climb back, but the slide rock gave way under…

chunk 443 · paragraph 1523

r head hung over a narrow ledge under which was a large mass of slide rock. He jumped on her with both knees grabbing her by the neck with one hand and the tail with the other, tried to force her over. She man- aged to get her head around and caught him by the knee. In wrenching his knee loose, his hand slipped from her neck and she caught it. They had struggled until they were just balanced on the edge of the cliff. Hugh had all this time retained his death grip on the bear’s tail, now saw that he controlled the balance of power, easily turned her over into the loose rock at the foot of the cliff. climb back, but the slide rock gave way under her, giving Hugh time to get his gun and send a ball through her brain. He sank back bleed- ing and exhausted, lacerated and bruised from head to foot, his left arm useless and entirely denuded of flesh and not enough clothing left on him to even dress his hand. His companion hearing the shot came over to see what occa- sioned it, found him and assisted him to town, where his wounds were dressed. Hugh was never the same man after the encounter, and seldom mentioned it to any one. He gradually declined in health and died at St. Vincent’s hospital, Santa Fe, the summer of 1885.