Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-09

over, bit and clawed at the wound, and
then stood up on his launches, his fore
paws above his head. and gared around
to see whence had come this thing that
hurt him. He was facing me now, and
fired again at a point just below the
brisket. and down he went In a heap. l
could see his muscles twitch, and occa-
sionally he gave a deep, wheeling gasp
for breath, but these became fainter and
fainter and died away. Then / went and
stood near him, until finally convinced
that he was quite dead, 1 got out my
knife and proceeded TO divest him or his
deep furred grizzly robe. II was nearly
shutdown, and 1 was in such hurry that
/ left great layers OF fat on the hide ana
when finally got 1t off, | found II was so
heavy l couldn't carry It; so 1 spread 1t
out on the snow and FASTENED down the
mountain as fast as l could go for camp.
We had intended to run buffalo the next
day. but when each one made report
Of his afternoons hunt II was found that
a large number OF deer and elk had been
killed and that part Of them mad not
been skinned, the next morning, there
fore. was devoted to finishing the skin
ming and getting the hides to camp not
emitting my bear skin, which We hea
some trouble packing on the horse. lie
DuEheO
could lash It to the saddle.
In the afternoon Ely and / saddled a
couple of ponies and rode along the foot
Of the mountains toward Rock Greek.
We shot a couple of old buffalo bulls on
the way. which We strychnined for
wolves, and killed five antelope out Of a
bunch which ioollshly allowed us 10 get
within range of them. These we skinned
and then poisoned. We struck Rock
creek about a mile south Of the noun
tains in which it rises, and near the
stream, In a little glade surrounded by
willows and cottonwood, we found the
dead elk, their anters firmly interlocked.
From the appearance Of their carcasses
they could not have been dead very long
time, and, strange 10 say, the coyotes and
had wolves had not mOlested them fur
Their than to eat out part OF one ham. The
little park i'm which we found them prob
ably comprised an acre Of ground, and
there was scarcely a foot OF IL which
had not been trampled and cut up by the
hoOfs Of the enraged animals Both bulls
were apparently of equal size. one or
them had probably entered the park with
his little band of cows, only TO be chal-
lenged by the other, who likely had no
harem at his heels. They paved the dirt
and whistled CONTEMPORARY at each
other and then charged with all the
strength Of their heavy bodies and pow
erful limbs. With a crash their sharp,
many-pronged antlers came together and
then each one strove with all his might
TO push the other over. For hours they
struggled back and forth across the park,
nostrils distended, tongues hanging out
their breath coming In short. sharp gasps,
and finally, completely exhausted, they
could only stand and stare at each other
1,fnn1ehof
and sound the limped brook purled by.
How they must have longed for draught
of the cool wateri Here and there tufts
Of tender grass which had escaped theii
tramplng hoofs Knocked them as they
NODDED 10 the passing wind. How NAM
days, 1 wonder. did they stand and en-
dure this awful thirst and hunger or
their trembling limbs gave way and The
sank to the earth never 20 rise again?
Ely was as much impressed by our re-
markable find as / was. lie said that
ne had never before seen anything like It,
and he cynically remarked that the female
sex caused the beasts Of the field, as Wei
as men, a lot Of misery in this world.
IL took us an hour or more 70 clean the
skulls OF the decaylng meat and skin,
and seyering them from the necks, We
hoisted the antlers up in a nearby tree
out OF reach of any animal and went
back 10 camp. John. Nightgun, and the
women listened In Open-mouthed wonder
to the tale we had 10 tell, and all declared
Il was the first instance OF the kind they
had ever heard OF. lnquiring what luck
the others had met. John told US that
late In the afternoon he and Nightgun
discovered a bunch OF buffalo feeding in
a deep coulee at the foot Of the mountain.
and that they killed fifteen fine cows be-
fore the herd got away out Of range. They
had skinned only four and then FASTENED
home, as night was coming on. This, OF
course, caused US to put off the buffalo
running still another day. and in tho
morning, when they went 10 finish skim
ming, Ely and / took a team and wagon
and brought In the elk antlers. We
picked up number OF wolves on the way
which had feasted on our poisoned haits.
There were many dead coyotes, too. but
In those days they were not considered
worth skinning.
There was a fascination about buffalo
running which even the oldest hunter
could not resist. 1t was dangerous