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THE BEAR 
359 
treacherous conduct of his uninvited guest; and 
being fully alive to the manners and customs of the 
W‘est, he placed his Sharp rifle upon full-cock to be 
in readiness for an explanation. 
A few minutes sufficed to shorten the distance 
to loo yards, when the astonished horse-stealer 
was surprised by the* sound of hoofs upon the stony 
soil, and, turning round, he was almost immediately 
confronted with the threatening figure of Big Bill. 
The dialogue which ensued has not been historically 
described; there was none of the bombast that 
generally preceded the combats of Grecian heroes ; 
but it appears that the horse-stealers right hand 
instinctively grasped the handle of his revolver, not 
unseen by the vigilant eyes of Big Bill, who with 
praiseworthy decision sent a bullet through his 
adversary’s chest from the already prepared Sharp 
•450; leaving the lifeless body where it fell, he 
not only recovered all his stolen animals, but also 
possessed himself of the horse and saddle which 
only recently belonged to the prairie horse-stealer 
without a name. 
The gigantic Swede returned to his solitary camp, 
well satisfied with his morning’s work, as he had 
gained instead of losing, and he had saved the State 
of Wyoming the expense and trouble of hanging a 
man for a crime which is supposed to deserve no 
mercy, that of “horse-stealing.” 
Of course this instance of determination and 
extreme vigilance gained for Big Bill the admiration 
of the extremely limited number of people who 
