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332 
wild horses roam and the Kiowa medicine men 
used to go there to dig up the roots of these 
gourds for medicine. They say that these roots 
were stronger medicine than those that grew in 
other places. All the Indians use these roots 
for medicine. When dry they are sweet tasting. 
The war party came on toward home. As 
is the custom with war parties, one or two men 
were always out ahead hunting, to get food for 
the party. One day a hunter who was ahead 
saw a big herd of wild horses coming out of a 
creek, and in the lead of this herd of horses he 
saw a person walking. For a long time he d:d 
not know what to do. He knew that these were 
wild horses, and yet they were following a per¬ 
son and this seemed mysterious. He did not 
know whether to ride up to the person or not. 
The hunter rode back to his party and told him 
what he had seen. He was a chief and they 
all believed in him. They decided that the next 
day they would try to capture this person when 
the wild horses came back for water. That 
night one of the medicine men dreamed that this 
person was a woman who some years ago had 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
gone back to look for a colt that had been left 
tjehind, and who had been lost and never could 
be found or traced. 
The next morning all the men caught up their 
best horses in order to chase this person and to 
capture him if they could. They waited behind 
a big hill, and in the middle of the day they 
saw the herd coming for water. When the 
horses went into the creek, the Kiowas made a 
rush for them and some made for the hills in 
the direction they thought the wild horses would 
run. Those that charged directly on the wild 
horses got very close to them before they ran 
up out of the creek. The person who was with 
them took the lead of all the horses and outran 
them all. A yearling colt was running with it 
and a big stallion kept close behind it. The big 
stallion fought hard for it, but the Kiowas closed 
in, and after a long chase caught it with their 
ropes. When they caught it, it fought hard. It 
had long finger nails and had long hair all over 
its body even on its face. The yearling colt 
kept coming back. 
After the Kiowas had their lariats thrown on 
[Feb. 26, 1910. 
it from all sides so that it was firmly held, they 
could look closely at this person, and they found 
that it was the woman that had been lost years 
before. One of her relations was with this 
party, and he said it was better to let her go, 
for she would be of no use to them, as she had 
turned wild. So they loosened the ropes and 
let her take them off, and when she got loose 
she made for the wild horses she and the year 
ling colt. The wild horses stood off a short dis¬ 
tance waiting for her. In years after that she 
was often seen with the wild horses, but she was 
never afterward troubled nor was the herd she 
ran with ever chased, for in council the Kiowas 
agreed not to chase this herd; they always 
avoided it or went around it. 
When they reached the village they told all 
about this woman’s running wild with the wild 
horses, and how she acted when they caught 
her, and how she fought to get loose, and that 
it was no use to try to tame her. 
This is the story as told to me by Man Going 
Down Hill. He is still alive and one of the oldest 
Kiowas now living. What do you think of it? 
Concerning Black Bears. 
Until very recently I have always had the 
greatest unconcern in connection with meeting 
common black bears; an unconcern founded on 
the belief that they invariably got out of the 
way for people who were not afraid of them. 
I have had to alter my opinions radically. 
As a boy I used to spend my summers in a 
region of Canada where bears were fairly 
numerous, and later when I adopted lumber¬ 
ing, my business often took me into the big 
woods in the summer and fall. In this way I 
met many bears and made their more intimate 
acquaintance; sometimes when they were on 
their depredations at the lonely farm houses, 
which stood in little clearings on the edge of 
the wilderness, and sometimes in the tangled 
and trackless wilderness itself. 
Once in a great while we would surprise a 
bear close enough to see him sneaking off with 
his head turned over his shoulder, and watch¬ 
ing us out of his wicked little eyes; or perhaps 
he would disappear with a heavy awkward- 
looking lope, without giving us even a backward 
glance. 
The woodsman undoubtedly passes many bears 
in summer without any intimation of their prox¬ 
imity, but in such cases it is seldom that bruin 
himself is not either watching or getting out of 
the way, for like all other wild creatures he has 
the advantage over human beings in the matter 
of keenness of scent as well as in the exercise 
of other organs of sense. Of this I have had 
two striking illustrations told in detail by that 
invaluable publicity bureau of the forest, the 
newly fallen snow. 
In late September and early October in the 
Northern Canadian woods, five or ten minutes 
snow flurries are of frequent occurrence. These 
flurries hardly cover the brown carpet of the 
fallen leaves “under the shade of melancholy 
boughs” in the autumn woods, and the snow 
disappears almost as quickly as it has fallen, 
but during its short stay furnishes a perfect 
record of the near passage of any of the forest 
inhabitants. 
One of the illustrations I mentioned will be 
sufficient. Three of us were walking through 
the virgin woods, following more or less the 
course of a river. We were discussing in rather 
loud voices the advisability of certain lumber¬ 
ing operations, when the first little snow flurry 
of the day came sifting through the evergreens 
and birches, calling our attention to the near 
approach of winter. 
A few moments later when the snow had made 
a partial covering for the ground, we came on 
two bear tracks, a large and a small one, made 
undoubtedly while we were within rifle shot of 
the bears. They had been coming toward us 
and the snow showed plainly where they had 
halted at the sound of our voices. They must 
have stood for a moment to ascertain the nature 
of the noise, but in that moment came the knowl¬ 
edge of the presence of human beings and—in 
consequence of the recognition of danger—a di¬ 
gression from their original course; a digression 
which took them to the river and across it, for 
they did not seem to mind the swim in the icy 
water so long as they evaded us. The river was 
narrow and we were too late to catch a glimpse 
of them. There must be many like occurrences 
when there is no newly fallen snow to tell the 
story. 
Most of the settlers in the forest fringe I 
have mentioned either had traps or made dead¬ 
falls, and some years they were very successful 
in their war against the thieving bears. 
There was one French-Canadian called Isidor 
something or other, who lived in a particularly 
lonely place, and with whom we often made our 
headquarters. This Isidor was greatly bothered 
by bears and had lost many sheep, one heifer 
and a pig during his residence on the farm. 
I have never seen a bear catch a sheep, but 
Isidor has told me of the depredator’s manner 
of proceeding. Dusk is the hour when they 
usually operate. They approach cautiously till 
the sheep notice them, and sheep-like scamper 
off in affright. Then the bear lies perfectly flat 
and quiet, and the natural curiosity of the sheep 
brings them back to investigate. Nearer and 
nearer they come till bruin has a chance to grab 
one in a few short springs. 
His method of departure, Isidor said, w^as al¬ 
ways on the hind legs with the sheep or even 
a heifer clasped in his front paws. Once Isidor 
met a bear walking off thus erect, with a creamer 
full of milk clasped by the edge in one of his 
front paws and held out in front of him. 
The last summer I *had the pleasure of friend¬ 
ly intercourse with Isidor he had determined on 
a new policy to protect his live stock. He had 
sold three sheep, and with the proceeds was hav¬ 
ing masses said for various of his deceased rela¬ 
tives, hoping thus to secure their spiritual inter¬ 
vention in the matter of protection for the sheep 
and confusion to the bears. Unfortunately I 
left the region before the result of the experi¬ 
ment could be ascertained, and as I did not 
again see or hear from Isidor, I cannot say 
whether his tactics were successful. 
. I sometimes made the round of the traps and 
