A HOI 1 CORNER ON BEARS. 



3 2 5 



" I could hear him crying when I 

 first reached the brush patch, but he 

 stopped as soon as he heard me. After 

 a fruitless search I gave him up and 

 started back to where I had left Billy, 

 but instead of crossing the canyon I 

 went around the head of it, a longer 

 distance but not nearly such rough 

 traveling. 



" When I got around I found Billy 

 had secured his horse and followed me 

 and was now where I had left the cub. 

 Now, thought I, if I hurry back over 

 there both of us may be able to get that 

 cub. So back I rode as fast as I could 

 go. It did not take me long to decide 

 that we could not find the cub so we 

 concluded we would better go back 

 and see what had become of the old 

 one. 



" We had had every show at 3 bears 

 and had let the old one and one of the 

 cubs get away. I knew the old one 

 must be badly hurt as I had taken 2 

 shots at her within easy range, and the 

 last one was at her body when she was 

 comparatively still. The cub that we 

 had killed lay in the trail that ran down 

 the canyon, and we wanted to skin it 

 that evening, as we were saving the 

 oil. 



' We started down the hill to go 

 back to look after the old one when 

 Billy exclaimed: 'Look yonder!' I 

 looked up ; he was pointing right in the 

 direction we were going, and coming 

 down the trail on the other side of the 

 canyon were 4 big old silver-tips. 

 Waiting until they got far enough 

 down the canyon to be out of sight, we 

 crossed the canyon behind them and 

 started down along the edge on the 

 same side on which they were. We 

 supposed they would go down into the 

 bottom of the canyon where the game 

 trails were, so away we went as fast as 

 our horses could carry us to get ahead 

 of the bears. When we reached the 

 last place we could get down we 

 jumped off our horses and ran down 

 the steep side of the canyon. About 

 half way down we came to a precipice, 

 and looking over could see the game 

 trails at the bottom of the canyon. 

 We were confident the bears had not 



passed, and I tell you it has a tendency 

 to raise the spirits of any bear hunter 

 to think he has a 100 foot precipice 

 between him and 4 old silver-tips. 



" A hasty survey of our surround- 

 ings, from the top of the ledge-like 

 formation on which w 7 e stood, showed 

 us an open space, a little above in the 

 canyon, with no trees to trouble us. 

 We made for it. After reaching the 

 open space we were standing with guns 

 ready, looking over into the bottom of 

 the canyon when I heard a slight noise 

 to my right. Looking up I saw all 4 

 of the bears just coming into sight on 

 the opposite side of the open space in 

 which we were standing. This space 

 was not more than 20 yards wide, and 

 as soon as we discovered the bears 

 there was a row. All 4 bears were on 

 the prod and bellowing at once; while 

 2 Winchesters were going like clock- 

 work. 



" I shall never forget how those 

 bears looked. When we first fired they 

 acted for all the world like a lot of hogs. 

 When one squeals the rest will run up 

 with bristles raised ready for war. 



" As soon as they spied us they made 

 for us, but we were so close and our 

 fire was so deadly that the nearest 

 one died within 10 feet of us. One 

 old fellow got knocked over the wall 

 into the canyon, but when we came 

 to skin him we could not see that he 

 had sustained any great injury, such as 

 breaking bones or tearing the skin by 

 his fall. Of course he was dead or 

 nearly so when he went over. 



" We did not get through skinning 

 the bears that evening, and as we re- 

 turned to the task the next morning 

 we found the wounded cub that had 

 gotten away. He was not much hurt 

 but we soon did him up. We also 

 found the old female dead; so we had 

 7 silver-tips to our credit in about half 

 an hour. 



" Now, Doc, I don't want you to 

 write this bear fight up for publication. 

 If you should some of those tender- 

 feet back East would bob up like a 

 ' Jack in a box ' and holler c game 

 hog,' and Uncle Billy and I haven't 

 lost any of that kind of notoriety." 



