52 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 4 



in his anatomy was a bullet from the rifle of 

 the unfortunate Akobavi. 



As Tonoroweep heard the recital his eye 

 grew clear, his back straightened and the old 

 hot fire ran through his veins. " I will kill 

 him," he shouted. 



"Old dotard and imbecile," screamed the 

 treed Chivi Ute, "are you locoed (crazed) 

 beyond redemption ? Know you not, you 

 fossilized relic of prehistoric times, that this 

 monster will slay you also and then come back 

 and practise on my feet some more ? " But 

 Tonoroweep, with his eyes fixed on the grizzly, 

 slowly advanced and, while the scared Indian 

 was still volubly protesting, took out his knife 

 and sharpened the stick he carried, on its 

 point. The bear watched him curiously for a 

 moment and then, as he stopped close by one 

 of the fallen braves, shambled rapidly toward 

 him. The old Indian raised one end of 

 Akobavi's blanket from the ground and, as 

 the bear made his final quick rush for him, 

 threw it suddenly full in his face and, slapping 

 his nose smartly with his rabbit rod, slid 

 gracefully to one side as his infuriated oppon- 

 ent plunged madly forward. The bear turned 

 furiously and charged again. This time the 

 cool old brave waited so long that the Indian 

 in the tree, who had stopped his objurations 

 from sheer amazement, sent up a dismal howl- 

 ing lament, and clawed in anguish of heart as 

 he saw, in prospect, old Tonoroweep a mangled 

 corpse and the bear practising gymnaslics on 

 his feet again. But the old Indian was no 

 chicken, and just as the bear was tasting him 

 the sharpened point of the little rabbit rod 

 was plunged viciously into his left eye and old 

 Tony slipped nimbly just beyond the bear's 

 paw. Then commenced a sharp race that 

 probably was one of the most grotesque on 

 record; — the half blind bear, with all his 

 vengeful implacable nature fully roused, 

 bleeding from his eye and frothing at the 

 mouth, and the old Indian, a little while 

 before so decrepit and now so full of the fire 

 of his youth. He sacrificed his blanket to 

 gain one turn; threw a great snowball spat 

 into the bear's well eye to make another; 

 grabbed a dead oak branch and shoved it full 

 in Bi'uin's face for a third sharp dodging 

 turn, but never once let go his rabbit rod nor 

 lost his quickness of perception. All this 

 time he had edged his way gradually nearer 

 to the body of Akobavi, and now, just as the 

 bear' shot breath was warming his backbone, 

 he stooped and threw the defunct right into 

 the grizzly's arms; at the same moment his 



rod entered the bear's right eye. Just as he 

 raised himself, however, the long right arm of 

 the bear shot out and the claws caught the 

 old man on the left side of his head, 

 and stripped up the scalp so it hung 

 down over his ear. The force of the blow 

 sent him whirling, stumbling and falling 

 fifteen feet away, while the bear, happy in the 

 thought that, like Samson he was successful 

 though blind, hugged the corpse of the 

 deceased Akobavi to his heart and proceeded 

 to mangle it in the most approved bear 

 fashion. 



Old Tonoroweep was not dead though, nor 

 even badly hurt. As soon as he had recovered 

 a little from his first stun he tore off a leg of 

 Kaibabitz's cotton trousers and proceeded to 

 bandage his head, laying the scalp back and 

 twisting the cloth firmly over his crown and 

 under his chin. After resting a few moments 

 to recover his breath he again advanced cau- 

 tiously to the attack. He went slowly just in 

 front of his antagonist and saw with satis- 

 faction that his eyes were unquestionably 

 blinded; then he walited alongside the bear, 

 opposite to where Kaibabitz's hunting-knife 

 still stuck, with his own knife in liis hand. 

 Warily and patiently the old man watched his 

 opportunity. The bear finally raised his head 

 and turned impatiently toward the sting 

 Kaibabitz had implanted, and as he did so old 

 Tonoroweej), reaching carefully ovei', snatched 

 out the useless weapon and, as the bear turned 

 with a roar still further to that injured side, 

 the old Indian sheathed his own knife in the 

 tightened flesh of the neck on his side, and 

 leaped back just in time to avoid the counter 

 blow of his death-stricken enemy. That was 

 a terrible blow. The tense flesh and tough 

 hide were severed like butter as the long, 

 sharp blade sank clear into the jugular vein, 

 A few moments of strained lumbering gallop- 

 ing of the bear after an invisible spindle- 

 shanked Indian, whose head was covered with 

 blood and a dirty white cloth, and the battle 

 was forever lost to the bear. A few protest- 

 ing, gurgling growls that end in strangling 

 barks and coughs, a wicked murmur of the 

 hot life-blood that bubbles and spurts from 

 that awful gap in the throat and makes red 

 blotches and si^lashes on the trodden snow, 

 and the great frame sways, staggers and with 

 a reeling lurch sprawls forward, an inert mass. 



His feeble antagonist comes warily forward, 



pokes the blinded eyes with a willow rabbit 



stick, and, convinced that life is extinct, 



I proudly climbs up and seats himself on his 



