274 The Wilderness Hunter. 



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 feeding 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 cunning 

 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 compared to the great cats, the grisly is far quicker 

 than one would imagine from viewing his ordinary lum- 

 bering gait. In one or two instances the bear had appar- 

 ently grappled with his victim by seizing it near the loins 

 and striking a disabling blow over the small of the back ; 

 in at least one instance he had jumped on the animal's head, 

 grasping it with his fore-paws, while with his fangs he tore 



