considered a great brave who, alone, will undertake to kill a grizzly
bear. If he succeeds, which is very rarely the case, his fortune in
his tribe is made, once and for all. The reputation he gains will
cling to and follow him into his grave and form one of the chief
burdens of the tradition which bears his name to posterity. The
Indians usually hunt and attack him in large parties; and, when the
contest becomes really earnest, it requires a most immoderate amount
of yelling, and fierce cry for the onset, to keep their bravery up in
fighting trim. The victory is seldom gained without the sacrifice
of several lives. The mounted hunter almost invariably finds it a
difficult task to bring his charger even within shooting range of this
kind of game. On an untrained or young horse the accomplishment of
this feat is next to an impossibility; for, instinct seems to teach
them the true character of the game even though they approach it for
the first time.[7]

[Footnote 7: The author once saw thirty brave and determined men in
pursuit of an old grizzly bear and her two cubs near the head waters
of the Arkansas River. In vain they urged their horses to the chase.
Not a single steed in the entire band could be induced to run for the
game. The old bear was quite thin and her young nearly half grown and
were very fleet of foot. The chase lasted for about three miles, but
not a man present was able to obtain a shot, because their riding
animals were so completely frightened as to be almost unmanageable;
consequently, the bears made good their escape. The last that was seen
of them was their dim outlines as they traveled leisurely up a deep
ravine.]

Darkness closed in about Kit Carson before he could reach his camp;
and, indeed, the sky was so cloudy that it was with great difficulty