278 fi;a:n'1v FouE.sriiu's fikld si'oi;TS. 



or, at :aos , loiir puces di'tlii' ;Va,iitic. monster ; while, to increase 

 the iveril, a wild ami ill-directed volley, fired in haste and fear, 

 was poured in by the watchers, the bullets whistling on every 

 side, hut with tar greater peril to our I'riends than to the object 

 of tlieir aim. Tom drew his gun up coolly — pulled — but no 

 sparls. replied to the unlucky flint. With a loud curse he dashed 

 the useless musket to the ground, unsheathed his butcher-knife, 

 and iushed on to attack the wild beast, single-handed. At the 

 same point of time, I saw my sight, as I fetched up my rifle, iu 

 clear relief against the dark fur of the head, close to the ro(jt 

 of the lel't ear! — my flnger was upon the trigger, when, mor- 

 tally wounded long before, exhausted by his dying effort— the 

 huge brute pitched headlong, without waiting for my shot, and^ 

 within ten feet of his destined victims, ' in one wild roar ex- 

 pired.' He had received all four of Michael's bullets ! — the 

 first shot had planted one ball in his lower jaw, which it had 

 shattered fearfully, and another in his neck ! — the second had 

 driven one through the right eye into the very brain, and cut a 

 long deep furrow on the crown with the other ! Six hundred 

 and odd pounds did he weigh ! He was the largest, and the 

 last ! None of his shaggy brethren have visited, since his de- 

 cease, the woods of Warwick ! — nor shall I ever more, I trust, 

 witness so dread a peril so needlessly encountered." 



The above is no fancy sketch, but is true to the letter, with 

 the sole exception, that the narrator was not present, as has 

 been stated above ; and that the names of the real actors in the 

 scene have been slightly, very slightly, altered : and with this 1 

 shall conclude my narrative of Northern Bear-hunting. 



In the South and the South-west, on the ■ contrary, Bear-hunt- 

 ing is a favorite and systematically followed sport. 



Many gentlemen in Louisiana and Mississippi keep regular 

 packs of Bear-hounds, and go to great expense and trouble in 

 training, managing and hunting them together ; and, as to dogs, 

 if not to men, this sport abounds with bloody catastrophes — the 

 cost from wear and tear, and necessary expenditure of life, is 



