Hunting the Grisly 123 



in Helena, and another in Missoula; both 

 were living at least as late as 1889, the date 

 at which I last saw them. One had been par 

 tially scalped by a bear s teeth; the animal 

 was very old and so the fangs did not enter 

 the skull. The other had been bitten across 

 the face, and the 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 circumstances an animal ap 

 parently 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 Alexander Moore, U. S. A., and my 

 friend Captain Bates, with some men of the 

 ad and 3d Cavalry, were scouting in Wyo 

 ming, near the Freezeout Mountains. One 

 morning they roused a bear in the open 

 prairie and followed it at full speed as it ran 

 toward 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 forelegs 

 being broken. Nevertheless, it managed to 



