noon
Boone soon recovered , and found that the lucky blow which had saved him from being crashed to death had buried the whole blade of his knife , through the left eye , in the very brain of the animal -LSB- 29 -RSB- . -LSB- Footnote 29 : The black bear does not grow to any great size in the eastern and northern parts of America , but in Arkansas and the adjacent States it becomes , from its size and strength , almost as formidable an antagonist as a grizzly bear . It is very common to find them eight hundred weight , but sometimes they weigh above a thousand pounds . -RSB- The next morning , we all three started , and by noon we had crossed the Washita River . It is the most beautiful stream I know of , being cool and transparent , averaging a depth of eight or ten feet , and running upon a hard sandy bottom . While we were crossing , Boone told us that as soon as we arrived at the summit of the woody hills before us , if we looked sharp , we should see some bears , for he had never passed that way without shooting one or two . We forded the stream , and entered into a noble forest of maple trees , the ground now rising in gentle swells for several miles , when the fir-pines , succeeding to the maple , told us that we had reached the highest point of the hills .