The Iola register., 1888-02-24

We had been having a mighty tough
day. and it was growing dark when we
struck camp. hungry enough to eat old
mocassins.
Sagebrush ought to have been on
hand with blazing pine-knot fire and
slathers' of chuck piled up ready for us
to sail in and fill up. As soon as we
reached the edge of the park. however,
we could see that the camp was de-
serted.
''Who-o-o-pee S-a-a-gebrushr'
J "-o-o-pee-a-agebrushr' answered
the pine timber. but that was all. Not
even the friendly bark of the dogs was
there to greet us.
Wondering what was up we hurried
on into the camp. An exclamation of
surprise escaped the foremost man in
the party; for right beside the wagon
lay the mangled carcasses of the two
dogs Lighting a silver of pitch pine.
we soon unraveled the mystery.
"A grizzly, by thunder!" says l. and
plain enough it was. too. The Eng
lishman, who had brought the two fine
bear dogs from India ripped out an
oath. and swore he would kill every
grizzly in the Big Horn Mountains.
Both dogs were mangled almost out of
recognition. Evidently they had been
struck down. by the bears powerful
paw while tied to the wagon wheel and
powerless to get out of the way, after
which they had been bitten and clawed
almost to shreds.
But what had become of Sagebrush?
Weyelled and fired guns, but could get
no response.
At length one of the Englishmen
found back number of the Sun. a
bundle of which we had taken with us
into the mountains. pinned to the
wagon cover, and on it Sagebrush had
written with burnt stick: 'Gon fur
the bar that kilt the dogs" That was
all there was; there was nothing to in
siicate which way he had gone or any
thing more about it.
The moon would be rising about ten
o'clock, and as nothing could be done
till then we turned our attention to
cooking bear steaks.
At moonrise we shouidered our VIM
chesters and struck out No trail was
visible on the hard surface of the
mountain path. so we divided up and
made tracks in different directions
My companion was the Anglo-Indian
officer, the owner of the dogs.
We tramped on and ON for about
three miles. stopping every now and
then to shout and fire and listen. Fin
ally we heard distant yell in reply.
Hurrying along in the direction of the
shout we soon had the satisfaction of
recognizing Sagebrush's voice.
As soon as we got near enough to un-
derstand what he was saying we NOV
ed forward with extreme caution.
Shouting at the top of his voice. he
told us that he was trced by whole herd
of grizzlies. and had parted company
with his Winchester. BE mighty
carefulr' he shouted They're get
ting all worked up over hearing you
yCh anu AtS. SidWA up d ucdf ~ y W
safely can, and then take to the trees
with your guns
Tue timber thereaboIt was not over
thick. and we lodged from tree to tree
rs noiselessiy as possible gradually
creeping up in the direction of Sage
brush voice. We had moved to with
in about one hundred and fifty yards
of his tree, when he yelled out that
several of the grizzlies were moving
of in oU1 direction.
Twas just boosting the Englishman
up into the nearest tree. when the fore
most bear came scurrying through a
patch of moonshine among the shad-
owy pines. not more than thirty PAGES
away. There was likely looking tree
about twenty yards further back. and
to the best Of my recollection l reached
that tree In about three Jumps could
hear the pine needles crackle as the
Lig grizzly came charging after me.