OLD EPHRAIM, THE GRISLY BEAR. 75 



Several times a grisly was bayed, but always 

 in some inaccessible spot which it took hard 

 climbing to reach, and the dogs were never 

 able to hold the beast until the hunters came 

 up. 



Still a well-trained pack of large hounds 

 which were both bold and cunning could 

 doubtless bay even a grisly. Such dogs are 

 the big half-breed hounds sometimes used in 

 the Alleghanies of West Virginia, which are 

 trained not merely to nip a bear, but to grip 

 him by the hock as he runs and either throw 

 him or twirl him round. A grisly could not 

 disregard a wary and powerful hound capable 

 of performing this trick, even though he paid 

 small heed to mere barking and occasional 

 nipping. Nor do I doubt that it would be 

 possible to get together a pack of many large, 

 fierce dogs, trained to dash straight at the 

 head and hold on like a vice, which could 

 fairly master a grisly and, though unable, of 

 course, to kill him, would worry him breathless 

 and hold him down so that he could be slain 

 with ease. There have been instances in 

 which five or six of the big so-called blood- 

 hounds of the southern States not pure blood- 

 hounds at all, but huge, fierce, ban-dogs, with 

 a cross of the ferocious Cuban blood-hound, 

 to give them good scenting powers have by 

 themselves mastered the cougar and the black 

 bear. Such instances occurred in the hunting 

 history of my own forefathers on my mother's 

 side, who during the last half of the eighteenth, 

 and the first half of the present, century lived 



