he took his rifle, and
leaving Charlie picketted in the centre of a dell, where the long, rich
grass rose high above the snow, went off to hunt.

On turning a rocky point his heart suddenly bounded into his throat, for
there, not thirty yards distant, stood a huge grizzly bear!

Yes, there he was at last, the monster to meet which the young hunter
had so often longed,--the terrible size and fierceness of which he had
heard so often spoken about by the old hunters. There it stood at last;
but little did Dick Varley think that the first time he should meet with
his foe should be when alone in the dark recesses of the Rocky
Mountains, and with none to succour him in the event of the battle going
against him. Yes! there was one. The faithful Crusoe stood by his
side, with his hair bristling, all his formidable teeth exposed, and his
eyes glaring in their sockets. Alas! for poor Crusoe, had he gone into
that combat alone. One stroke of that monster's paw would have hurled
him dead upon the ground.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

DICK'S FIRST FIGHT WITH A GRIZZLY--ADVENTURE WITH A DEER--A SURPRISE.

There is no animal in all the land so terrible and dangerous as the
grizzly bear. Not only is he the largest of the species in America, but
he is the fiercest, the strongest, and the most tenacious of life, facts
which are so well understood that few of the western hunters like to
meet him single-handed, unless they happen to be first-rate shots; and
the Indians deem the encounter so dangerous, that to wear a collar
composed of the claws of a grizzly bear of his own killing, is counted
one of the highest honours to which a young warrior can attain.

The grizzly bear resembles the brown bear of Europe, but it is larger,
and the hair is long, the points being of a paler shade. About the head
there is a considerable mixture of grey hair, giving it the "grizzly"
appearance, from which it derives its name. The claws are dirty white,
arched, and very long, and so strong that when the animal strikes with
its paw they cut like a chisel. These claws are not embedded in the
paw, as is the case with the cat, but always project far beyond the
hair, thus giving to the foot a very ungainly appearance; they are not
sufficiently curved to enable the grizzly bear to climb trees, like the
black and brown bears, and this inability on their part is often the
only hope of the pursued hunter, who, if he succeeds in ascending a
tree, is safe, fo