start up armed at a moment's
notice."

I have never made the experiment of sleeping in this way, but I should
imagine that a gun-stock would make rather a hard pillow.

Many of our experienced frontier officers prefer carrying their pistols
in a belt at their sides to placing them in holsters attached to the
saddle, as in the former case they are always at hand when they are
dismounted; whereas, by the other plan, they become useless when a man
is unhorsed, unless he has time to remove them from the saddle, which,
during the excitement of an action, would seldom be the case.

Notwithstanding Colt's army and navy sized revolvers have been in use
for a long time in our army, officers are by no means of one mind as to
their relative merits for frontier service. The navy pistol, being more
light and portable, is more convenient for the belt, but it is very
questionable in my mind whether these qualities counterbalance the
advantages derived from the greater weight of powder and lead that can
be fired from the larger pistol, and the consequent increased
projectile force.

This point is illustrated by an incident which fell under my own
observation. In passing near the "Medicine-Bow Butte" during the spring
of 1858, I most unexpectedly encountered and fired at a full-grown
grizzly bear; but, as my horse had become somewhat blown by a previous
gallop, his breathing so much disturbed my aim that I missed the animal
at the short distance of about fifty yards, and he ran off. Fearful, if
I stopped to reload my rifle, the bear would make his escape, I
resolved to drive him back to the advanced guard of our escort, which I
could see approaching in the distance; this I succeeded in doing, when
several mounted men, armed with the navy revolvers, set off in pursuit.
They approached within a few paces, and discharged ten or twelve shots,
the most of which entered the animal, but he still kept on, and his
progress did not seem materially impeded by the wounds. After these men
had exhausted their charges, another man rode up armed with the army
revolver, and fired two shots, which brought the stalwart beast to the
ground. Upon skinning him and making an examination of the wounds, it
was discovered that none of the balls from the small pistols had, after
passing through his thick and tough hide, penetrated deeper than about
an inch into the flesh, but that the two balls from the large pistol
had gone into the vitals and killed him. T