tt could
not understand what it meant. Crockett became angry at being thus
deceived, and resolved that he would shoot the old hound, whom he
considered the ringleader in the mischief, as soon as he got near
enough to do so.

"With this intention," he says, "I pushed on the harder, till I came to
the edge of an open prairie; and looking on before my dogs, I saw about
the biggest bear that ever was seen in America. He looked, at the
distance he was from me, like a large black bull. My dogs were afraid
to attack him, and that was the reason they had stopped so often that I
might overtake them."

This is certainly a remarkable instance of animal sagacity. The three
dogs, by some inexplicable conference among themselves, decided that
the enemy was too formidable for them to attack alone. They therefore
summoned their master to their aid. As soon as they saw that he was
near enough to lend his cooperation, then they fearlessly assailed the
monster.

The sight inspired Crockett with new life. Through thickets, briers,
and brambles they all rushed--bear, dogs, and hunter. At length, the
shaggy monster, so fiercely assailed, climbed for refuge a large
black-oak tree, and sitting among the branches, looked composedly down
upon the dogs barking fiercely at its foot. Crockett crept up within
about eighty yards, and taking deliberate aim at his breast, fired. The
bullet struck and pierced the monster directly upon the spot at which
it was aimed. The bear uttered a sharp cry, made a convulsive movement
with one paw, and remained as before.

Speedily Crockett reloaded his rifle, and sent another bullet to follow
the first. The shaggy brute shuddered in every limb, and then tumbled
head-long to the icy ground. Still he was not killed. The dogs plunged
upon him, and there was a tremendous fight. The howling of the bear,
and the frenzied barking of the dogs, with their sharp cries of pain as
the claws of the monster tore their flesh, and the deathly struggle
witnessed as they rolled over and over each other in the fierce fight,
presented a terrific spectacle.

Crockett hastened to the aid of his dogs. As soon as the bear saw him
approach, he forsook the inferior, and turned with all fury upon the
superior foe. Crockett was hurrying forward with his tomahawk in one
hand and his big butcher-knife in the other, when the bear, with eyes
flashing fire, rushed upon him. Crockett ran back, seized his rifle,
and with a third bullet penetr