“By the way, I once shot off one of those old muskets. On one occasion when out with two Indians our dogs treed a California lion. The lion stood one hundred and fifty feet above on two limbs looking down at us, till I sent for one of the old muskets and shot him. The recoil of that weapon nearly knocked me down, bruised my face, lamed my shoulder, and still lingers unfaded on the page of my memory.” (Address to the Society of California Pioneers, p. 10)