THE BLACK BEAR. 229 



" At last, one of my friends got a chance at liim, 

 and killed him on the spot. It was cleverly done, 

 for the ball went in at the right shoulder, and passed 

 out at the left side. I gave the victor a hundred 

 dollars for the skin, and had it stuffed, in comme- 

 moration of the day that I passed face to face with 

 the most formidable creature that infests the North 

 American wilds." 



Such was I\Ir. Jeffery's storj^, which I leave for 

 the consideration of the reader, without further 

 comment. 



THE BLACK BEAR.* 



In 1847, an influential New York journal to which 

 I was then contributing, sent me to the camp of 

 General Taylor as special correspondent, and I 

 employed a portion of my time in exploring the 

 neighbourhood of the camp with a new friend whom 

 I picked up there. One morning I started alone 

 for San Antonio de Bexar, one of the extreme out- 

 posts on the frontier. On arriving there, I found 

 the artillerymen who were quartered there in a very 

 bad humour, and the cause of it was ver}^ obvious ; a 

 month had passed since they had had a shot at the 

 enemy. 



* Ursus americanus. 



