A RED LETTER DAY WITH GRIZZLIES. 



415 



come." I looked in the direction the 

 dogs had gone, and in a few seconds 

 here they came as if shot out of one of 

 the Oregon's big guns, with 4 silver 

 tips in hot pursuit. The dogs seemed 

 to be looking for a better country to 

 fight in than the down timber. They 

 came up within about 40 yards of me, 

 struck a little opening, turned, lined 

 up for business and waited for the 

 herd to step into the ring. 



The bunch came up, growling 

 fiercely, but would not follow into the 

 open ground. When they stopped the 

 dogs began to bark furiously, but 

 would not charge into the brush. Both 

 sides were bluffing. Both were look- 

 ing for trouble, but neither seemed 

 anxious to find it. I was now within 

 35 or 40 yards of the bears, but wait- 

 ed until T could get a good shot at 

 the big old brute that was leading the 

 fight. I was afraid to take a chance 

 shot as that would give them my loca- 

 tion, and they were between me and 

 the open ground. 



Finally the old bear made a lunge 

 at a dog and came out in clear view 

 for an instant, with her back toward 

 me. I fired at her spine, and had the 

 satisfaction of seeing her go down. 

 She started to drag herself back into 

 the brush, when she turned broad- 

 side and another lucky shot finished 

 her. 



I then began to look for the other 

 old one, but saw a cub that was trying 

 hard to get in among the dogs, I let 

 him have it. Then I went to shooting 

 whenever I could see a bear, and the 

 fun grew fast and furious ; bear roar- 

 ing, dogs barking, and the little Sav- 

 age cracking spitefully made lively 

 music. 



For a moment no more bear showed 

 up, so I ran down toward them and 

 jumped into a spruce tree with strag- 

 gling limbs. When I got up 10 feet 

 from the ground I saw a bear sitting 

 on his haunches waving his paws 

 about as though inviting the dogs to 

 come closer. I leaned out from the 

 body of the tree and turned the Sav- 



age loose on him. He sank down in a 

 heap without a kick. 



Thinking that was all I got down 

 out of the tree, and Doll rode up. I 

 told him to see if the old big bear was 

 dead for sure. I had lots of respect 

 for her, so he rode up and fired his six 

 shooter into her head, but she did not 

 move. I then went up and on looking 

 around found only 3 bears. 



"Where is the other one, Doll ?" 



"I saw one creeping off through 

 the timber." 



I looked in the direction he pointed 

 and saw one of the cubs climbing over 

 a big log, but he was so weak he could 

 hardly make it. It took 2 shots to set- 

 tle him. He was standing almost 

 straight up when I fired the last shot 

 at him, and the 2 bullets struck within 

 an inch of each other, the last one 

 breaking the backbone and tearing a 

 big hole. 



We now began an examination to 

 find where the bullets had hit and to 

 note the effect, for I had been wanting 

 to try the Savage on a big silver tip 

 for the past 3 years. The bullets did 

 not go through the old bear, but both 

 went to the skin on the other side, and 

 I have never seen a bear killed more 

 suddenly. 



The cubs, which weighed over 200 

 pounds each, were badly cut up. The 

 bullets all went clean through, and in 

 some cases carried flesh and fat out 

 on the other side in chunks as large 

 as a man's fist. 



We started to skin our game, but 

 soon found it would be dark before 

 we could get through, so we sim- 

 ply took out the entrails and skipped 

 for the ranch, which was 10 miles 

 away. The route was through a 

 rough country. We rode and walked 

 by turns, and got home about 9 

 o'clock. Governor Richards and 

 Judge Vandevanter had returned 

 empty handed, and having heard we 

 were on a bear trail were anxious to 

 know our success. The first greet- 

 ing from the Governor was : 



"Well, did you catch them?" 



