Smyrna times., 1901-08-07
! BILL CROSS AND
/. HIS PET BEAR.
BY JOAQUIN MILLER.
A%~-%-%-#%%~-%-%AN

When my father settled down at the
foot of the Oregon sierras with his lit
tie family long, long years ago, it was
40 miles from our place to the nearest
civilized settlement.
People were very scarce in those
DAYS and bears were very plenty. We
also had wolves, wildcats, wild cattle.
wild hogs and Il good many long tailed
and big headed yellow California lions.
The wild cattle, brought there from
Spanish Mexico, next to the bear were
most to be feared. They had long,
sharp horns and keen, sharp hoofs. Ma
ture had gradually helped them out |
in these weapons of defense. They |
had grown to be slim and trim of body |
and were as supple and swift as deer. |
They We're the deadly enemies of all |
wild beasts, because all wild beasts !
devOured their young.
When fat and saucy, in warm sum-
mer weather, these cattle would hover
along the foothills in bands, hiding
in the hOllOws, and would begin to
below whenever they saw a bear or
wolf or even a man or boy, if on foot,
crossing the wide valley of grass and
blue camas blossoms. Then there
would be music! They would start up,
with head and tails in the air, and
broadening out left and right they
would draw a long. bent line, complete
ly shutting OFF their victim from all
approach to the foothills.
If the unfortunate victim were q
man or boy on foot. he generally made
escape up one of the small ash trees
that dotted the valley in groves here
and there, and the cattle would then
soon give up the chase. But if it were
a wolf or any other wild beast that
could not get up a tree the case was
different. Far away on the other side
of the valley. where dense woods lined
the banks of the winding Willamette
river the wild, believing herd would
be answered. Cut from the edge of the
woods would stream right and left two
long, corresponding. surging lines bel
lowing and plunging forward now and
then. their heads to the ground, their
tails always in the air and their eyes
afame, as if they would set fire to the
long gray grass. With the precision
and discipline of well ordered army
they would close in upon the wild
beast too terrified now to either fght
or fly, and, leaping upon him one after
another with their long hOOfs he would
in little time be crushed into an un
recognizable mass. Not bone wouI'
be left unbrOken. 1t is a mistake t,
suppose that they ever use their long
sharp horns in attack. These wer
used only in defense, the same as ell
or deer, falling on the knees and re
ceiving the enemy on their horns, muc
as the Old Guard received the enem
in the last terrible struggle at Water
loo
Bill Cross was a ''tenderfOOt'' at til
time of which write, and a sailor &
that. Now, the old pilgrims who ha
dared the plains in those days of a
when towards did not venture and I'll
weak died on the way. had not tE
greatest respect for the courage or el
durance of those who had reached Or
gon by ship. But here was this man,
sailor by trade, settling down in I'll
interior of Oregon and. strangel
enough, pretending to know more abol
everything in general and bears in pa
ticular than either my father or any
his boys.
He had taken up a piece of lal
down in the pretty Camas vale
where the grass grew long and strol
and waved in the wind, mobile a
bnaufiftfI nc 4ho ,,obfIo
The good natured and self comp
cent old sailor liked to watch the wa
ing grass. 1t reminded him of the 81
| reckon. He would sometimes sit
our little porch as the sun went dO'
and tell us boys strange, wild sea s
ries. He had Travelled far and sc
much. as much as any man can see
water, and maybe was not a very
liar, for a sailor, after all. The OF
thing about him that we did not l
outside of his chronic idleness was
exalted opinion Of himself and his
concealed contempt for everybod
opinion but his own.
BILL" said my father one day, eth
black Spanish cattle will get after t
red sash and sailor jacket of yo
some day when you go down in the '
ley to your claim, and they won't le
grease spot. Better go horseback
at least take a gun when you go dc
next time"
"Pshaw! Squire, l wish l had
many dollars as amt afeard OF all
black Spanish cattle in Oregon. "
If they're so blasted dangerous how
your missionaries ever manage to d
them up here from Mexico, anyhow
Still, for all that, the very next
that he saw the old sailor setting
at his snail pace for his ranch bel
slow and indolent as II on the decl
a ship. my father insisted that
should go on horseback or at least
"A gun.
Il Pooh, poohI wouldn't be both'