The travelers stayed at Fort Mandan till the beginning of April;
then the ice being melted on the river they set out again.
Game now became more than ever plentiful, and they had several
encounters with huge grizzly bears. The Indians had told the
explorers terrible stories about these bears. They themselves had
such great respect for them that they never went out to hunt them
without putting on their war paint, and making as great preparations
as if they were going to fight some enemy tribe.
The white men too soon came to have a great respect for them.
"I find," wrote Lewis, in his journal, "that the curiosity of our
party is pretty well satisfied with respect to this animal. He has
staggered the resolution of several of them."
Later on he added, "I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen,
and had rather fight two Indians than one bear."
One day Lewis was on shore, and seeing a herd of buffalo shot one
for supper. After it fell he stood looking at it, and forgot to
load his rifle again. While standing thus he suddenly saw a large
bear creeping towards him. Instantly he lifted his rifle, but
remembered in a flash that it was not loaded. He had no time to
load, so he thought the best thing he could do was to walk away as
fast as he could.
It was in an open plain with not a bush or tree near; and as Lewis
retreated the bear ran open-mouthed at full speed after him.
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