Dapple Gray

CHAPTER 2AFTER Bob Martin’s narrow escape from the Black Grizzly, each cattleman became extremely alert whenever he was riding alone and came near a spot where the grizzly could be hiding. The bear reminded the men of a wild stallion who, some years back, had been known to stand in hiding, rush out at a strange horse, and destroy him with teeth and flailing hoofs. Finally he attacked a mounted man. That was the end of the wild stallion, for the man, fortunately, was able to kill him with his .45 Colt revolver. Dan and his riders knew now that they had a wild enemy even more dangerous than the stallion. Several days passed in which none of the men caught sight of the grizzly. Neither did they see any evidence of his kills among the cattle or the colts. While they were in the wild, lonely range country, they sometimes rode two together, but often they went singly so that more ground could be covered. These experienced men, equipped with good rifles, felt capable of taking care of themselves. However, Dan had made it plain to all, and especially to young Charley Pratt, that unusual care should be observed when any one of them was riding alone. “Stop and look close and be sure,” he said, “whenever you come to a dangerous spot.” Dan and the men knew the Black Grizzly was not only unusual among his kind in having become a flesh eater, but even more unusual in his readiness to attack a solitary man on a horse. From now on, when each rider set forth in the morning on the vast range country, he was careful to see that his rifle was in perfect working order. There was a great desire on the part of each cowboy now to bring the killer down. Besides, they had a new incentive. John King, a big cattleman who owned the ranch north of Dan’s, heard of the grizzly’s attack on Bob and offered one thousand dollars to the man, or men, who might kill the Black Grizzly. This, together with Dan Harper’s offer of a thousand dollars made some time before, brought the reward to two thousand dollars. Charley Pratt, who at this time had the cowboy’s usual wage of forty dollars a month, opened his eyes in wonder when Dan rode in one evening and announced that John King had doubled the reward for the Black Grizzly. Charley also had his mind on the colt, Dapple Gray. He knew that if Dapple Gray could be caught, he would make a remarkably fine and beautiful riding horse. But each day, when Charley rode out, he wondered how Dapple could be captured while he was with his watchful mother, old Blue Streak. She ran like the wind and Dapple Gray ran right alongside. Sometimes he even ran ahead of her. Dan told Charley the task of catching Dapple Gray would be very hard unless it could be done in some unexpected manner when he was not aware of Charley’s presence. He said: “Sometime, if you happen to be hidden by a patch of brush and see Dapple and old Blue Streak grazing, you stay there and keep watching. If they graze toward your hiding place, you can rush out and maybe get a loop over Dapple’s head before he has a chance to get going.” Blue Streak had had several encounters with timber wolves during the winters when she had roamed with the wild horses. In the summer months she had also seen a number of grizzlies at a short distance. She sensed that they were dangerous enemies, but she had always seen them in the open and they had gone their way with no attempt to molest her or the other horses. It was about noon one day when Blue Streak, followed by Dapple Gray, stopped to graze on the rich green grass at the base of some foothills. Just ahead was a heavily wooded defile in the hills. A stiff wind was blowing from Blue Streak toward the woods so that she was not warned of any danger that might be lurking there. Some time before, the Black Grizzly had seen Blue Streak and Dapple Gray grazing peacefully as they came on slowly in the direction of the woods. Instantly the grizzly slipped into the woods unseen and there he waited, hoping for a chance to surprise one of the horses with his deadly attack. A grizzly’s first rush will carry him forward at a remarkable speed. But like a mountain lion, he has to come upon his quarry unexpectedly or it has a good chance to escape. This is especially true of any animal as swift as a horse. The grizzly, dangerous fighter that he is, does his best in a small space of ground where he can administer blows with his mighty forepaws and deadly cutting claws. The Black Grizzly had one handicap in rushing for his intended victims. This was the peculiar deformed hind foot that turned outward. Men who had seen him from a distance running for a hiding place when suddenly alarmed, had observed this. Although he moved at a fair speed, one hip swayed downward each time the crooked foot touched the ground. But all the cattlemen knew that even with this handicap the grizzly was fast enough to make his first rush extremely dangerous. He had proved this when he rushed upon Bob Martin and his horse. The cowboys were aware, however, that a grizzly bear, unlike a timber wolf, is at a disadvantage in a running fight. The Black Grizzly knew this as well as they did, and that is why it was his habit to take cover and then rush out with all his speed to attack his victim. During the night just passed he had struck down a heifer and eaten part of the carcass. Afterwards he had moved up into the woods in the ravine where he was now hiding in the deep cover. As he saw Blue Streak and Dapple Gray approaching, completely unaware of his presence, he moved noiselessly as a cat through the trees toward the grassland. He stopped just inside the woods behind a clump of bushes. There he stood with his head down a little, his savage dark eyes on the two horses. He watched as a coyote hidden behind a rock might watch the approach of an unwary chicken strayed away from its home. Just as the coyote expects to overtake his game with his first quick rush, the Black Grizzly expected to strike down Blue Streak or her colt when they got near enough. The wind still blew steadily toward the grizzly. Once he crouched to rush, but just then something made Blue Streak raise her head and look around as she chewed on a mouthful of lush green grass. Dapple Gray walked up near her and he, too, looked about as he chewed. He had learned that there was danger in the wild places and because he had never known the touch of a man’s hand, he was even more like the wild ones, as the ranchmen called the outlaw horses, than was old Blue Streak herself. It happened that at this moment Dan and Charley, who had ridden to the top of a ridge in the distance, were gazing at the countryside through their field glasses. Suddenly Charley said, “Look, Dan! There are Blue Streak and Dapple Gray!” Dan pointed his field glasses in the same direction as Charley’s and he also saw the two horses standing near each other with their heads up as if they were looking for something. Dan thought that Blue Streak might be on the watch for horsemen, because she knew they wanted to capture her. Charley and Dan had been using their field glasses in the hope of spying the Black Grizzly, for Dan had the killer much in mind these days. Charley knew, too, after Bob Martin’s narrow escape, that it was important to destroy the grizzly if they could. But the instant he saw Dapple Gray and his mother, Charley forgot about the grizzly. All he could think of was the sleek, beautiful yearling colt that he wanted so much to have for his own. Not far from where Blue Streak and Dapple were grazing, the mountains loomed high and dark, with tall pine forests on their slopes. The pine woods in the deep gorge that cut down through the foothills were especially dense and gloomy. Dan, mindful of the Black Grizzly, swept his field glasses along the mountain side, looking for a moving dark form. As Blue Streak and Dapple Gray came back into his vision, he and Charley both exclaimed aloud. They had seen the grizzly rush from the woods. Blue Streak was nearer than Dapple Gray, and the grizzly was almost upon her when she whirled. The grizzly raised a forepaw to strike just as Blue Streak lashed out with her hind hoofs. It was plain that she had struck the grizzly. Dan and Charley could see that he was knocked aside a little by the kick. At the instant she kicked, Blue Streak leaped away. The grizzly rushed hard after her, but his speed was no match for hers. After running less than a hundred yards, he stopped and gazed at the fleeing mare who had had the courage to fight him. Dapple Gray had leaped away at the first sight of the grizzly and had run out on the plain ahead of Blue Streak. At a safe distance she whirled and looked back at the enemy she had eluded. Dan and Charley saw her stamp a big hoof on the ground as she stood with her head high, watching the bear. Then Blue Streak turned, trotted up to Dapple Gray, looked at him, and started off at a trot. She stopped once, looked back again, and set off once more at a fast trot. Dapple Gray moved at a gallop to keep up with her. Dan and Charley both had their eyes fixed on the grizzly now. They hoped he might come on across the plain in their direction, where there were many clumps of brush he might use for cover. All at once they saw the huge beast run forward to a clump of bushes. Suddenly he stopped and stood up on his hind legs to look in the distance where Blue Streak and Dapple Gray were disappearing. There was a low place in the ridge where Dan and Charley sat on their horses, but the grizzly made no sign that he knew of their presence. Over toward the west, Dan and Charley heard the faint bawling of a cow. The sound ceased, then rose again. The grizzly seemed to have heard the cow, too. He dropped down and they saw him moving at a rapid pace on the far side of the bushes toward the west. At times he was completely hidden. Then for a moment they would see his form until he disappeared again among the trees or tall thickets on the lowland. They caught sight of him again when he crossed a space of open ground before he disappeared on the other side of more tall bushes. When he appeared again in the open, they saw he was going at a fast pace toward the river, which flowed down from the west. Once more Dan and Charley heard the bawling of the cow somewhere up on the river valley. Dan said: “That beast is headed toward the river where there’s likely some cows with their calves. Let’s try to keep out of sight and ride up in that direction.” The lay of the land ahead was familiar to Dan and Charley. They turned their horses and rode down to a long sandy draw in the grassland, bordered here and there by willow trees. A stream flowed through the draw. Since Dan and Charley doubted that the Black Grizzly had seen them, they thought they might see him again in the direction from which the sounds of the cow’s bawling had come. At least they had seen him going in that direction. Because they wished to keep out of sight, they kept to the low ground behind the ridges and it took them some time to reach the vicinity where they expected to find the cow. They did not hear her again, but they were not much concerned about her, because they knew her lament did not necessarily mean she had come to any harm. Sometimes a cow lost a young calf by some accident and for two or three days afterwards she might bawl simply because she was lonely without it. At last Dan and Charley came out on the broad lowland, where not far off they saw the river bordered with willows and cottonwood trees. There were no cows in sight. They rode on up to the sloping river bank at a point where there was an open space of several rods between the trees. As they came up, both Dan and Charley uttered exclamations of surprise at what they saw lying below on the sand near the river’s edge. Their horses snorted, stared with wild eyes, and wheeled about in an attempt to run back. They had got the strong smell of a grizzly and, like most horses, they were terrified by it. Dan and Charley dismounted and tied the frightened horses securely to a willow tree. Taking their rifles, the men walked down the sloping bank and stopped at the edge of the sand. Just beyond them, so close that they could touch her with the end of a rifle, was the cow, with her fore parts mired down in the dangerous quicksand that lay here and there along the river. Only the head of her dead calf protruded above the quicksand. The cow was dead too, her head down, one long horn buried in the quicksand, her whole side fearfully torn. The tracks of the Black Grizzly with the deformed foot were plain on the sand beside the river, but he had not gotten into the quicksand. Dan and Charley knew what had happened as well as if they had seen it. The calf had run ahead of the cow to the stream, had rushed out and been caught in the deadly quicksand. The old cow, when she saw the plight of her calf, had stayed back at first and bawled in her anxiety, but at last, becoming frantic, she had drawn too near and had also become mired. For a long time she had bawled in her helplessness. After his attack on Blue Streak and Dapple Gray, the grizzly had heard the bawling of the cow and, directed by the sound, had at once made for the place where she was caught. The hind parts of the cow were near enough solid ground so that the grizzly had had no difficulty in keeping on firm footing himself while he delivered the blows that put an end to her. Dan and Charley, on foot, rifles in hand, followed the grizzly’s trail along the stream to the spot where he had left it. The print of the crooked foot showed plainly. The grizzly had gone some distance on the firm sand along the stream. Then he had turned off directly to the south toward the woods on this side of the river. The men stood and looked at the dismal scene for some time. The grassland and the dark woods a short distance beyond lay in deep silence. A lone hawk circled over the trees, dipped lower over the grassland, and once flew so low he seemed almost to skim the tops of the grass blades. He soared up, circled once more above the trees, and flew away.