ON THE PRAIRIE 205 



that makes a rattlesnake strike at a passer-by. 

 I have personally known of but one instance 

 of a grizzly turning on a hunter before be- 

 ing wounded. This happened to a friend of 

 mine, a Californian ranchman, who, with twu 

 or three of his men, was following a bear 

 that had carried off one of his sheep, 

 got the bear into a cleft in the mountain 

 from which there was no escape, and he sud- 

 denly charged back through the line of his 

 pursuers, struck down one of the horsemen, 

 seized the arm of the man in his jaws and 

 broke it as if it had been a pipe-stem, and 

 was only killed after a most lively fight, in 

 which, by repeated charges, he at one time 

 drove every one of his assailants off the field. 

 But two instances have come to my per- 

 sonal knowledge where a man has been killed 

 by a grizzly. One was that of a hunter at 

 the foot of the Bighorn Mountains who had 

 chased a large bear and finally wounded him. 

 The animal turned at once and came 

 straight at the man, whose second shot 

 missed. The bear then closed and passed 



