X 
THE BEAR 
353 
of his day’s sport, as a solitary hunter, quite alone 
and unaided since 8 a.m. His pony carried the 
skins of three bears and four black-tail deer, which 
he had shot, skinned, and packed upon his sturdy 
little companion. 
The bears consisted of a mother and two half- 
grown young ones of the choice variety known as 
“silver-tipped.” He had come across the family by 
chance while riding through the forest, and having- 
shot the mother through the shoulder, she fell 
struggling between her cubs; these pugnacious 
brutes immediately commenced fighting, and a couple 
of shots from the rapid breechloading Sharp rifle 
settled their ill-timed quarrel. 
Bob was the most dexterous skinner I ever saw : 
he would take ofT a skin from a deer or bear as 
naturally as most persons would take off their 
clothes ; and the fact of a man, unassisted, flaying 
/^even animals, and arranging them neatly upon the 
Mexican saddle, would have been a tolerable amount 
of labour without the difficulty of first finding and 
then successfully shooting them. 
The hide of the largest bear would weigh fully 
50 lbs., those of the smaller 25 lbs. each=ioolbs. 
The four black-tail deer would weigh fully 50 lbs. 
Therefore the mare was carrying 150 lbs. of hides, 
in addition to Bob Stewart, who weighed about 9 
stone, making a total of about 276 lbs., irrespective 
of his rifle and ammunition. 
It was a strange country ; the elevation of our 
camp was about 10,000 feet above the sea-level. 
VOL. I 
2 A 
