22 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



me ; and so I put fresh priming in my gun, and fired at 

 him. At this he raised one of his paws and snorted 

 loudly. I loaded again as quick as I could, and fired as 

 near the same place in his breast, as possible. At the 

 crack of my gun here he came, tumbling down , and the 

 moment he touched the ground, I heard one of my best 

 dogs cry out. I took my tomahawk in one hand, and 

 my big butcher-knife in the other, and .run up within 

 four or five paces of him, at which he let my dog go, and 

 fixed his eyes on me. I got back in all sorts of a hurry, 

 for I know'd if he got hold of me, he would hug me al- 

 together too close for comfort. I went to my gun and 

 hastily loaded her again, and shot him the third time, 

 which killed him good. 



I now started for home, and got my brother-in-law, and 

 my young man, and four horses, and went back. We got 

 there just before dark, and struck up a fire, and com- 

 menced butchering my bear. It was some time in the 

 night before we finished it; and I can assert, on my honor, 

 that I believe he would have weighed six hundred pounds. 

 It was the second largest I ever saw. I killed one, a few 

 years after, that weighed six hundred and seventeen 

 pounds. We got our meat home, and I had the pleasure 

 to know that we now had plenty, and that of the best ; 

 and I continued through the winter to supply my family 

 abundantly with bear-meat and venison from the woods, 



