OCR Text |
Show FIGHT TO THE DEATH DULL AND OrilZZLY MEET IN COMDAT. Kafir. ad Wolves lla.e a llonl Woo. ilerfal Kndnraaeo and Appalling r eoalty Shown by Iho Madd.nad Anl aaola A Sc.na of Horror. "Some years ago. as agent of a big Arm of cattle speculators," said n prominent prom-inent traveler to the writer, "I spent a good deal of time In the great northwest. north-west. One dty, while fishing, I taw a small herd ot wild cattle ttandlng oft to my right Among them was a young bull, a splendid sperln n of hit kind, who came towards me I can't tay exactly how It was done, but It wasn't many seconds before I found myself In a cottonwood tree, out ot rtaeh of the bull, who was Immediately Immediate-ly under the tree, pawing dirt and acting act-ing at If very mad, The bull pawed and grumbled a few minutes and then with blood for many feet around Doth anlmala were grlevoutly wounded. It waa plain that neither could hold out much longer Maimed and gory, they fought with the certainty of death, the bear rolling oirr and over In the dust, vainly trying to avoid the fatal hornt of hit adreratary, and the bull ripping, thrusting and tearing the grlttly with IrriMlstlble ferocity. At last, at if he determined tit end the conflict, the bull drew back, lowered hit head and made a third terrific charge; but, blinded blind-ed by the streams ot blood that poured down hit face, he misted hit mark, stumbled and rolled headlong on the ground. In epltr ot frightful Injuries and great eihatistlon, the bear turned quickly and tprang upon hit prostrate foe He seemed to havs been auddenly Invigorated by this turn ot the battls In hit favor. With merciless sweeps of hit huge claws he tore the flesh In great masses from the bull's upturned side "The bull and the bear rolled over and over Nothing win now to bo teen but a heaving, gory mats, dimly per- A FEARFUL FIC1IIT, turned and walked toward tho thicket, on the creek aide of which there was a water hole. I taw him push his way Into the thicket, and Iho next Instant I could tee that he had got Into troublt of aome kind, and that trouble proved to be a grlttly bear. A fierce atiugglt followed In the thicket. Scarcely two minutes elapsed before tho bull broki through the bushes. Ills head- was covered with blood and great flakes ot flesh hunr from hi fore ahouldera. Hut Instead of showing any signs of defeat, he seemed literally to glow with defiant rage. Instinct had simply prompted him In his retreat to srek an open space, Hut acarrely had I time to note all this, when the bear, a huge, repulsive looking brute, broke through the bushes Into the opening When the bear made his appearance out of the thicket the bull did not wait tor his charge, but, loaerlng his great head to the ground, rushed many upon the near. The latter seemed to appreciate the abilities of the bull, and summoned all the wariness ot his nature to hit aid. He waited until the bull was almost al-most upon him. and then tprang aside with marvelous quickness, selicd hit astallant'a horns In his powerful grasp and pressed the bull's burnt don against the ground by hit great atrength and the weight of hit enormous enor-mous body, biting tha bull's nose and tearing the flesh from bit check and shoulOra with his lone, sharn claws. Presently both anlmala paused In their desperate struggle, but the bear did not relax the hold ho had obtained on the bull The ceatatlon In the struggle bad probably been of ten minutes duration dura-tion when suddenly the bull made one deaperate lunge, brolo the embrace of the grlttly, hurled the bear from oft hit head and backed away tome ttn paces. The bear lifted hit huge head and stood ready fur the next assault The herd ot rattle had by thla Unit gathered In from the plain and surrounded sur-rounded the combatants, mooing and bellowing and pawing up the ground, and maintaining a terrified neutrality The bull did not remain at rest a moment mo-ment after backing away for a new charge, but, rendered furlout by hit woundt, be gathered all hla energlet and, with a resounding bellow, rushed with Impetuous force end ferocity upon tho bear. The latter attempted to use the tactics that had served him so well at the first ontlaugbt, but the tecond charge of the bull waa Irresistible, In plte of the bear's terrific blow with hla pawa, and the grlixly went down In the dust before hit crated antagonltt and vainly tried to defend himself The bull thrust hit horna under the bear caught him In the belly with one ot the harp weapons, and with one furlout twecp of hla head ripped a great gash In the grltzly'a under side The grlxxly rote to hla feet, and with n howl doted with his foe, and for a long time tht two fought. "While the tight was going on two eaglet appeared from some mysterious eerie and tailed and circled above the tceno of the confllct.leliurely and gradually grad-ually dropping nearer to the earth. Almost Al-most simultaneously with the appearance appear-ance of the eaglet I taw the headt ot half a dozen hungry wolvea emerge from the buthea where the fight had begun, I knew that the battle must loon end "The desperate struggle continued The ground was torn up and covered ceptlble through tho dust As to weight, the two fierce and determined brutea mutt have been about equally matched The unfortunate reault ot the bull's last charge on the grizzly Indicated In-dicated that the lalter's qualities would In a few minutes more settle the fight tgalntt the bull and I waa In momentary momen-tary expectation ot aeelng such a termination, ter-mination, when, to my astonishment, I taw the bear relax bit efforts, roll river rom the body of his prostrate foe and drag himself feebly away from the rpot. The grizzly had no sooner abandoned aban-doned hla attack on the bull than the latter wai on hi feet, bearing himself as erect and as fierce at ever. "diving hla head a ahake, he lowered It for the fourth time, and again charged, charg-ed, At the bull hurled himself against the grlxxly fir, latter braced himself for a latt detperate atruggle. He struck out wildly with his pawa and the bul fell back with the force of the grlxxly's blowa. The bear tank to the ground writhing In agony. The Indomitable courage ot the bull here prevailed Illlnded and "-tippled na he was, he dathed v 'Id rat hla foe again. With a latt frantic effort the bear sought to make hit escape, scumbling and staggering stag-gering through the dust, nut It waa useless. Ills great atrength was gone. The bull plunged his horns again and gain Into the huge form of the dying brute aa ha lay atretched helplesi In the dust. The bear's muscles qulv- THE IIUM.'S TRIUMPH. red and contracted. Ho drew bis Immense Im-mense paws up onco or twice In con-"U'tlve con-"U'tlve clutches, raised his huge head, Mo one agonizing groan and fell back dead. The victorious bull raited hie 6d, gave volco to a deep bellow and, making hla head triumphantly, turned and walked away. "Ills progress waa tlow and ralnful nd he ttopped and turned at thort Interval! In-terval! and listened as If to know nlher his foe would renew the battle. bat-tle. Ho walked nearly n hundred yardt with the herd gathering and bet-lowing bet-lowing shout him Presently hl head dropped from Its proud position. lit spread hit legs apart aa It to brao himself him-self against the weaknevi that was telling upon him. Suddenly ho fell at If he had been thot, a mangled, bleeding bleed-ing man, and wai loon dead. When I climbed out of the tree to leave the tcene of that terrific comba'. the herd ot cattle had disappeared on the plain and the eaglet and tho wolves were aereechlng, snarling and fighting over the mangled carcassea of the bull and the bear." |