The Philipsburg mail., 1899-10-06

turned and walked toward the thicket,
on the creek side of which there was
water hole. l saw him push his way
into the thicket, and the next instant
could see that he had got into trouble
of some kind, and that trouble proved
to be grizzly bear. A fierce struggle
followed in the thicket. Scarcely two
minutes elapsed before the bull broke
through the bushes. His head was
covered with blood and great flakes of
flesh hung from his fore shoulders.
But instead of showing any signs of
defeat, he seemed literally to glow
with defiant rage. Instinct had simply
prompted him in his retreat to seek
an open space. But scarcely had / time
to note all this, when the bear, a huge,
repulsive looking brute, broke through
the bushes into the opening. When
the bear made his appearance out OF
the thicket the bull did not wait for
his charge, but, lowering his great head
70 the ground, rushed maLly upon the
pear. The latter seemed to appreciate
the abilities of the bull, and summoned
all the wariness Of his nature to his
aid. He waited until the bull was al
most upon him, and then sprang aside
with marvellous quickness, seized his
assailant's horns in his powerful grasp
and pressed the bulls horns down
against the ground by his great
strength and the weight Of his enor-
nous body, biting the bulls nose and
tearing the flesh from his cheek and
shoulders with his long, sharp claws.
Presently both animals paused in their
desperate struggle, but the bear did not
relax the hold he had obtained on the
bull. The cessation in the struggle
had probably been of ten minutes dura-
tion when suddenly the bull made one
desperate lunge, broke the embrace of
the grizzly, hurled the bear from off
his head and backed away some ten
PAGES. The bear lifted his huge head
and stood ready for the next assault.
The herd Of cattle had by this time
gathered in from the plain and sur
rounded the combatants, mOoing and
believing and paving up the ground,
and maintaining terrified neutrality.
The bull did not remain at rest a mo-
ment after backing away for a new
charge, but, rendered furious by his
wounds, he gathered all his energies
and, with resounding below, rushed
with impetuous force and ferocity upon
the bear. The latter attempted to use
the tactics that had served him so we'll
at the first onslaught, but the second
charge of the bull was irresistible, in
spite of the bears terrific blows with
his paws, and the grizzly went down in
the dust before his crazed antagonist,
and vainly tried to defend himself The
bull thrust his horns under the bear
caught him in the belly with one OF the
sharp weapons, and with one furious
sweep Of his head, ripped great cash
In the grizzly's under side. The grizzly
rose to his feet, and with howl closed
with his foe, and for long time the
two fought.
while the fight was going on two
eagles appeared from some mysterious
eerie and sailed and circled above the
scene of the conflict ,leisurely and grad
ually dropping nearer to the earth. Al
most simultaneously with the appear
ance of the eagles | saw the heads Of
half a dozen hungry wolves emerge
from the bushes where the fight had
begun. I knew that the battle must
soon end.
"The desperate struggle continued.
The ground was torn up and covered