8 4 



RECREA TION. 



moment's pause, charged. He waited 

 for her to get near him before firing 

 his last cartridge. She was but a few 

 feet away when he fired, but the bullet 

 failed to stop her. In a flash she was 

 upon him, striking him a blow that 

 knocked him under the mare and ren- 

 dered him insensible. 



When he recovered he saw the 

 grizzly and the cayuse engaged in a 

 desperate fight. The bear was cov- 

 ered with blood; while the saddle and 

 a quilt used for a saddle-blanket had 

 been torn from the mare's back, and 

 she was bleeding from a dozen 

 wounds. Every time the grizzly at- 

 tempted to strike the mare, the latter 

 would turn quickly, and with a vicious 

 snort, let fly her heels at her antag- 

 onist, with telling effect. Then the 

 bear would claw and shake the saddle 

 and blankets, and returning to attack 

 the mare, would be again met by fly- 

 ing heels. The strap was still around 

 Franchise's wrist and the mare made 

 no attempt to escape, but seemed as 

 savage and as full of fight as her en- 

 emy. 



After watching the combat a minute 

 or 2, and gathering his wits together, 

 Franchise sat up. The instant the 

 bear saw him move, she sprang at 

 him again. Again she knocked him 

 insensible, and getting one of his 

 hands between her jaws, crushed and 

 mangled it. She also clawed him 



about the body, tearing his clothes to 

 shreds and wounding him badly. 

 While the grizzly was making her sec- 

 ond attack and before he became un- 

 concious, he saw the mare throw her- 

 self into the fray, biting and kicking 

 the bear furiously. 



It must have been some time before 

 Frangoise recovered consciousness. 

 When he did so, the bear had disap- 

 peared and the mare, wounded and 

 bleeding, stood quietly beside him. 

 Weak as he was from loss of blood, he 

 managed to gain his feet, get to the 

 mare's back and make his way to 

 where the women were. They took 

 him home, and he lay between life and 

 death for many months, but finally re- 

 covered, though he completely lost the 

 use of his injured hand. 



The bear was found dead the next 

 day, a few hundred yards from the 

 scene of the fight. She had been 

 kicked in a hundred places and badly 

 damaged. The wounded cubs made 

 good their escape. All about were 

 signs that corroborated Franchise's 

 story in every particular. The mare 

 was a long while in getting over her 

 injuries. When she had fully re- 

 covered, her owner turned her loose 

 to graze for the rest of her life. 

 Richly does she deserve the reward, 

 for had it not been for the brave fight 

 she made in defense of her master, he 

 would not have lived to tell the tale. 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY F. G. WARNER. 



THE TUG OF WAR. 



Winner of Fifteenth Prize in Recreation's Third Annual Photo Competition. 



