Bruin - The Grand Bear Hunt: on the banks of the Neva river, near the great city of Saint Petersburg, stands a splendid palace, known as the Palace Grodonoff. It is the property of a Russian nobleman of that name, as it is also his place of residence. Were you to drive up to the front gate of this grand palace, you would see a coat-of-arms sculptured in granite over the entrance. In this piece of sculpture, the principal and most striking figure is a bear, with the blade of a knife buried in his breast, the haft being clutched by a human hand!
Thomas Mayne Reid (April 4, 1818 October 22, 1883) was a Scots-Irish American novelist. He fought in the American-Mexican War. His many works are about American life, in which he describes the colonial policy in the United States, the horrors of slave labor, and the lives of American Indians. "Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those written by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a great admirer of Lord Byron. These novels contain action that takes place primarily in places including, but not limited to: the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica.