ry of the
grizzly bear; and you may fancy the feelings I experienced at finding
myself in the presence of one of the largest and fiercest upon the naked
plain, alone, dismounted, almost unarmed!

There was not a bush where I could hide myself, not a tree into which I
might climb. There was no means of escape, and almost none of defence;
the knife was the only weapon I had with me; my rifle I had left upon
the other side of the barranca, and to reach it was out of the question.
Even could I have got to the path that led down the cliff, it would
have been madness to attempt crossing there; for although not a
tree-climber, the grizzly bear, by means of his great claws, could have
scaled the cliff more expeditiously than I. Had I made the attempt, I
should have been caught before I could have reached the bottom of the
ravine.

The bear was directly in the path. It would have been literally
flinging myself "into his embrace" to have gone that way.

These reflections occupy minutes of your time to _read_; I _thought_
them in less than moments. A single glance around showed me the utter
helplessness of my situation; I saw there was no alternative but a
desperate conflict--a conflict with the knife!

Despair, that for a moment had unnerved, now had the effect of bracing
me; and, fronting my fierce foe, I stood ready to receive him.

I had heard of hunters having conquered and killed the grizzly bear with
no other weapon than a knife--but; after a terrible and protracted
struggle--after many wounds; and sore loss of blood. I had read in the
book of a naturalist, that "a man might end a struggle with a bear in a
few instants, if one hand be sufficiently at liberty to grasp the throat
of the animal with the thumb and fingers externally, _just at the root
of the tongue_, as flight degree of compression there will generally
suffice to produce a spasm of the glottis, that will soon suffocate the
bear beyond the power of offering resistance or doing injury."

Beautiful theory! Sagacious naturalist! How wouldst thou like to make
the experiment? Hast thou ever heard of birds being caught by the
application of "salt to the tail!" The theory is as correct as thine,
and I am certain the practice of it would not be more difficult!

But I digress among these after-thoughts. I had no time to reflect upon
"compressions of the tongue" or "spasms of the glottis." My antagonist
soon finished his reconnaissance of me, and, droppi