358 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



interposition of Hays. He, by a great exertion of his 

 remarkable self-command, so far recovered as to be able to 

 send a ball through its head, which brought it to the ground. 



There were now four bears in sight, who were making for 

 the Knobs, and seeing that the Doctor was safe, without 

 pausing, we all swept by in headlong career, to arrest these 

 fellows before they left the plain. The last I saw of the 

 Doctor for many a day, he was dangling from the end of that 

 live oak limb, in the act of driving his spear into the body 

 of the wounded bear, while pony, with his ears laid back, 

 was kicking most vehemently at its writhing body ! 



The intensity of individual excitement was all now given 

 to the chase. Our party had broken up into four groups, 

 each of which had selected for pursuit one of the unwieldy 

 brutes, who were getting over the ground with astonishing 

 speed in a direct line for the Knobs. We pushed them so 

 hard, though, that instead of attempting to ascend the ridges, 

 they all diverged into some one of the narrow valleys I have 

 spoken of. It happened that a young Virginian and myself 

 had selected the same animal, and, before we entered the 

 gorge, up which he ran, all the others of the party had 

 disappeared into gorges of the same character, which led 

 them to the opposite sides of the ridges. I now began to 

 notice, for the first time, that there was trouble brewing with 

 my horse. He had caught scent of the bear, and seemed to 

 be terribly alarmed, snorting and bouncing up from the 

 ground with a short, stiff spring, that almost jerked me out of 

 my scat. Though his natural action was fully as great aa 

 that of the Virginian's horse, yet he, somehow or other, 

 contrived not to get over much ground, and would not keep 

 up. His manoeuvres made me feel a little curious, though I 

 am, and was then, a practical horseman. 



I saw my companion closing upon the bear, which suddenly 

 diverged from the valley, up the hill, and lost sight of both 

 behind an immense live oak hung to the very ground with 



