The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17
TACKLED THE WRONG BEAR.
THE MISTAKE MADE BY A PAIR OF
MOUNTAIN LIONS.
4 Royal hattie ut the Foot of the
Nountnin-Thc Contest Was Brief.
But FEl of Spirit-When IL Had
Ended the Grizzly Was the Victor.

years. We had just sat down and were
Milling our pipes when a grizzly bear burst
ont of a cedar thcket TO the east and
lounged across the open to the tree He
was male and full grown, and his bulk
astonished us Ills very gate proved that
he was In ill-humor. and he had no soon
er reached the tree than he reared up and
began clawing at IT, The wood had de-
cayed until every blow of his claws sent
dust and chips and splinters flying right
and left, and the monster growled and
clashed his teeth as if fighting a live
enemy. He was the fairest sort OF tar
get and the captain was raising his
winchester for shot when the guide
leaned forward and whispered:
Don't do it. The old varmint is mad
an the way through ana would fight a
regiment of soldiers"
But l can drop him with one bullet"
protested the captain.
Don't try IL. IA sooner take nv
You wait and you'll mebbe see suthin'
lhc Dear continued n-nting the tree for
perhaps ave minutes, and then he dropped
ao"n on an Tours and faced the thicket
20 tne south ana snuffed and growled and
hnally uttered a roar of defiance
Keep quict-thar's fun ahead" whis-
pered the guide, and we laid our unlighted
pipes aside ana gave the scene our whole
attention.
After a couple of minutes. during which
Oh Ephraim continued to work up his
temper, a mountain non leaped out of the
thlcket into the open at the southwest cor
hef. Ten seconds later second lion lea D.
Cd out at the southeast angle. and the
three beasts stood growing and glaring
ana making ready for battle. The lions
were male and female, and the female was
the more aggressive of the two. AS tley
stood Tor a moment switching the grass
win their tails and each having a paw
raised, they We're about thirty feet from
each other and about forty from the bear
Keep quiet and you'll see the purtiest
niue tout a man ever got down to-" said
the guide, as he removed his hat and
of him.
The bear was expecting his enemies
Perhaps he had found and DESTROYED the
cubs Of the lioness and knew the parents
were after him. He moved away from the
tree to have clear space around him and
deiied them to make a rush. After work
ing up their fury one moved to the east
ana the other to the west, keeping close
10 the edge Of the thickets. The grizzly
could not keep both OF them under his eve
and seemed TO think the lioness the most
dangerous Of the two. he gave her his
lion moved past him to the rear and then
crouchtd down. We thought his action
cowardly, but the pair had evidently plan
ned the whole affair and he was following
the programme. As he crouched down the
nonness began to advance, but she NOV
ed at an angle and only foot by foot. She
kept up "A low growing all the time, and
though IL was a sunshiny day her eyes
glittered like Goals of fire. The groans Of
the bear were deeper and louder, and he
stood still and waited for her.
We knew that she was creeping up for
a spring, but she did not make the first
move. When she had approached within
about fifteen feet she uttered a cry and
the lion made his leap. He had a full
twenty feet to go, and he covered It at
bound. lie rose from the ground like a
bird, and his movements were so rapid
that we did not realize his action until
he landed on top OF the bear. Two seconds
later the lioness reached the same spot,
and then the three were rolling over and
over on the ground like a great ball. Sol
diers as we were, and at a safe distance,
and with trusty weapons at hand, the
sounds of conflict fairly frightened us.
There was chorus of yelps, growls,
howls roars and screams, and the ball
continued rolling about for sixty seconds.
Then il suddenly dissolved into two lions
and bear, and the lions sprang away to
a distance Of ten yards The grizzly had
gotten the best Of the fight We could see
that he had been severely clawed and Bit
ten, but the lions We're worse off. The lion
limped and seemed to have lost the use
of one hind leg, and his right side was
laid open from shoulder to hip, and the
lioness was so badly hurt that she lay
painting and whining like a dog.
THAT isn't the end OF it-they'll try
it again, whispered the guide, as we won
dered If II was over. "Ole Eph knows his
gait and TINS is his fight"
There was a rest of five minutes Then
the lioness began growing and switching
moved over to the lion as If she meant
to attack him, and with an angry snarl
he leaped away and skulked to the rear
Of the bear again. When he had reached
il the lioness began to advance, and now
she was a picture Of fury.
They'll do exactly as before" said the
guide, "and that's proof that they hain't
got no sense in thar heads. If thar
wasn't but one of EN- ole Eph would
stand up to 1t like a boxer but bein thar's
two his game is to fight on his back.
He's willin the lion should light down on
him, bekase he'll flop him underside at
the first move. This yere bout win end
the row, and one o. them lions will be left
dead on the ground"
The lioness moved slowly, evidently
waiting for an opening, and this time she
was hardly ten feet from the bear when
she made her leap. There was no signal
TO her mate. but he was hardly a second
behind her 1t was the same as before
a great hairy ball rolling about-a chorus
of growls and yelps and roars to make the
hair stand up. When the bail ceased roll
ing about only the bear and the lion were
on their feet Strictly speaking, the lat
ter was not on his feet. He had been so
badly bitten in the other hip or leg that
he dragged his hinder parts on the ground
as he moved away. He made directly
for the thicket and vanished from sight,
with all the fight taken out of him for
days to come if not fatally injured and
only a few hours to live. The loness lay
stretched on the grass. killed by the awful
claws of the bear. She was smeared with
blood until her general color was as red
gazed after the retreating lion and painted
until he got his second wind. Then he
lowered his head, shifted at the dead lion
ess, as If to make sure that his work was
finished, and when satisfied on that point
he lay down and rolled over and growled
as if congratulating himself on his vic
tory The captain reached out for his
rife. but the guide held up his hand and
said:
Give him decent show, capting 1t
was a ar fout with two lions, airy one of
which would hey bin a tuff customer fur
the three of us, and he won it slick as
grease and deserves credit
Just then the scrape of a boot against
the rock made a noise which caused the
bear to look up. There sat the three Of
us in plain view, and the way up to us
was an easy one for him. He uttered a
growl at first sight and partly reared up
on his hind legs, but as he made no
move he cooked up his ears, squinted his
eyes, and after another roll on the ground
walked across the open with a good deal
of dignity and entered the thicket We
waited a quarter of an hour and then de-
scended to view the carcass of the lioness
Claws and teeth had done sure work
there. The sight could not have been
worse If she had been run over by a doz-
en- loaded wagons.
Mountain lions ar wicked fghers."
said the guide we turned away. but
they don't show good sense in taklin' a
grizzly Lord save me, but that Teller