Htmting the Grisly. 319 



* 



wounds never entirely healed, so that his disfigured visage 

 was hideous to behold. 



Most of these accidents occur in following a wounded 

 or worried bear into thick cover ; and under such circum- 

 stances an animal apparently hopelessly disabled, or in 

 the death throes, may with a last effort kill one or more 

 of its assailants. In 1874 my wife's uncle, Captain Alex- 

 ander Moore, U. S. A., and my friend Captain Bates, 

 with some men of the 2d and 3d Cavalry, were scout- 

 ing in Wyoming, near the Freezeout Mountains. One 

 morning they roused a bear in the open prairie and fol- 

 lowed it at full speed as it ran towards a small creek. At 

 one spot in the creek beavers had built a dam, and as 

 usual in such places there was a thick growth of bushes 

 and willow saplings. Just as the bear reached the edge 

 of this little jungle it was struck by several balls, both of 

 its fore-legs being broken. Nevertheless, it managed to 

 shove itself forward on its hind-legs, and partly rolled, 

 partly pushed itself into the thicket, the bushes though 

 low being so dense that its body was at once completely 

 hidden. The thicket was a mere patch of brush, not 

 twenty yards across in any direction. The leading 

 troopers reached the edge almost as the bear tumbled in. 

 One of them, a tall and powerful man named Miller, in- 

 stantly dismounted and prepared to force his way in 

 among the dwarfed willows, which were but breast-high. 

 Among the men who had ridden up were Moore and 

 Bates, and also the two famous scouts, Buffalo Bill — long 

 a companion of Captain Moore, — and California Joe, Cus- 

 ter's faithful follower, California Joe had spent almost 



