33 2 The Wilderness Hunter. 



roaring with rage, and looking the very incarnation of 

 evil fury. For some minutes it made no effort to flee, 

 either charging or standing at bay. Then it began to 

 move slowly towards a patch of ash and wild plums in the 

 head of a coulie, some distance off. Its pursuer rode 

 after it, and when close enough would push by it and fire, 

 while the bear would spin quickly round and charge as 

 fiercely as ever, though evidently beginning to grow weak. 

 At last, when still a couple of hundred yards from cover 

 the man found he had used up all his cartridges, and then 

 merely followed at a safe distance. The bear no longer 

 paid heed to him, but walked slowly forwards, swaying its 

 great head from side to side, while the blood streamed 

 from between its half-opened jaws. On reaching the cover 

 he could tell by the waving of the bushes that it walked 

 to the middle and then halted. A few minutes after- 

 wards some of the other cowboys rode up, having been 

 attracted by the incessant firing. They surrounded the 

 thicket, firing and throwing stones into the bushes. 

 Finally, as nothing moved, they ventured in and found 

 the indomitable grisly warrior lying dead. 



Cowboys delight in nothing so much as the chance to 

 show their skill as riders and ropers ; and they always try 

 to ride down and rope any wild animal they come across 

 in favorable ground and close enough up. If a party of 

 them meets a bear in the open they have great fun ; and 

 the struggle between the shouting, galloping rough-riders 

 and their shaggy quarry is full of wild excitement and 

 not unaccompanied by danger. The bear often throws 

 the noose from his head so rapidly that it is a difficult 



