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“I had a good-sized sow killed in that same bottom land. The old thief stole an ear of corn, and took it down to eat where she slept at night. Well, she left a grain or two on the ground, and lay down on them: before morning the corn shot up, and the percussion killed her dead. I don’t plant any more: natur intended Arkansaw for a hunting ground, and I go according to natur.”

The questioner, who had thus elicited the description of our hero’s settlement, seemed to be perfectlysatisfied, and said no more; but the “Big Bear of Arkansaw” rambled on from one thing to another with a volubility perfectly astonishing, occasionally disputing with those around him, particularly with a “live Sucker” from Illinois, who had the daring to say that our Arkansaw friend’s stories “smelt rather tall.” The evening was nearly spent by the incidents we have detailed; and conscious that my own association with so singular a personage would probablyend before morning, I asked him if he would not give me a description of some particular bear hunt; adding, that I took great interest insuch things, though I was no sportsman. The desire seemed to please him, and he squared himself round towards me, saying, that he could give me an idea of a bear hunt that was never beat in this world, or in any other. His manner was so singular, that half of his story consisted in his excellent way of telling it, the great peculiarity of which was, the happy manner he had of emphasizing the prominent parts of his conversation. As near as I can recollect, I have italicized the words, and given the story in his own way.

“Stranger,” said he, “in bear hunts I am numerous,and which particular one, as you say, I shall tell, puzzles me.

“There was the old she devil I shot at the Hurricane last fall then there was the old hog thief I popped over at the Bloody Crossing, and then Yes, I have it! I will give you an idea of a hunt, in which the greatest bear was killed that ever lived, none excepted;about an old
fellow that I hunted, more or less, for two or three years; and if that ain’t a particular bear hunt,I ain’t got one to tell.

“But in the first place, stranger, let me say, I am pleased with you, because you ain’t ashamed to gain information by asking and listening; and that’s what I say to Countess’s pups every day when I’m home; and I have got great hopes of them ar pups, because they are continually nosingabout; and though they stick it sometimes in the wrong place, they gain experience any how, and may learn something useful to boot.

“Well, as I was saying about this big bear, you see when I and some more first settled in our region, we were drivin to hunting naturally; we soon liked it, and after that we found it an easy matter to make the thing our business. One old chap who had pioneered ‘afore us, gave us to understand that we had settled in the right place. He dwelt upon its merits until it was affecting, and showed us, to prove his assertions, more scratches on the bark of the sassafras trees, than I ever saw chalk marks on a tavern door ‘lection time.

“‘Who keeps that ar reckoning?’ said I.

“‘The bear,’ said he.

” ‘What for?’ said I.

” ‘Can’t tell,’ said he; ‘but so it is: the bear bite the bark and wood too, at the highest point from the ground they can reach, and you can tell, by the marks,’ said he,’the length of the bear to an inch.’