A BATTLE WITH GRIZZLY BEARS. As adventure with grizzly bears which had befallen the "captain" was next related. He had been travelling with a strange party--the "scalp-hunters,"--in the mountains near Santa Fe, when they were overtaken by a sudden and heavy fall of snow that rendered farther progress impossible. The "canon," a deep valley in which they had encamped, was difficult to get through at any time, but now the path, on account of the deep soft snow, was rendered impassable. When morning broke they found themselves fairly "in the trap." "Above and below, the valley was choked up with snow five fathoms deep. Vast fissures--_barrancas_--were filled with the drift; and it was perilous to attempt penetrating in either direction. Two men had already disappeared. "On each side of our camp rose the walls of the canon, almost vertical, to the height of a hundred feet. These we might have climbed had the weather been soft, for the rock was a trap formation, and offered numerous seams and ledges; but now there was a coating of ice and snow upon them that rendered the ascent impossible. The ground had been frozen hard before the storm came on, although it was now freezing no longer, and the snow would not bear our weight. All our efforts to get out of the valley proved idle; and we gave them over, yielding ourselves, in a kind of reckless despair, to wait for--we scarce knew what. "For three days we sat shivering around the fires, now and then casting looks of gloomy inquiry around the sky. The same dull grey for an answer, mottled with flakes slanting earthward, for it still continued to know. Not a bright spot cheered the aching eye. "The little platform on which we rested--a space of two or three acres-- was still free from the snow-drift, on account of its exposure to the wind. Straggling pines, stunted and leafless, grew over its surface, in all about fifty or sixty trees. From these we obtained our fires; but what were fires when we had no meat to cook upon them! "We were now in the third day without food! Without food, though not absolutely without eating--the men had bolted their gun-covers and the cat-skin flaps of their bullet-pouches, and were now seen--the last shift but one--stripping the _parfleche_ from the soles of their moccasins! "The women, wrapped in their _tilmas_, nestled closely in the embrace of father, brother, husband, and lover; for all these affections were present. The last string of _tasajo_, hitherto economised for their sake, had been parcelled out to them in the morning. That was gone, and whence was their next morsel to come? At long intervals, `_Ay da mi! Dios de mi alma_!' were heard only in low murmurs, as some colder blast swept down the canon. In the faces of those beautiful creatures might be read that uncomplaining patience--that high endurance--so characteristic of the Hispano-Mexican women.