Hunting the Grisly 117 



stumbled on him in his lair unawares, he will 

 often rise up in this fashion and strike a sin 

 gle blow. He will also rise in clinching with 

 a man on horseback. In 1882 a mounted In 

 dian was killed in this manner on one of the 

 river bottoms some miles below where my 

 ranch house now stands, not far from the junc 

 tion of the Beaver and Little Missouri. The 

 bear had been hunted into a thicket by a band 

 of Indians, in whose company my informant, 

 a white squaw-man, with whom I afterward 

 did some trading, was traveling. One of them 

 in the excitement of the pursuit rode across 

 the end of the thicket; as he did so the great 

 beast sprang at him with wonderful quick 

 ness, rising on its hind legs, and knocking 

 over the horse and rider with a single sweep 

 of its terrible fore-paws. It then turned on 

 the fallen man and tore him open, and though 

 the other Indians came promptly to his res 

 cue and slew his assailant, they were not in 

 time to save their comrade s life. 



A bear is apt to rely mainly on his teeth or 

 claws according to whether his efforts are di 

 rected primarily to killing his foe or to mak 

 ing good his own escape. In the latter event 

 he trusts chiefly to his claws. If cornered, he 

 of course makes a rush for freedom, and in 



