guess after 
“Now,” saicTT 5 on<r 
moon is just coming over the HBWmpffiiC 
in about two minutes she will have her 
horn hooked over the top of one of these 
pines, and give us light to do our work, 
so cinch your saddles and be ready for the 
word; remember, the unskillful and Ameri¬ 
cans must stay back and keep between the 
bears and the edge of the arroyo, so as to 
make them take to the plain for it, if they 
run, which I doubt very much their doing, 
as a grizzly bear with cubs at her side 
will generally stand her ground and fight 
to the death. The cubs of course are most 
likely to cut across and break for the ar¬ 
royo, so you who can’t do any work keep 
between them and the arroyo, and if they 
make toward you, charge them and ham¬ 
mer them over the head with your ropes- 
ends. Navarro, El Lenero and I will at¬ 
tend to Mrs. Oso. El Cir, El Guerro, Jose 
Ybarra, Chato and Ambagsio ought to be 
able to take care of the three cubs and tie 
them up.” 
When all were ready we rode along the 
mesa just behind the brow of the hill very 
quietly until we arrived at a point between 
the bear and the arroyo bank; wheeling 
about, we divided ourselves in accordance 
with the work allotted to us, when our 
attention was called to the fact that it was 
light enough to see the bear. Every man 
shook his feet in the stirrups to see if 
everything was tight, and Don Jose, press¬ 
ing his gray with the calves of his legs, and 
slightly leaning forward, went off with a 
bound like a shot, yelling “Santiago! At 
the bear, boys, don’t be cowards or gourd 
sellers.” 
Every man followed at like speed, over 
the mesa, down the steep slope to the ba- 
jeo, hooting and yelling like demons. In 
the dim light we could see a massive form 
which looked to me, as I got nearer, more 
like my small boyhood’s idea of an ogre 
than anything I had ever seen. It was 
terrifying, but upon near approach my ogre 
resolved itself into an enormous grizzly 
standing with her fore paws hanging pur¬ 
poselessly before her. Two cubs were sit¬ 
ting on their haunches at her side looking 
at us in wonder and curiosity; the other 
was hidden behind her and the carcass. 
We all expected her to stand her ground 
We went out over the bear trail 
l f 
m ’ 
herTSmTut out with a snort (aboTTt 
same sound that a large hog would make 
if she did her very best) for Precipice 
Canon. 
According to instructions, Don Jose, El 
Lenero and Navarro only put out after the 
bear. El Georchy, El Burrero and I de¬ 
ployed as scouts between the cubs and the 
arroyo; El Cir, El Guero, Ambagsio, 
Ybarra and Chato charging the cubs, which 
stood their ground and made a game fight 
from start to finish. Don Jose led the trio 
after the old bear, a little to the right and 
about sixty feet in her rear. , 
Navarro was immediately behind him, El 
Lenero about a hundred feet behind and 
somewhat to her left. They all gained on 
her in the run across the bajeo, and Don 
Jose planted his lasso around her neck, 
but it was promptly jerked off and thrown 
to one side in a very contemptuous manner. 
Don Jose slowed down to prepare his rope 
again, giving Navarro a chance which he 
improved as well as he could, but, unfor¬ 
tunately, just as he was about to throw, 
the bear gave a snort that sent Navarro 
and his sabino a hundred yards off their 
course; by this time, “the necktie party” 
had struck the hog wallow on the other 
side of the bajeo and the bear had the ad¬ 
vantage, so she increased the gap between 
herself and El Lenero considerably, for by 
this time he was leading the trio of las- 
sadores; but as soon as the hog wallow was 
cleared and the smooth slope dotted with 
elder bushes on the other side gained, El 
Lenero ran on to her rapidly and planted 
his riata over her neck and behind one 
shoulder—“aluso ladron” (thief fashion), 
as we used to call it. 
I T was too much for the bear’s ingenuity. 
She could not get it off, so she charged 
with one foreleg lashed to her neck. 
Don Jose was right there, and as she 
came the old chap met her with a beau¬ 
tiful overhang throw, caught both hind feet, 
and whirling the chineno ’round on his hind 
feet, had her stretched out full length on 
her side quicker than I can tell it. 
The other two horses having given cour¬ 
age by their actions to the cowardly Sa¬ 
bino, Navarro came up, and taking down 
his horsehair rope to hold his horse with, 
wrapped the reins very tight around the 
pommel, got down and went to Don Jose’s 
assistance; Don Jose now took a reef in his 
riata, riding up within ten feet of the bear, 
leaving about twenty feet of the loose end 
beyond his horn. Navarro took this, 
slipped it through the neck rope and passed 
it back to Don Jose; catching that between 
Don Jose and the bear in his hands, he 
pulled hard on it to keep it tight; Don Jose, 
taking up the slack of the end, tightened 
the riata at about the same point as before, 
drawing the hind feet chock-a-block to the 
neck riata and rolling the bear into a big 
ball. Of course this is one way of roping 
a bear, but there are many other ways. 
Navarro now took down some bale rope 
and half-hitching it several times ’round 
the bear’s nose, fixed at least one female 
so that she would have to keep her mouth 
The cubs were likely to cut across 
shut. He then added his riata to the other 
two and the trio dragged the bear up to a 
tree about a foot in diameter, pulled her 
hind feet around it on opposite sides with 
riatas, then with many knots and half¬ 
hitches known only to sailors and vaque- 
ros, tied them together, hugging the tree, 
at the same time leaving plenty of space 
between the tree and her body, so that she 
could describe as many circles around the 
tree by springing and walking around it 
with her forelegs as she chose, but could 
not reach the riata on her feet. 
Navarro now took all the other riatas off, 
and cutting the bale rope on the bear’s 
nose, left her as free as air, except as to 
her two hind feet. She availed herself of 
the opportunity to make up for long si¬ 
lence and enforced inaction. She screamed., 
kicked, bit, scolded and threatened, and we 
poked fun at her in several different lan¬ 
guages until she lapsed into sullen silence, 
when we left her to solitary meditation 
and went back to the bait. 
Guero succeeded in catching a cub the 
first throw, and Chato and Ybarro helped 
tie it; the chambones and greenhorns were 
all busy with the other two; one of the 
cubs ran for the arroyo. I threw my 
riata, but having buck fever somewhat, 
the cub ran through the loop and kept his 
course. I whirled my horse and whacked 
him on the nose a couple of times with 
the hondo (rawhide lasso loop) which 
turned him back. By this time the big 
Missourian had gained courage and want¬ 
ed to be in, so about the time the cub was 
turned El Georchy was pretty close to him 
and coming head on at full speed. The 
cub probably thinking that as Georchy had 
no riata here was his meat, immediately 
changed his tactics and charging the Bayo 
Coyote, caught about four pounds horse 
steak off the stifle, hanging on like a 
mortgage. 
You should have seen the bay buck and 
squeal! Instead of standing the usual 
three bucks, as most gringos do (one up, 
one down, and the other to the ground), 
that gringo simply was great; you could 
not have slipped a piece of tissue paper 
under him at any stage of it. Chato, who 
had been trying to learn English all win- 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 368) 
