noon
At all times , deer were seen grazing within rifle-shot , and I do n't think that , on our first day 's journey over the hills , we met less than twenty bears . Independent of his love for the wilderness , and his hatred of bowie-knife men , Captain Finn had another reason for not following the mail-road . He had business to transact at the celebrated hot springs , and he had to call on his way upon one of his brothers in-law , a son of Boone , and a mighty hunter , who had settled in the very heart of the mountains , and who made it a rule to take a trip every spring to the Rocky Mountains . The second day , at noon , after a toilsome ascent of a few thousand feet , we arrived at a small clearing on the top of the mountains , where the barking of the dogs and the crowing of the fowls announced the vicinity of a habitation , and , ere many minutes had elapsed , we heard the sharp report of a rifle . `` Young Boone 's own , I declare , '' exclaimed Finn ; '' 't was I that gave him the tool . I should know its crack amidst a thousand . Now mark me , chief , Boone never misses ; he has killed a deer or a bear ; if the first , search for a hole between the fifth and sixth rib ; if a bear , look in the eye .