final effort,
succeeded in planting a terrible blow on the hunter's head, which once
more brought him to the ground. From this blow and the previous loss
of blood, the brave man fainted entirely away. How long he remained
in this state he could not tell; but, on becoming again conscious,
he found that the victory was on his side, for the bear had already
breathed his last. The poor boy, notwithstanding his wounds, as soon
as the battle was decided; and, as he supposed, at the cost of his
friend's life, started for a neighboring fort, and, reaching it the
following morning, reported the affair. A party of men well armed
immediately marched to the rescue. They found the brave hunter in a
most pitiful condition, with his flesh terribly mangled, his clothes
torn into ribbons, and his back and shoulders one mass of lacerated
wounds. His reason had already become unseated. In his native language
he would call out to his now visionary foe, "If you are a brave man,
come on." Although the most delicate care and assistance was rendered
to Sanchez, it was many weeks before he was able to resume his
occupation; and, even then, he owed his life to the wonderful
recuperative powers of his healthy and iron constitution. Had the
fact been otherwise, he could not have survived his injuries. One more
brave heart must have yielded its last drop of heroic blood in defence
of youthful weakness. This picture, because it does not exaggerate the
facts, we leave with regret; for, it is a pleasure to contemplate
such nobility of character, whatever be the name which declares the
governmental allegiance of the hero.

It is not going beyond the bounds of truth to assert that the grizzly
bear of the Rocky Mountains is as formidable an enemy as the hunter
is called upon to meet, wherever the hunting-ground and whatever the
animal which opponents to our assertion may set up. When caught out on
the open prairie, where he can be attacked on horseback and lassoed,
the chances are against the bear; but, in a broken country, woe to his
assailants, unless life is saved by some trick; or, happy fortune; a
lucky shot; a telling blow, like Sanchez's with his slung-shot;
or, the fanciful drumming, such as was Kit's, on the noses of
his antagonists; or, some other equally singular and unlooked-for
expedient. The weight of one of these monsters often runs as high as
fifteen hundred pounds; and, their fore paws, which they can manage
with the greatest dexterity,