Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-01
A BEAR HUNT.

|
through the cottonwood timber that
| fringes the river for width of half &
! mile or So Before going far we bowled
over fine buck elk, and started Two
! Knives back to camp with the carcass.
/ Long Dog and l kept on up through the
! coUtonwoods. An hour Or so after parting
/ company with young Two Knives we
/ caught sight of big silver tip bear on the
other side of the river. He was standing
| on his hind legs, digging the touchwood
| out Of a hollow tree. This is a favorite
pastine Of bears, and particularly brown
bears and silver tips, who have q keen
partiality for the big, fat inch grubs that
make their home il the decayed cotton
wood.
The bear was SO absorbed in his pur-
suit that we had no trouble in wheeling
! our cayuses around and rerreating out Of
sight without attracting attention. 1t
was about 300 yards from where we stood
to the bear, and Long Dog and both
agreed that to pump lead at silver tip at
that distance would be merely waste of
good ammunition.
''XVhat had we better do, Long Dogf"
said l.
ugh, heap kill" replied the Injun;
and pointing down the river, he led the
way in an almost opposite direction from
the bear. We continued on down to o
ford, where a bend in the river hid US
from the bear, and crossed over Riding
on up the other side short distance we
hitched the bronchos behind a clump of box
alders and proceeded cautiously toward
the bear. The immediate edge of the river
was thickly fringed with box alders and
mountain willows, and through these we
at length began TO crawl on hands and
knees, with the idea of taking the silver
tip by surprise at close quarters. With
an old seasoned Injun hunter Of
Long Dogs caliber leading the way,
tthis part Of the proceeding was easy
enough. He worIned and twisted through
the ,thick willows as slick rs q beaver
without ever swapping a dead twig All
had to do was to crawl along in the
trail close behind. We had almost got to
the point W here we had been expecting to
be able to use our Winchesters with some
certainty when Long Dog halted, and,
without uttering grup5 reached back
and tapped me cautiously on the back
with his moccasin- AS the old Injun
looked back over his shoulder and raised
his finger as a warning for me to lay low,
his piercing black eyes glowed and
twinkled like a pair OF black diamonds
with excitement.
OF course, naturally supposed he was
merely worked I'D some over suddenly
catching sight Of the bear, perhaps, a lit
tie nearer than he had bsen expecting.
Seeing me peer inquiringly through the
brush in the direction of the touchwood
tree. Long Dog raised one dusky finger,
and. without moving another muscle in
his body, pointed it toward clump of
willows standing, should say, thirty feet
to the right of the tree, and about three
times that distance from us The space
between our ambush and the clump was
quite open, and was traversed by deer
uath that led up from the water. The
deer path led straight through the willow
clump. and following the direction Of
Long Dogs finger, / saw, in the narrow,
alleylike deer path, a long, catilke tail
waving to and fro. 1t was the tail OF q
full grown mountain lion, an object famil-
lar enough to me, for / had killed round
dozen of the varn1int in my time. No
part Of the lion was visible save his tail,
for the willows were thick between Us
and his body.
Long Dog seemed to comprehend the
situation at once, for when | glanced at
his finger the next moment it had turned
like a weather vaue and was pointing in
the direction Of the bear. With the keen
perception of savage, the old lnJun
hunter knew at glance that the mountain
Ion was lying there watching the move
mants of the bear, and hadn't tho least
suspicion of our own presence. Our
situation was thrilling one, even for an
old hunter. From where we lay, scarcely
daring to draw breath for fear Of betray-
ing our presence, We could see che side OK
the silver tips big hairy body as he stood
I'D and clawed away at the hollow tree,
and CD the other hand there was the
mountain lion four foot tail waving TO
and fro in the narrow deer path like the
tail of an angry cat. All OF a sudden,
bilT. went big tawny object through the
mir as quickly an9 noiselessly as If IL had
been the fash OF Q shadow. But now tho
silence, which had harClly been violated
at all by the industrious bear at the tree,
was broken rudeIy by a whole woodful OF |
savage roars, youfs, snaps, snarIS and |
stand offs Under the cottonwood tree
stood big mountain hon II An attitude
Of defiance, scowling AT the bear, which
looked anxious TO attack him aud yet
half inclined 10 back away.
There is always something unspeakab4Y
comical about q bear to me, whichever
way you take him, and even under the ex-
citing conditions of the occasion the old
silver tip seemed 10 me 20 wear clown |
ish look He stood there few moments |
weaving his big numbering BODY back
ward and forward. as though he didn't
care pine needle whether the lion in
tended tackling him again OF lot. Yet |
we could see the blood gently oozing |
out of the long siiSery wool on his Shout
der, where the mountain hon had Gouged !
into him when be made the spring; for the 4
tawny shadow we had seen fash through !
the cir was the lion as ne sprsag on the |,
unsUspecting bear
4 low excited ''CghF' from Long Dog |
end another motion OF his finger caused |
Ine 70 glance again into the ciump a vii |
lows. Take my head for coyote bait IL /
She lions tail WASH Z stil IN the deer path, !
e-thrashing ike fury Before You could 4
say whisky twice. however, bin went |
another shadow out IF the willows, and /
when looked for the tai again * was 1
gone Instead OF one mountain hon, e. i
we had first thought, tie willows had /
sheltered two.
And now the efrcus opened Up with /
savage ea-nestness. The second lion 1T .
square OF the silver tips vithers and vel |.
ulSh toppled him over. Tie other one,
which lad evidently bean waiting for his 1
part-er 20 cone on. sailed Fl e. tie sane /
moment, and tall you they made I'D |
bruin hustle around pretty Lively for /
while The three va-m;nls rolled over i
aud over on the ground "A = heap, stFug-
Cling. biting. roaring aid -clsw1ng away l
a. each other ike mad demons Prs o.ie /