HUNTING THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN HIS DEN. 273 



than even a backwoods' rifleman, so he plunged in after 

 them, and was almost in the act of seizing the hindmost 

 man, when one of those on shore shot him through the 

 , head, and he expired. When they dragged him on 

 shore, they found that eight balls had passed through 

 his body in different directions. 



HUNTING THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN HIS DEN 



THE every-day sports of .the wild woods include many 

 feats of daring that never find a pen of record. Con- 

 stantly in the haunts of the savage, are enacting scenes 

 of thrilling interest, the very details of which would 

 make the denizen of enlightened life turn away with in- 

 stinctive dread. Every Indian tribe has its heroes, cele- 

 brated respectively for their courage in different ways 

 exhibited. Some for their acuteness in pursuing the 

 enemy on the war-path, and others for the destruction 

 they have accomplished among the wild beasts of the 

 forest. A great hunter among the Indians is a marked 

 personage. It is a title that distinguishes its possessor 

 among his people as a prince; while the exploits in 

 which he has been engaged hang about his person as 

 brilliantly as the decorations of so many orders. The 

 country in which the Osage finds a home, possesses 

 abundantly the Grizzly Bear, an animal formidable be- 

 yond any other inhabitant of the North American forests : 



an animal seemingly insensible to pain, uncertain in its 



18 



