the
side opposite to where the knife had entered. The bear, recoiling some
two paces, fell over backward with a heavy thud. The ball had pierced
his heart.
Despite
the fact that this bear was black, he was nearly as tall as a grey bear
and weighed 800 pounds. Had Aluna, on the other hand, met a grizzly
bear, instead of having to combat a black one, the affair might hav?
terminated in quite another manner. The grey bear uses both teeth and
claws in a fight whereas the black bear, on the contrary, does not use
them. The latter merely attempts to seize his enemy in his clutches,
squeeze him against his body, and crush him with his powerful grip.
What hunting buck, doe, and deer was to a man accustomed to such
dangerous hunting as has just been narrated, can be readily understood.
Aluna
had many other narrow escapes as well so that by comparison what he
faced with us seemed of minor importance. These dangers had left their
definite impress on him; nevertheless, he spoke of them without
emotion, being invariably ready to face them again without hesitation,
should the occasion arise.
But
his adventures along the Colorado River and in the swamps of Eastern
Texas, where he had had two horses devoured by alligators and monsters,
he spoke with deeper feeling. Now an alligator is quite familiar to us
all; but I question whether scholars or even naturalists have ever
heard of a carvana. For my part I hesitate to say that a carvana may perhaps have existed merely in Aluna's imagination. Be this as it may, a carvana was to this intrepid man what an old bogey is to very young children.
This
monster lives, it seems, in Eastern Texas out in those vast marshes
that present on the surface the appearance of solid ground, but which
are actually nothing more than vast lakes of slime, where in a few
seconds horse and rider flounder. Through these treacherous dungeons of
death exist, however, a few trails marked by thick growth of reeds.
These trails are known only to the Indians and local inhabitants. But
how are they known? This is what they themselves would probably find
difficult to explain; the lone traveller, who has no possible way of
locating these narrow causeways, is invariably lost in the marshes.
In
addition, still another danger exists. Here and there off on the
prairies, grow small clumps of brambles measuring fifteen or twenty
feet in circumference. If the traveller before proceeding observes
