56 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



long after the wild plums and even buffalo 

 berries had ripened. I think that what started 

 it was a feast on a cow which had mired and 

 died in the bed of the creek ; at least it was 

 not until after we found that it had been feed- 

 ing at the carcass and had eaten every scrap, 

 that we discovered traces of its ravages among 

 the livestock. It seemed to attack the animals 

 wholly regardless of their size and strength ; 

 its victims including a large bull and a beef 

 steer, as well as cows, yearlings, and gaunt, 

 weak trail " doughgies," which had been 

 brought in very late by a Texas cow-outfit 

 for that year several herds were driven up 

 from the overstocked, eaten-out, and drought- 

 stricken ranges of the far south. Judging 

 from the signs, the crafty old grisly, as cun- 

 ning as he was ferocious, usually lay in wait 

 for the cattle when they came down to water, 

 choosing some thicket of dense underbrush 

 and twisted cottonwoods through which they 

 had to pass before reaching the sand banks on 

 the river's brink. Sometimes he pounced on 

 them as they fed through the thick, low cover 

 of the bottoms, where an assailant could either 

 lie in ambush by one of the numerous cattle 

 trails, or else creep unobserved towards some 

 browsing beast. When within a few feet a 

 quick rush carried him fairly on the terrified 

 quarry ; and though but a clumsy animal com- 

 pared to the great cats, the grisly is far quicker 

 than one would imagine from viewing his 

 ordinary lumbering gait. In one or two in- 

 stances the bear had apparently grappled with 



