After a moment of stunned surprise the bear hurled himself at the intruder with furious impetuosity;while the cowboy,wheeling his horse on its haunches and dashing in the spurs,carried it just clear of his assailant's headlong rush.After a few springs he reined in and once more wheeled half round,having drawn his revolver,only to find the bear again charging and almost on him.This time he fired into it,near the joining of the neck and shoulder,the bullet going downwards into the chest hollow;and again by a quick dash to one side he just avoided the rush of the beast and the sweep of its mighty forepaw.The bear then halted for a minute,and he rode close by it at a run,firing a couple of shots,which brought on another resolute charge.
The ground was somewhat rugged and broken,but his pony was as quick on its feet as a cat,and never stumbled,even when going at full speed to avoid the bear's first mad rushes.It speedily became so excited,however,as to render it almost impossible for the rider to take aim.Sometimes he would come up close to the bear and wait for it to charge,which it would do,first at a trot,or rather rack,and then at a lumbering but swift gallop;and he would fire one or two shots before being forced to run.At other times,if the bear stood still in a good place,he would run by it,firing as he rode.He spent many cartridges,and though most of them were wasted occasionally a bullet went home.The bear fought with the most savage courage,champing its bloody jaws,roaring with rage,and looking the very incarnation of evil fury.For some minutes it made no effort to flee,either charging or standing at bay.Then it began to move slowly towards a patch of ash and wild plums in the head of a coulie,some distance off.Its pursuer rode after it,and when close enough would push by it and fire,while the bear would spin quickly round and charge as fiercely as ever,though evidently beginning to grow weak.
At last,when still a couple of hundred yards from cover the man found he had used up all his cartridges,and then merely followed at a safe distance.The bear no longer paid heed to him,but walked slowly forwards,swaying its great head from side to side,while the blood streamed from between its half-opened jaws.On reaching the cover he could tell by the waving of the bushes that it walked to the middle and then halted.A few minutes afterwards some of the other cowboys rode up,having been attracted by the incessant firing.They surrounded the thicket,firing and throwing stones into the bushes.
Finally,as nothing moved,they ventured in and found the indomitable grisly warrior lying dead.
Cowboys delight in nothing so much as the chance to show their skill as riders and ropers;and they always try to ride down and rope any wild animal they come across in favorable ground and close enough up.
If a party of them meets a bear in the open they have great fun;and the struggle between the shouting,galloping,rough-riders and their shaggy quarry is full of wild excitement and not unaccompanied by danger.The bear often throws the noose from his head so rapidly that it is a difficult matter to catch him;and his frequent charges scatter his tormentors in every direction while the horses become wild with fright over the roaring,bristling beast--for horses seem to dread a bear more than any other animal.If the bear cannot reach cover,however,his fate is sealed.Sooner or later,the noose tightens over one leg,or perchance over the neck and fore-paw,and as the rope straightens with a "plunk,"the horse braces itself desperately and the bear tumbles over.Whether he regains his feet or not the cowboy keeps the rope taut;soon another noose tightens over a leg,and the bear is speedily rendered helpless.
I have known of these feats being performed several times in northern Wyoming,although never in the immediate neighborhood of my ranch.Mr.
Archibald Roger's cowhands have in this manner caught several bears,on or near his ranch on the Gray Bull,which flows into the Bighorn;and those of Mr.G.B.Grinnell have also occasionally done so.Any set of moderately good ropers and riders,who are accustomed to back one another up and act together,can accomplish the feat if they have smooth ground and plenty of room.It is,however,indeed a feat of skill and daring for a single man;and yet I have known of more than one instance in which it has been accomplished by some reckless knight of the rope and the saddle.One such occurred in 1887on the Flathead Reservation,the hero being a half-breed;and another in 1890at the mouth of the Bighorn,where a cowboy roped,bound,and killed a large bear single-handed.
My friend General "Red"Jackson,of Bellemeade,in the pleasant mid-county of Tennessee,once did a feat which casts into the shade even the feats of the men of the lariat.General Jackson,who afterwards became one of the ablest and most renowned of the Confederate cavalry leaders,was at the time a young officer in the Mounted Rifle Regiment,now known as the 3rd United States Cavalry.It was some years before the Civil War,and the regiment was on duty in the Southwest,then the debatable land of Comanche and Apache.While on a scout after hostile Indians,the troops in their march roused a large grisly which sped off across the plain in front of them.Strict orders had been issued against firing at game,because of the nearness of the Indians.Young Jackson was a man of great strength,a keen swordsman,who always kept the finest edge on his blade,and he was on a swift and mettled Kentucky horse,which luckily had but one eye.Riding at full speed he soon overtook the quarry.As the horse hoofs sounded nearer,the grim bear ceased its flight,and whirling round stood at bay,raising itself on its hind-legs and threatening its pursuer with bared fangs and spread claws.Carefully riding his horse so that its blind side should be towards the monster,the cavalryman swept by at a run,handling his steed with such daring skill that he just cleared the blow of the dreaded fore-paw,while with one mighty sabre stroke he cleft the bear's skull,slaying the grinning beast as it stood upright.
