The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-11-30

"We'n go on after the cattle di-
rectly,' he said. 1t won't take more'n
a minute to settle that bear.
Seeing that other members Of the
party were also examining their fire.
arms, kennedy spoke up threatening
ly saying that if a shot was fired by
another man in the crowd there would
be trouble. Knowing Kennedy as we'll
as we did, his wishes were complied
with.
"Kennedy rode down until he was
about 100 yards from the bear There
he dismounted and turned the head
of his horse away from the game. AS
a brave cow-puncher he scorned to
attack the grizzly except on foot, for
in his code of ethics he and men of
his stripe disdained to do anything
that would SAVIOR of the tactics of the
tenderfoot. 1t takes a brave man to
attack a bear on foot. and Kennedy
was not of the sort to shirk the task.
He stood by the side of his horse
and drew his bead on the grizzly. The
barrel of the rifle steadied down for
moment Then came a puff of
smoke and a sharp report. A second
later our straining ears caught the
impact sof the bullet as it found the
game. The head of the bear went
back as though it had been struck by
a sledge hammer.
Fright in the snout.' was the ex-
clamation of the foreman.
THE bear disappeared for an in
slant, and a second later was seen
clambering up the bank Kennedy
fired again, but this did not stop the
enraged grizzly. He started in a lum-
bering but surprisingly rapid lope,
straight for the cowboy.
Kennedy did not finch when he
saw what was before him. The barrel
of his rifle looked as firm and rigid
as a bar of iron, so little was it dis
shells and throwing the cartridges in
to place. The smoke curled upward
from the muzZle in a steady stream
and the rifles crack came with the
regularity of clock ticks. It appeared
to us that Kennedy made every shot
count, for he stood on slightly higher
ground than that over which the bear
was coming, and we saw no dirt
thrown up by the bullets, as would
have been the case had he missed.
The grizzly presented an appear
ance calculated to inspire terror in
nnY,fS e
covering the ground at high speed. in
spite of his apparent aWkWardness
His numbering gait rendered him the
poorest OF targets, for the reason that
only chance shot could strike a vital
part. At one moment he would be
doubled up like jackknife, with only
his hump showing; the next he would
be stretched out at full length like
a greyhound. Blood spurted from
nearly a dozen wounds on his head
hump neck-everywhere except a snot
which would allow a bullet to ston
nlm' lie was gnashing his teeth like
wild boar, and from his jaws dripped
great flakes of foam which fecked his
crimson stained hide.
In less time than it takes to tell
it Kennedy had emptied his rife. but
still he scorned to take advantage Of
his opportunity and mount the waiting
broncho and escape. He cast his rifle
aside and drew his sixshooters. q, na,r
Of short-barreled forty-fours.' As he
threw his rifle away he struck his
horse with it, and the animal, already
nervous from the firing and probably
seeming the bear, started forward a
few feet and then stopped. The ami
mails bride rein hung in front of him:
the well trained pony seldom moves
until the rein is thrown back over the
neck
The foreman Of the ranch had seen
the movement Of the horse. which had
been unnoticed by Kennedy, and
shouted:
"'Step back with your horse. All!
Step back with your horse!'
But Kennedy was too busy with
his sixshooters to heed the warning.