When Arthur reached home, he repeated his story as he had told it to Mr. Harris and Uncle James, and he straightway found himself a hero.  He had seen a grizzly bear with terrible claws, and a frightful array of teeth; his horse had run away with him, and carried him eight miles before he could stop him, and he had come home with a whole skin.  It was wonderful.

Arthur threw on airs accordingly.  He strutted about among the herdsmen, and entertained his servant, a Mexican boy about his own age, named Pedro, with a description of the fight, in which he had seen four fierce dogs completely demolished.

Pedro complimented him highly, and the Rancheros called him a brave lad—­although Arthur himself failed to see what he had done that was deserving of praise.  He went to bed in excellent spirits, and was awakened in the morning, about daylight, by Pedro, who came into his room, carrying in his hand a double-barreled shot-gun, a tomahawk, and sheath-knife, and, under his arm, he held a hat, and a bundle wrapped up in a newspaper.  Pedro held his sombrero over his face, so that nothing could be seen but his eyes, which were brimful of laughter.

“Now, then,” exclaimed Arthur, raising himself on his elbow, and looking fiercely at the boy, “what do you want in here at this barbarous hour, and what are you grinning at?”

“Why, sir—­the bear, you know; it wasn’t a bear after all,” stammered Pedro, in reply.

“It wasn’t!  I say it was.  Didn’t I see him with my own eyes, and hear him growl with my own ears?  Take that hat down from your face, and stop your laughing.”

Pedro obeyed.  He placed the bundle on a chair beside the bed, leaned the gun up in one corner, deposited the other articles upon the table, and then pulled out of his pocket a note which he handed to Arthur.

“Now take yourself off,” commanded that young gentleman.

Pedro vanished, and Arthur heard him laughing to himself as he passed through the hall.

“What does the rascal mean, I wonder; and who can be writing to me so early in the morning?”

Arthur looked at the bundle, which lay on the chair beside him, felt of it with his fingers, and then turned his attention to the note, which ran as follows: 

“Frank, Archie, and Johnny present their compliments to Colonel Vane, and beg leave to inform him that, after a struggle unequaled in the annals of hunting, they succeeded in dispatching the monster by which they were attacked yesterday.  They are, also, happy to announce that the dogs, which were so badly cut up during the fight, have so far recovered as to be out, and to take their regular rations.  They request the Colonel to accept the accompanying articles, including the skin of the grizzly bear, and to preserve them as mementoes of the most exciting event of his life.  They sincerely hope that the Colonel sustained no injury during his ride on his runaway horse.”

Arthur read this letter over twice, and, although he made no comments upon it, it was easy enough to see that he was highly enraged.  He sat up in the bed, and, with trembling hands, tore off the covering of the bundle, and discovered the skin of the gray wolf.