LV THE FAR \\'I-ST. 35 



some unknown danger. They had hardly taken their positions 

 before the bushes parted, and out came the Judge minus a hat 

 and running with such speed as to cause his hair and coat-tails 

 to flow backward in rigid lines. As he approached his bewil- 

 dered companions he shouted at the top of his voice, " Clear 

 the track; here we come; the hear and me; d n our souls!" 

 They did clear the track, and the limb of the law rushed 

 through the fire, nor did he stop until he had run a good half- 

 mile to the rear. A few yells and shots checked the pursuing 

 bruin and caused it to retreat ; so the foolhardy Blackstone 

 escaped without suffering 1 any greater injury than a good scare 

 and being made the butt of many a joke. When the party 

 returned to town the escapade of the Judge was told to all his 

 friends, and they decided at once that the bear pursued him to 

 get some of the wine out of him, as it knew that lie generally 

 carried enough for himself and the four largest grizzlies in the 

 country, and it was resolved to have a share of it if possible. 



They tell some humorous tales in the West of how men 

 have killed grizzlies. One man on being attacked took out his 

 whiskey bottle and gave the bear a smell of its contents, and 

 it fell dead at once, after giving a long howl of agony. This 

 story is intended to show the vileness of the stuff' sold in 

 certain sections of the country ; and a vendor of strong fluids, 

 if not liked, is sometimes called a grizzly-killer. Another 

 man was said to be so ugly that a bear on seeing him com- 

 mitted suicide by hurling itself into a precipice ; and a ranting, 

 long-winded, dreary preacher was said to be so strong in 

 lungs and larynx as to be able to blow a grizzly into eternity 

 in three howls. 



Notwithstanding the dangerous character of the animal in 

 its wild state, it is capable of being tamed, if taken young, 

 and if treated kindly will follow one about like a dog, until 

 it learns to know its strength, and then it is apt to assert its 

 will and power at inconvenient times. I have seen several of 

 them in a state of semi-domestication in some places on the 

 Pacific Coast, but in no instance would they bear too much 

 familiarity when they reached adult age ; while they were the 

 deadly enemies of anything in the form of flesh, from a dog, 



D -I 



