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Show Greatest Tighter on Earfl) American Grizzly Heads List For Ability to Kill Thrilling Account of Old She Bear's Battle With Drove of Peccaries Fought to Avenge the Loss of Her Cubs. 1 The crowds were talking about the fights they had seen, and a dispute arose as to the most perfect type cf fighter. Finally the matter was referred re-ferred to Captain Jack Harris, an old Indian fighter, who had also seen service in lxah the civil and Spanish ware. Captain Jack considered the question for a minute and finally said: "For pure concentrated killing abil- j ity. I think the American grizzly is ahead of all. And when that grizzly is an old she-bear and some injury has been done her cubs, you have reached the limit of hard, desperate, reckh-ss fighting.. Just once in a hunting hunt-ing experience of years have I seen a grizzly with cubs killed. "I was hunting near the Colorado for a second, for, old huntress that she I wSs, she knew what it meant to tackle j those peccaries. It wasn't taking a long chance for her life; it was going j against the real thing, as it was sure j death for any animal to meddle with j that drove of sharp-tusked little pigs." Then one of the cubs made a last dy-ing dy-ing effort to crawl 'rom under the drove, who were rending it to pieces, towards the protection of its fierce, old mother. .Theld tear saw" her cub's ' last struggle and started forward. .' I ' "But it wasn't as if she was going j against something that wouldn't fight. The pigs saw her coming and i they didn't lose any time on their ! part, but went for the old bear on the, run. The grizzly was an unusually j large one and, frenzied at the fate of i 1 t The Cubs Each Picked Out a Peccary and Pounced On It. line a couple of months ago, when I ran across a grizzly bear with two fat litis. The old bear was lying on a ledse in the shade, while the cubs were playing and tumbling about in the gully of a little dried up stream just below her. A grizzly with cubs is a mighty good thing to let alone, unless a man is one of a well armed party, and, as the bear hadn't seen ne, I was content to let it go at that and keep out of her way. So I turned and went up the side of the valley. I hadn't gone but a short distance when, looking back, I saw a drove of about 300 peccaries coming down the valley. Now, every hunter knows what it means to disturb peccaries, lie must kill off the last one or he is a dead man. And the drove will keep up the chase until they have run down or starved out the man or animal they tire after. "The course that the drove were taking would bring them less than 100 yards below me and right past the old bear and her cubs.-but the -wind was blowing from the opposite direction and from the ledge on which she was lying the old bear couldn't see the peccaries peccar-ies coming. Pretty soon the drove reached the top of a little decline, in plain sight of the cubs. nd came J swinging down with that fast little trot which eats up the miles amazingly, and which they can keep up for hours und rlavs. as manv n. rpekle-ss hunter has found out to h: grief. "The fierce'st, strongest grizzly in America would have hurried to get out of the path of those pigs, but the cubs didn't know enough to appreciate their danger. Perhaps they thought the fierce, hard-fighting peccaries were only a lot of swine, and that it would be good fun to stampede, them. Whatever What-ever may have been the idea in their furry heads, the instant they sighted the enemy both cubs started for them on the run. "It was all over in les than a minute. min-ute. The cubs each picked out a peccary pec-cary and pounced on it. but instead of ) stampeding, the peccaries simply piled j over each other in their eagerness to i have a ehare in tearing to pieces the two foolish cubs. There wasn't a trace left of the fat cubs, except scattered pieces of fur and Ilesh and bones. Then came the real fight. . "When the cubs attacked the drove the noise aroused the old grizzly. I was near enough to see the whole show, and it was plain that her first impulse im-pulse was to hurry to the assistance of her cubs. Then she hesitated just '4 - . ,v j j her cubs, she looked the incarnation of hate. Her big jaws were open, her eyes glaring, the bristling hair on her ' head and body was standing on end; i altogether she was the personification of demoniac lighting ability as she rushed at the peccaries. The terrible odds against her had been forgotten in the thought of her dead cubs, and with the glory of a last great fight before her she was ready to join them in death. The Fight. "Ahead of the main body of the peccaries pec-caries were two or three that had not been in at the killing of the cubs and so were first in the charge. The .bear met the first one, gave it a swinging blow with her huge pawi which sent a disemboweled pig flying through the air, crushed another under her front paw, and then the whole drove were on her in one vicious, snapping wave. For the first few seconds all I could see was a dark, swaying mass of angry peccaries, all trying to get at the bear, those nearest tearing at her with their I tusks and springing on ' her back in their eagerness,- and those farther away scrambling over' the oihers so as to get into the tight. A drove of peccaries pec-caries after, they have smelt blood is not a pretty sight. "But these particular wild pigs were not-up against an animal that was going to quietly let herself hi pieces. If it was fighting the peccaries I were looking for there wasn't anything1 ! in North America that was more anxious to oblige them than that fierce old grizzly, who had Just seen, her cubs killed. It was only for the first few seconds that the peccaries surged over her. Then the cd mother's tremendous fighting ability 'showed itself. it-self. One sweep of her big right front paw cleared a little space in front of her, incidentally smashing in the head of an unlucky peccary as if it had been caught under a trip hammer. Then the bear made slashing blows, first with one paw and then with the other. The mere force of the blows was enough to smash in a peccary's ribs, or break his back, and besides this tire claws at the end of the paws made slashing cuts four or five inches deep. I saw one pig dodge in between the swinging, paws and spring right for the grizzly's he3d. That was the end of the peccary, for the big jaws opened, and when they closed, cut the peccary almost in two. "It wasn't but a few seconds before the old bear had things pretty weil cleared up in front of her, but in the meantime the drove had been tearing fur and flesh to ribbons on her side and back. As soon as a space was cleared in front the old grizzly changed her tactics, and, shaking off the peccaries as if they had been clinging insects, rose up on her hind legs. She had a peccary in her paws I as she went up, but after one squeeze it was a dead peccary. Then the grizzly dropped down on her four paws again, gave a bound, was clear of her enemies, and started off on a clumsy, but rapid gallop for the place where her cubs had met their deaths. "I thought the old bear was trying to escape, and, while I haven't much love j for grizzlies, I wished the old lady good luck, because of the plucky fight she j had put up. But I misunderstood the i workings of her mind. Love for her I cubs had first led her to fight and it was a lingering hope that she might in some way aid her offsprings that caused her desperate attempt to shake herself free from the drove. Up the little hill she galloped until she reached the place where the cubs had met their fate. Only splashes of blood and little bits of fur and flesh were left of the fat cubs, who had been the pride of the fierce old mother's heart. Tne grizzly knew that the scattered bits of fur were the remains re-mains of her pets, and paying no attention at-tention to the fast following peccaries nosed about and smelt of the .pieces. Then she felt that her last hope was gone, and giving a growl, which was -a good deal of a groan, again faced the foe. . - . - . "The peccaries were looking for battle: bat-tle: so was the bear. As the drove approached ap-proached the bear rose upon her hind feet and then, as the line of vicious pigs j reached her, dropped down. She caught j a peccary under each of 'her front paws j as she fell and grabbed another in her I big jaws.- That accounted for three of ' her enemies. Then the peccaries came swarming over her ripping and gnashing gnash-ing and trying to pull her down. The grizzly wasn't idle for the tenth of a second, but swung her big front paws right and left and grabbing the peccaries pec-caries in vice-like jaws, shook them as a dog does a rat and tossed them over the heads of the drove to lie twisting and dying on the outskirts of the big fight. The Death Struggle. If that grizzly had been - fighting i with her back against a rock I think she would have won the fight, although all hunters say no single animal can stand against a drove of wild pigs. But while she was rendering an account of the peccaries in front those at the sides and rear were tearing her so that the blood was running in streams from dozens of wounds. When the grizzly had cleared a space in front she whirled around and went for those who had been harassing her on the rear vnd sides. She made things hum in that direction. Every time she got a grip on a peccary with her jaw that peccary was as good as dead.' and each blow from her big paws went a long way towards accomplishing the same result. The pigs were fighters, too. Several times I saw a peccary, who had evidently evi-dently been wounded to the death, crawl up nearer the bear in order to give a final dig with his tusks before he ended his last tight. "All of a sudden three or four big peccaries happened to spring .at the grizzly from the same side at the same instant. The old fighter was evidently weakened by loss of blood, for she staggered and fell over. The enemy thought she was done for and in they rushed. They didn't appreciate the I staying powers of the bear. Two or three were gathered in a deadly hug hi her front paws, her hind legs ripped open their skins as if tearing gloves, and her jaws went through skin, flesh and bone whenever she fastened them on one of her enemies. The grizzly was making a desperate rally, and while on her back seemed better able to bring into play her superb fighting qualities. All I could see for the next few seconds was a confused mass of grunting, raging rag-ing peccaries, with glimpses underneath of a fichtinsr bundle of hlnnrl ctoino,! brown fur. with teeth and claws working work-ing at their utmost capacity. Then peccary pec-cary after peccary rolled out of the fight, some with broken backs, others with heads smashed like egg shells, and still others with long disemboweling wounds where the grizzly's razor-like claws had slashed their way. "There Nwas a last heave, the struggling strug-gling mass began to part, and the big grizzly, one . mass of. blood and dirt and wounds, struggled to her feet, disposed of two or three of the more pertinacious of her enemies by slashing slash-ing blows with her front paws, and for the second time in the fight was free. "At first I thought the fight was i over and that the grizzly had done a thing absolutely unheard of in hunting hunt-ing annals gone against a drove of peccaries and come out alive. More than half the -drove had fallen and of those left alive many were torn and bleeding. Peccaries have the reputation reputa-tion of never giving up a fight while one of the drove is alive, but these particular pigs acted as if they had had enough for one day. If the old iiear had not been weakened by - loss of blood she would have won out, but she seemed to be bleeding from fifty places. One of her eyes was gone, her nose was ripped open, and altogether she had been fearfully punished. "Old hunters say that it seems as if an angry grizzly, will fight after it is dead, and this bear had been in a State Of frerizv sin-- chu Kmplltwl thp bits of fur which had once been her 1 cubs. The peccaries were apparently (doubtful w-hether to begin the fight, but the grizzly settled the matter by making a charge on the drove. Whatever What-ever hesitation the peccaries may have had about commencing hostilities, they were willing to light if the bear wanted to. Both sides went it as if fresh The grizzly had a little the better of the charge, crushing the peccaries beneath be-neath her paws, and trying hard to fight her way through the drove. They i piled on her, however, and forced her down. Over on her back rolled the I grizzly every ounce fighting desper-i desper-i ately; again she swept herself clear of j her enemies and ro-e to her feet. I couid see that her oilier eye had b'en torn out ,in the last struggle, but, blinded and staggering, the old bear was still eager to further avenge her cubs. An old tusker of a peccary charged and was caught by the big paws while the-Minded bear tore at his entrails with her teeth. Then the drove came, in for the last charge, and still striking and biting., the grizzly was overborne. The tusks and teeth of the peccaries tore her on all sides as she went down. The grizzly made one last effort, swept a paw around, throwing a' dying peccary cutskl-i the circle of her foes, and then rolled over on her side dead. In less than five minutes the peccaries had torn "the fierce old bear as completely to pieces as they had the f.-.:bs. "It was a dearly bought victory. After the drove had gone I counted the bodies of oyer fifty peccaries on the ground. The trials of blood showed others had suffered severely. The cubs had killed two. The others were mementoes me-mentoes of the mother grizzly's vengeance. ven-geance. "My sympathies had been with the. old bear, but after all the fight had turned out the way she would have best liked. Her cubs dead the mother bear did not care to live. And she di-xl in a manner which must have satisfied her grim old soul with the bodies of her enemies piled around her and biting hard and deep even in death." EDWIN J. WEBSTER. m za- |