On the Trail of Geronimo — page 73: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE TRAIL OF GERONIMO. 65 him, it would be far preferable to an appeal to the Apaches. It is hard to appreciate the peculiar peril of the jieutenant. He knew the bear was near him, but was uncertain whether the brute was aware of the whereabouts of the young man capable of furnish- ing such a choice meal. What he dreaded was that the mountainous beast might lurch over upon him like an avalanche, before he could dart aside. The varying light of the moon rendered this not impossible, for it so happened that moments came when in his crouching posture he could not see more than a few feet from him. Uncertain, therefore, of the precise location of the brute, Dick hesitated to move lest he should precipitate the fatal calamity. He felt around in search of some opening through which he might dart without rising to his feet, but could find nothing of the kind. A most peculiar experience now came to the lieutenant. He was at the very bottom of the nat- ural inclosure, only six feet or so in diameter, in which he had taken refuge, when the bear put in an appearance. At the very moment that the moon emerged CoOnniclooo (C(O) mM