Blanc, a
half-breed hunter, seized his gun, and was in the act of firing at the
bear, when he was stopped by some of the others, who told him that he
would inevitably kill their friend, owing to the position he was then
in. During this parley, Bruin, relaxing his grasp of the captive, whom
he kept securely under him, very leisurely began picking the bone the
latter had dropped. Once or twice Louisson attempted to escape, which
only caused the bear to watch him more closely. On his making another
attempt, the bear again seized him round the waist, and commenced giving
him one of those dreadful embraces which generally end in death. The
poor fellow was now in great agony, and gave way to the most pitiful
screams. Observing Baptiste with his gun ready, anxiously watching a
safe opportunity to fire, he cried out, "Tire! tire! mon cher frere, si
tu m'aimes! A la tete! a la tete!" This was enough for Le Blanc, who
instantly let fire, and hit the bear over the right temple. He fell;
and at the same moment dropped Louisson. He gave him an ugly claw along
the face, however, which for some time afterwards spoiled his beauty.
After he had tired, Le Blanc darted to his companion's side, and with
his _couteau de chasse_ quickly finished the sufferings of the
man-stealer, and rescued his friend from impending death. On skinning
the bear, scarcely any meat was found on his bones, showing that it was
in a fit of hungry desperation that he had thus made one of the boldest
attempts at kidnapping over heard of in the legends of ursine courage.

WOLVES.

There are several species of wolves in North America: one, a large,
black animal, which inhabits the forests; and another, much smaller,
which hunts the bison and deer in vast packs across the prairie, and is
called the prairie-wolf. Like the wolf of Europe, the black wolf is a
fierce, dangerous creature, and equally cowardly. When driven into the
corner of a hut, as has sometimes occurred, or when caught in a trap, he
will not attempt to defend himself against any person who may enter to
destroy him. Audubon mentions an instance of this. A farmer with whom
he was staying having lost a number of his animals by wolves, dug
several pitfalls in the neighbourhood of his farm. Three large wolves
were found in the morning in one of these traps. The farmer, instead of
shooting them from above, boldly descended into the trap, and seizing
the creatures one by one by the hind-legs,