106 IN THE BIG HORN MOUNTAINS. 



plan of attack, which wa^, that Huffman and Jack should go 

 to the right of him to keep him from getting into a canyon 

 on that side if we failed to bring him down, and 1 to the left 

 in order to cut off his retreat should he attempt to reach a 

 canyon that lay on the left of him, or a body of timber near 

 by. 



We rode rapidly, taking care to keep on the lower ground 

 and out of his sight, as much as possible. When I got within 

 about a hundred and fifty yards of him, I dismounted, knelt, 

 and turned "old reliable" loose on him. As her voice rang 

 out over the mountains and echoed through the canyons, he 

 reared up, looked quickly round him, saw us, took in the 

 whole situation in a second, and then started for the timber 

 at a rate of speed that astonished us all. I never would have 

 believed that a bear could run as that bear ran if I had been 

 told about it. But he seemed to realize that he had been 

 caught in a hard shower and was a long ways from shelter, 

 that he was largely in the minority and would stand a poor 

 show in a fight, that discretion would in his case prove the 

 better part of valor, and that by making the best use of the 

 little time that was left him for this world, he might possibly 

 reach the timber to the south, and be permitted to die alone 

 and in peace. I think that if Goldsmith Maid, Bonesetter, 

 Maud S., Iroquois, Dexter, Foxhall and the whole lot of those 

 fast horses had been there and seen that bear run, they would 

 have kicked their hind shoes off and quit the turf in dix^ust. 

 I slipped a second cartridge into my rifle, took a running shot 

 at the old monster, but forgot that I was shooting against the 

 speed of a comet, and my ball struck about ten feet behind 

 him. I then mounted old Blinkie, gave him the steel, and 

 started for a race with Bruin. It was nip and tuck for a short 

 distance, but the grizzly's strength soon failed him, and when 

 he saw that he could not e^< ape, he turned and came for me. 



