Biography of a Grizzly | Page 3

and the Bull rolled down into the river.
[Illustration]
This was a lucky thing for him, for the Grizzly did not want to follow
him there; so he waded out on the other side, and bellowing with fury
and pain, slunk off to join the herd to which he belonged.
[Illustration: desc. Mountain peaks]

II.
Old Colonel Pickett, the cattle king, was out riding the range. The night
before, he had seen the new moon descending over the white cone of
Pickett's Peak.
"I saw the last moon over Frank's Peak," said he, "and the luck was
against me for a month; now I reckon it's my turn."
Next morning his luck began. A letter came from Washington granting
his request that a post-office be established at his ranch, and contained
the polite inquiry, "What name do you suggest for the new
post-office?"
[Illustration]
The Colonel took down his new rifle, a 45-90 repeater. "May as well,"
he said; "this is my month"; and he rode up the Graybull to see how the
cattle were doing.
As he passed under the Rimrock Mountain he heard a far-away roaring
as of Bulls fighting, but thought nothing of it till he rounded the point
and saw on the flat below a lot of his cattle pawing the dust and
bellowing as they always do when they smell the blood of one of their
number. He soon saw that the great Bull, 'the boss of the bunch,' was
covered with blood. His back and sides were torn as by a
Mountain-lion, and his head was battered as by another Bull.
"Grizzly," growled the Colonel, for he knew the mountains. He quickly
noted the general direction of the Bull's back trail, then rode toward a
high bank that offered a view. This was across the gravelly ford of the
Graybull, near the mouth of the Piney. His horse splashed through the
cold water and began jerkily to climb the other bank.
As soon as the rider's head rose above the bank his hand grabbed the
rifle, for there in full sight were five Grizzly Bears, an old one and four
cubs. "Run for the woods," growled the Mother Grizzly, for she knew
that men carried guns. Not that she feared for herself; but the idea of

such things among her darlings was too horrible to think of. She set off
to guide them to the timber-tangle on the Lower Piney. But an awful,
murderous fusillade began.
_Bang_! and Mother Grizzly felt a deadly pang.
_Bang_! and poor little Fuzz rolled over with a scream of pain and lay
still.
With a roar of hate and fury Mother Grizzly turned to attack the enemy.
[Illustration]
_Bang_! and she fell paralyzed and dying with a high shoulder shot.
And the three little cubs, not knowing what to do, ran back to their
Mother.
_Bang! bang_! and Mooney and Frizzle sank in dying agonies beside
her, and Wahb, terrified and stupefied, ran in a circle about them. Then,
hardly knowing why, he turned and dashed into the timber-tangle, and
disappeared as a last bang left him with a stinging pain and a useless,
broken hind paw.
* * * * *
That is why the post-office was called Four-Bears. The Colonel seemed
pleased with what he had done; indeed, he told of it himself.
[Illustration]
But away up in the woods of Anderson's Peak that night a little lame
Grizzly might have been seen wandering, limping along, leaving a
bloody spot each time he tried to set down his hind paw; whining and
whimpering, "Mother! Mother! Oh, Mother, where are you?" for he
was cold and hungry, and had such a pain in his foot. But there was no
Mother to come to him, and he dared not go back where he had left her,
so he wandered aimlessly about among the pines.
[Illustration: description: bear paw prints]
Then he smelled some strange animal smell and heard heavy footsteps;
and not knowing what else to do, he climbed a tree. Presently a band of
great, long-necked, slim-legged animals, taller than his Mother, came
by under the tree. He had seen such once before and had not been afraid
of them then, because he had been with his Mother. But now he kept
very quiet in the tree, and the big creatures stopped picking the grass
when they were near him, and blowing their noses, ran out of sight.
[Illustration]
He stayed in the tree till near morning, and then he was so stiff with

cold that he could scarcely get down. But the warm sun came up, and
he felt better as he sought about for berries and ants, for he was very
hungry. Then he went back to the Piney and put his wounded foot in
the