange whispers.

"Is it not a misfortune?" "The most surefooted of us all!" "Will he
die?" "Must his beautiful daughter be sacrificed?"

The man who was the subject of all this comment did not speak a word.
His head hung down. Finally he raised it and said in a resolute voice: