Gilpin observer., 1907-04-18
A DESPERATE
BATTLE
Rv HAIRY SINCLAIR.


among the French half-breeds good
deal, had received from them the
French name of Baptiste. He told us
T, the story as we were huddled around
campfire on the eastern side of Lake
Winnipeg, from which we and our
dogs had been driven by bitter,
binding, blizzard storm. He said
"One summer, long ago, l was with
large party Of Indians. We were
making long journey over the rolling
prairies from one place to another.
That we might have plenty of meat to
eat, two of us were appointed to keep
about two days journey ahead of the
company to kill all the game we could.
"The reason why we kept so far
apart was because we had dogs, and
babies and women in our party, and,
you know, they all make much noise,
so they would scare the animals far
away
We'll, we two hunters had kept far
ahead. Some days we had good luck
and killed great deal, and then other
days we did not kill much. What we
got we cached, so that the party could
easily find it by the sign we gave
them when they came along. We al
ways put it near the trail for them.
Then we could push on, looking for
more.
"One day as we had passed several
valleys and had seen nothing that was
worth our while, we came to the top
of a pretty large hill and cautiously
looked over. There was a sight that
We shall never forget.
Right down before us, within gun
shot, was a very large grizzly bear
with two big buffalo bulls. Well for
us the wind was blowing from them to
us. They were very very angry look
ing and were preparing for big fight.
! The buffalos seemed to know that the
bear was an ugly customer. and he
| looked as if he did not know how to
manage the two of them at once.
After a while both of the bulls sud.
denly lowered their heads, and to-
| gether they charged the bear. AS
they rushed at him he quickly rose up
on his launches, and as they closed in
upon him he seized one of them by
the head and neck, and with sudden
jerk so quickly broke his neck that he
fell down as dead as stone.
The older buffalo, which had
charged at the same time, gave the
bear fearful thrust with his sharp
horns, one of which pierced him be-
tween his ribs, causing an ugly wound,
from which the blood soon began to
flow. The bear, having killed the other
buffalo, tried to seize this one also
but he, having given the bear the ugly
wound. quickly sprang back out of his
reach. He ran off for little distance,
but as the bear did not follow he came
back again. There they stood looking
at each other, both very angry, but
both very cautious. AS they kept
moving around it seemed to us as
though the buffalo had so come around
on the windward side Of the bear that
he caught the scent Of blood from the
wound. The smell of blood always
excites to fury these animals, and so,
lowering his head. he furiously
charged at his wounded yet still saw
age enemy. The bear rose up on his
hind quarters to receive him, and
seizing him as he did the other killed
him on the spot.
I'VE saw him go from one buffalo
to another and smell them both, but
he did not offer to tear or eat either.
We could see that he was very badly
wounded from the way he kept
twitching his side, from which the
blood was running. 1t was an ugly
wound, and he was a very sick bear,
but he looked so cross that we were
not in a hurry to let him know any.
thing about us.
Imagine, if you can," said Baptiste,
while his eyes flashed at the recollec-
tion of this royal battle, how excited
we were as we lay there in the long
grass and watched this great battle.
Then we thought: Now II we can
only kill that wounded bear we will
have plenty of meat for the whole
camp-enough to last a long while.
But although we had our guns. we
were none too anxious to begin the
battle with such bear as that one, so
we crouched low and watched him. 1t
was very fortunate that the wind,
which was quite breeze, blew as 1t
did. He never seemed to suspect that
other foes were near.
after while he went off little
distance and laid down in the long
grass, which rose up so high around
him that we could not see him. We
waited long for him to get up but as
he did not, and we could not stay
there all day, we prepared for big
fight with him. We put our knives
where we could instantly draw them.
and carefully examined our guns to
see that they were all right. Then
we began to crawl down through the
grass.
I'VE got very close to him. although
not near enough to see him. Then,