Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-08-21

us. Nearer and nearer they came,
until the foremost was not fifty feet
away, shouting and encouraging each
other in language that was strange;
perhaps it was Cheyenne. We now
saw that they each carried q long
lance, but no bow nor gun, and Louis
told me to shoot them if L could; that
he would take care of the pack horses.
81 turned in my saddle and pointed
my gun, but before could pull the
trigger both of the Indians slipped
over onto the side of their animals, so
I had no mark but leg gripping q
horses back and an arm thrown over
its neck; couldn't stay twisted in
my saddle long with my gun extended,
and as soon as I would straighten
around they would sit up again and
urge on their horses, and they kept
getting closer. If it had been just 8
question Of the two we would have
stopped and finished them in short
order, but we dare not attempt it,
for their companions D who had
stayed in the race were still coming
and only few hundred yards Distant
we couldn't fight them all. The two
were getting very close now, aim ost
near enough for lance thrust, and,
trusting to luck suddenly turned
and fred at the nearest one without
raising the gun to my shoulder or tax.
ing aim, just as if was firing at q
buffalo at close range. Down he fell
to the ground, and the other one, with
yell, made his horse give one or two
great leaps and prepared to lance me.
l guess he didn't notice that my rifle
was double barrelled, for he made no
effort to dodge when I pointed it at
him, and he grinned as he raised his
lance. I'll never forget the express
sion Of surprise and pain which flashed
across his face when I pulled the other
trigger and the ball smashed through
his ribs. He dropped the lance,
grabbed at the hole in his side and
then rolled backward off his horse.
"Those two must have been pretty
big chiefs, for when the rest came up
to them they stopped and set up q
terrible bowling. We never stopped,
though, for we felt sure that the whole
tribe would hunt the country for us.
We had been swinging around toward
the Yellowstone all the time, but when
the Indians gave up the chase we
dropped into trot and about dusk
struck the river where we had left it
in the morning, never resting until
we had got the packs and horses across
to the other side. We had concluded
that so far as we were concerned the
company would get along without any
Snake horses.
"Before we got back to the fort
little incident happened to me which
may interest you to hear. We got
up early one morning and started on
without having breakfast, for we
had eaten all our meat the previous
evening. When the sun rose the
wind began to blow from the west, as
it often does in the foothills, so strong
that our horses could barely make any
headway. We struggled on and on,
getting very hungry as the hours
passed, but expecting every minute to
sight band Of buffalo and kill one.
I guess the wind blew them all out OF
the country, for they seemed to have
disappeared. Finally about noon we
sighted an animal just going over
ridge. We only got glimpse of it,
and thought it was a buffalo bull.
Wiper told me to ride over there and
kill him. [ handed Louis my rifle,
intending to use my bow and arrows,
and rode off thinking we would soon
have some ribs roasting over a fire.
When l got to the top of the ridge
there was no bull in sight, so rode
on over another little rise or two and
suddenly found that what we had
taken for bull was an enormous
grizzly bear. He was as big as a two
year-old steer, and was busily digging
in a marshy, muddy place, full Of
hummocks ani small clumps OF brush.
"Bear meat wasn't so good as buff
falo meat, yet it would do for hungry
men; but had only my bows and ar.
rows, which wasn't exactly the weapon
to shoot a grizzly with. 1 turned
back to get my rifle, and then, think.
ing that Wiper and Louis would
laugh at me, [ concluded to tackle
the bear anyhow. When L was q
young man did many foolish things
for fear of being laughed at and called
coward. The wind was blowing as
hard as ever, SO [ made little de-
tour and approached the bear across
it. He was still busily digging, and
1 rode up within thirty feet of him
and let drive an arrow. Instead OF
piercing his ribs it went foul and hit
him stinging blow on the flank, just
as if he had been struck with a good
whip. He gave savage roar and
started for me at once, and dug my
heels into the horse and lit out. The
ground was soft, aud my horse didn't
go very fast-he hadn't scented the
bear yet and probably thought it was
buffalo-and the first thing knew
the grizzly had him by the tail. The
horse couldn't pull away from him,
but he kept swinging around, and I
kept humping him with my heels
and pricking him with an arrow, until
he made half circle and got the scent
of the bear, and then he began to