IN THE FAR WEST. 27 



neck. This was too much for the equanimity of the stoic, so 

 he gave a loud and piercing- yell of terror, that rang all over 

 the coppice and was echoed and re-echoed in thundering tones 

 by the rock-bound precipice and the adjacent woods. This 

 unexpected alarm caused the bear to drop its prey suddenly 

 and to scamper away panic-stricken ; and to be sure that it 

 did not return, the hunter gave another unearthly yell, which 

 was thundered in every direction by the trees, shrubs, and 

 rocks. Wild with joy at his miraculous escape, he jumped to 

 his feet, but on arising he found himself so stiff and sore that 

 he could scarcely move, while his left arm hung limp and 

 useless at his side. Making the best of his way out of the 

 woods, he reached camp, and there fell in a swoon, which must 

 have lasted some time, as he could not remember anything 

 until he found one of his comrades bathing his face and 

 trying to arouse him. An examination of his body proved 

 that the bones of the forearm were broken, but that there 

 were no injuries on the back beside some deep flesh wounds 

 which bled freely, and the temporary paralysis of a few 

 muscles. 



Using their rude surgery, the hunters stopped the bleeding, 

 and leaving him in camp, they started out the next day in 

 search of the assailant, and returned in the evening with a 

 four-year-old female dragging at the end of their lariats. As 

 she was supposed to have done all the harm, her head was cut 

 off and given as a trophy to the victim of her anger, and if he 

 is not now dead it adorns his cabin in Humboldt County. 



A man whom I knew well was killed by a grizzly in the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains. Tie also was out in search of deer 

 in Butte County, and, meeting a bear, attacked and wounded it ; 

 then followed it into the dense shrubbery, where he must 

 have been killed at once by a sudden blow, for when found 

 he displayed no injuries except that the head was crushed, and 

 the scalp torn off by the Mamaluke cut of the claws. 



I knew another who was so severely injured in a contest 

 with one that he is to-day a cripple, and can scarcely lift a 

 hand or a foot, while one eye is completely gone, lie also 

 wounded the animal, but was not able to escape from it ; and 



