He has a sweet tooth, too, and revels
in honey--when he can get it.
The instant the grizzly bear beheld Dick Varley standing in his path,
he rose on his hind legs and made a loud hissing noise, like a man
breathing quick, but much harsher. To this Crusoe replied by a deep
growl, and showing the utmost extent of his teeth, gums and all; and
Dick cocked both barrels of his rifle.
To say that Dick Varley felt no fear would be simply to make him out
that sort of hero which does not exist in nature--namely, a _perfect_
hero. He _did_ feel a sensation as if his bowels had suddenly melted
into water! Let not our reader think the worse of Dick for this. There
is not a man living who, having met with a huge grizzly bear for the
first time in his life in a wild, solitary place, all alone, has
not experienced some such sensation. There was no cowardice in this
feeling.
Fear is not cowardice. Acting in a wrong and contemptible manner
because of our fear is cowardice.
It is said that Wellington or Napoleon, we forget which, once stood
watching the muster of the men who were to form the forlorn-hope in
storming a citadel.
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