Hunting the Grisly 133 



the former habit of its kind. All old hunters 

 have tales of this sort to relate, the prowess, 

 cunning, strength, and ferocity of the grisly 

 being favorite topics for camp-fire talk 

 throughout the Rockies; but in most cases 

 it is not safe to accept these stories without 

 careful sifting. 



Still, it is just as unsafe to reject them all. 

 One of my own cowboys was once attacked 

 by a grisly, seemingly in pure wantonness. 

 He was riding up a creek bottom, and had 

 just passed a clump of rose and bullberry 

 bushes when his horse gave such a leap as al- 

 most to unseat him, and then darted madly 

 forward. Turning round in the saddle, to his 

 utter astonishment he saw a large bear gallop- 

 ing after him, at the horse's heels. For a few 

 jumps the race was close, then the horse drew 

 away and the bear wheeled and went into a 

 thicket of wild plums. The amazed and in- 

 dignant cowboy, as soon as he could rein in 

 his steed, drew his revolver and rode back 

 to and around the thicket, endeavoring to pro- 

 voke his late pursuer to come out and try con- 

 clusions on more equal terms; but prudent 

 Ephraim had apparently repented of his 

 freak of ferocious bravado, and declined to 

 leave the secure shelter of the jungle. 



