88 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



ing Willamette river, the wild, bellow- 

 ing herd would be answered. Out from 

 the edge of the woods would stream, 

 right and left, two long, corresponding, 

 surging lines, bellowing and plunging for- 

 ward now and then, their heads to the 

 ground, their tails always in the air and 

 their eyes aflame, as if they would set fire 

 to the long gray grass. With the precision 

 and discipline of a well-ordered army, they 

 would close in upon the wild beast, too 

 terrified now to either fight or fly., and, 

 leaping upon him, one after another, with 

 their long, sharp hoofs, he would, in a little 

 time, be crushed into an unrecognizable 

 mass. Not a bone would be left unbroken. 

 It is a mistake to suppose that they ever 

 used their long, sharp horns in attack. 

 These were used only in defense, the same 

 as elk or deer, falling on the knees and re- 

 ceiving the enemy on their horns, much as 

 the Old Guard received the French in the 

 last terrible struggle at Waterloo. 

 Bill Cross was a "tender foot" at the time 



