Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-29

as shall relate it, is strictly accurate in
every particular. =.
At one Of our military forts on the from
tier, not long since, an officer was riding
over the prairie, when he discovered, some dis
tance to the right, a short, chunky black
animal pulling rown berries from the bushes
and making himself generally at home among
the willows lining small creek bottom.
The ieutentant was well mounted, and
therefore he had little fear from investigating
the strange beast, no mattek what it might
be-
When he came near enough to distinguish
the creature, he made it out to be a large
black bear, which had come down from the
foothills OF the adjacent mountains in search
of berries along the creek border.
Although unarmed, the lieutenant deter
mined upon bear chase, and SO, putting
SPURS, to his horse. he was soon within hail
| ing distance of Bruin, who had now taken
the alarm, and was rolling along at a lively
gait toward the mouth Of the canyon. Now
| it should be understood that deadly ami
| mostly seems to exist between all bears and
| all dogs. For some reason, both are at eternal
warfare, even more so than any other species
Of animals in the known world. Understand-
| ing this peculiarity, the lieutenant rode to
within forty yards of the fleeing bear, and sim
ulated the bark of a dog SO naturally that it
seemed to fill the musquaw with the most in
| tense fear and fright
| By dexterous fanking and much barking,
| the pursuer managed to head his quarry in
the direction of the post, and, keeping up
these adroit movements without cessation,
the officer actually drove the bear straight
ahead for more than a mile and half, and
| directly upon the parade ground at the fort.
Now, as it happened, two ladies of the gar
| rison, on horseback, chanced to be riding out
| upon the open prairie to get the morning air.
They saw, far in the distance, the strange
black object rolling towards them, with some
body on horseback in stern pursuit, and stop
ped in wonderment to determine if possible
what all the noise and fuss was about.
| Straight towards them came the bear, at
2.40 gait, with the officer close on his heels;
and, not until both pursuer and pursued had
almost run over them, did the ladies appre-
wheeling about like a flash and nearly fright
ened out of their own senses the pair of
morning riders galloped like mad back over the
course they had come, arousing the garri-
| son as they rushed along.
| 1t was indeed remarkable chase and one
Hong to be remembered. First came the two
! ladies on horseback urging their steeds to
the top of their speed; then a real live
black bear on a dead run and close behind
them; next, the officer riding his mettled
charger, shouting and yelling and barking like
a dog.
Men, officers and ladies swarmed out to see
what was the matter; but the bear never paid
any attention to those in front, only using
his best endeavors to get away from the i'm
aginary dog barking behind him.
Helter-skelter, pell-mell he went, through
a wire fence, without stopping, and the next
moment, in an utterly bewildered condition,
found himself in the centre of the parade
ground, with hundred rifles pointed at his
heart.
One soldier, the best marksman in the
command, advanced few steps, took care
full aim behind the fore-shoulder and pulled
the trigger.
In response to the shot, the bear tumbled
in his tracks to rise no more, and~thus ended
one of the most remarkable bear hunts ever
recorded especially when truth is taken into
consideration as one of the necessary ad-
juncts of the story.