RECREA TION. 



337 



was orisp and beautiful. Our horses 

 had wound themselves up during the 

 night among the rocks, and were stand- 

 ing motionless, apparently sound asleep. 

 We saw we were late and concluded to 

 just saddle up our ponies and ride up 

 to look at the bait. We had finished 

 saddling and were in the very act of 

 mounting, when up the mountain side, 

 not 200 yards away, came our bear. I 

 shall never forget how he looked. The 

 sun was not yet up. The faint wind 

 was in our favor. Everything was still as 

 death. Even our horses, whose heads 

 were turned the other way, seemed to 

 have gone to sleep again ; and there, 

 coming, coming slowly, steadily, noise- 

 lessly on, like some avenging monster, 

 was the largest grizzly 1 had ever seen. 



He was moving diagonally toward us 

 and would pass within 40 yards. We 

 had crouched to the ground beside our 

 horses, slipping our Winchesters out of 

 the scabbards as we did so. Old Wal- 

 lace, for I knew him instantly from his 

 immense size, was walking deliberately 

 up the gradual rise of the mountain, his 

 great head hanging low. He looked 

 neither to the right r.or the left, but 

 seemed to think that everything would, 

 of course, get out of his way. 



On and on he came ! I felt a certain 

 thrill of exultation at the certainty of 

 his death. Here was what we had been 

 waiting and longing and watching for. 

 Here was the destroyer of my cattle. 

 Here was the author of my many trou- 

 bles, the monarch and the terror of the 

 mountains, marching unconcernedly on 

 and up to meet us on open ground, in 

 battle royal, in the first bright gray of a 

 September morn. Now was to come 

 the test between blind, brute fury and 

 strength, on the one hand, and nerve, 



skill and improved weapons on the 

 other. At last he was within 40 yards 



" Now, Jack ! bust him ! " 



We dropped our bridle reins, and, 

 stepping to one side of our horses, 

 knelt to shoot. The bear never looked 

 up. Bang ! Bang ! The great brute 

 suddenly leaped into life ! The long 

 hair on the back of his neck stood up 

 like the bristles of an angry boar. He 

 whirled, partly fell, and bit savagely at 

 his shoulder and side where the bullets 

 had struck. Our frightened horses 

 started down the mountains, dragging 

 their bridle reins a trifle to one side to 

 keep from stepping on them. 



Bang ! bang ! Another tumble ; and 

 then a terrible half growl and half 

 roar. He saw us now and tried to 

 charge, but the Winchesters talked fast 

 and furiously. The leaden hail was 

 too much for even his big savage hulk 

 to face. He would fall, roll over, bite 

 himself, struggle to his feet, and try to 

 come on, only to fall again. 



Finally, he lay still. We advanced 

 and fired one shot into his great head. 

 Not a quiver. He was dead ! Then 

 we both hurried up with the same ques- 

 tion weighing on our minds. Yes, there 

 was the left fore foot with two toes 

 missing. 



Big Foot Wallace's silver-tipped hide, 

 the long hair on his neck that bristled 

 so at the first fire, his noble, broad, sav- 

 age head and bead-like eyes, nicely 

 mounted ; his three and a half inches 

 of great claws, with two missing on the 

 left paw, all go to form a superb rug 

 that now adorns a certain house in 

 Chicago, and every fall, when I go East, 

 I sit and look at the great robe and wish 

 I knew the whole of the life story of 

 old Big Foot Wallace. 



A COMMON FOE. 



Aileen Marie McDonald. 



Oh ! you buzzing, spry mosquito 

 Working havoc on my nose ; . 



When 1 reach my hand to strike you, 

 You've assumed another pose. 



Courting slumber — vain endeavor, 

 Try my weary eyes to close ; 



But behold — you're there perched boldly 

 Nibbling greedily my toes. 



With attacks so oft repeated, 

 I get not a moment's doze ; 



My endeavors all to squelch you, 

 Have but adiled to my woes. 



Still, success may crown my efforts, 

 I may slay you yet, who knows ? 



O'er you place this terse inscription, 

 " Here lies one of my worst foes." 



