“A young man named Boone, son of the mighty American hunter, made a settling amongst the Rocky Mountains, and when his hut was erected he used to leave it for days, out on hunting expeditions.  One night, after returning from one of these enterprises, he retired to rest on his solitary pallet.  The heat was intense, and, as usual in these countries during summer, he had left his door wide open.  It was about midnight, when he was awakened by the noise of something tumbling in the room:  he rose in a moment, and hearing a short and heavy breathing, he asked who it was, for the darkness was such that he could not see two yards before him.  No answer being given, except a kind of half smothered grunt, he advanced,—­and, putting out his hand, he seized the shaggy coat of a BEAR!  Surprise rendered him motionless; and the animal, giving him a blow on the chest with his terrible paw, threw him down outside the door.  Boone could have escaped, but, maddened with the pain of his fall, he only thought of vengeance,—­and, seizing his knife and tomahawk, which were fortunately within his reach, he darted furiously at the beast, dealing blows at random.  Great as was his strength, his tomahawk could not penetrate through the thick coat of the animal, which, having encircled the body of his assailant with his paws, was pressing him in one of those deadly embraces which could only have been resisted by a giant like Boone (who was six feet nine inches in height and proportionably strong).  Fortunately, the Black bear, unlike the Grizzly, very seldom uses his claws and teeth in fighting, contenting himself with smothering his victim.  Boone disentangled his left arm, and with his knife dealt a furious blow upon the snout of the animal, which, smarting with pain, released his hold.  The snout is the only vulnerable part in an old black bear.  Even at forty yards, the ball of a rifle will flatten against his skull, and if in any other part of the body it will scarcely produce any serious effect.  Boone, aware of this, and not daring to risk another hug, darted away from the cabin.  The bear, now quite angry, followed and overtook him near the fence.  Fortunately, the clouds were clearing away, and the moon threw light sufficient to enable the hunter to strike with a more certain aim:  he found also on the ground one of the rails, made of the blue ash, very heavy, and ten feet in length; he dropped his knife and tomahawk, and, seizing the rail, he renewed the fight with caution, for it had now become a struggle for life or death.

“Had it been a bull or a panther, they would have had their bones shivered to pieces by the tremendous blows which Boone dealt upon his adversary with all the strength of despair; but Bruin is by nature an admirable fencer, and, in spite of his unwieldy shape, there is not in the world an animal whose motions are more rapid in a close encounter.  Once or twice he was knocked down by the force of the blows, but generally he would parry them with a wonderful agility.