[Illustration:  Two huge and terribly angry grizzly bears were bounding towards him, their eyes flashing fiery passion, their pearly teeth glittering with eagerness to mangle his flesh, and their monstrous forearms, hung with sharp, bony claws, ready and anxious to hug his body in a close and most loving embrace.—­PAGE 83.]

Affairs were, however, by no manner of means settled.  They had the daring trespasser on their domain treed, and almost within their reach; and, indeed, to keep out of the way of their uncomely claws, Kit was obliged to gather himself up in the smallest possible space and cling to the topmost boughs.  The bears now allowed themselves a short respite for breathing, during which they gave vent to their wrath by many shrill screeches.  Then they renewed their endeavors to force the hunter from his resting place.  Mounted on their hind paws they would reach for him; but, the blows with the stick, applied freely to their noses, would make them desist.  In vain did they exhaust every means to force the man to descend; he was not to be driven or coaxed.  The hard knocks they had sustained upon their noses had now aroused them almost to madness.  Together they made one desperate effort to tear Kit from the tree.  As in all their previous attempts, they were foiled, and their ardor dampened and cooled by the drumming operations upon their noses, which this time was so freely and strongly applied upon one of them as to make him lachrymate and cry out with pain.  One at a time they departed; but, it was not until they had been out of sight and hearing for some time that Kit considered it safe to venture down from the tree; when, he hastened to regain and immediately to reload his rifle.

Thus ended an adventure in which Kit Carson considers that he failed to lose life and limb by the narrowest miss that ever occurred to him.  Although he has killed much more than his quantum of this kind of game, and has gained what is a practical advantage to every western hunter, to wit:  a knowledge of all their abilities with which they enforce sway, Kit Carson regards this adventure in the light of a warning.  It is a warning too which he never allows himself to forget; consequently, whenever he has hunted since, he watches as closely for signs of Mr. Bruin as he does for the game he seeks; it would, therefore, be a difficult matter for the bears again to surprise him.  Some of the most desperate battles on record between hunters and wild animals are narrated of encounters with the bear tribe.

Several years ago, a Mexican by the name of Armador Sanchez, still well known in the Rocky Mountains as a brave and skillful hunter, had a fight with a bear which lasted several hours.  This terrible battle ended by both the combatants being laid prostrate upon the ground, so completely exhausted as to be utterly unable to reach each other from the want of physical strength.  In this condition they spent one night;