Hunting the Grisly 139 



In the other case the cowboy, a Texan, was 

 mounted on a good cutting pony, a spirited, 

 handy, agile little animal, but excitable, and 

 with a habit of dancing, which rendered it 

 difficult to shoot from its back. The man was 

 with the rourid-up wagon, and had been sent 

 off by himself to make a circle through some 

 low, barren buttes, where it was not thought 

 more than a few head of stock would be 

 found. On rounding the corner of a small 

 washout he almost ran over a bear which was 

 feeding on the carcass of a steer that had 

 died in an alkali hole. 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 downward 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 



