For a moment the old she tried to bluster
and made a half-hearted threat of charging; but her courage failed
before the rapid onslaught of her yelling, rope-swinging assailants; and
she took to her heels and galloped off, leaving the cubs to shift for
themselves. The cowboys were close behind, however, and after half
a mile's run she bolted into a shallow cave or hole in the side of a
butte, where she stayed cowering and growling, until one of the men
leaped off his horse, ran up to the edge of the hole, and killed her
with a single bullet from his revolver, fired so close that the powder
burned her hair. The unfortunate cubs were roped, and then so dragged
about that they were speedily killed instead of being brought alive to
camp, as ought to have been done.
In the cases mentioned above the grisly attacked only after having been
itself assailed, or because it feared an assault, for itself or for its
young. In the old days, however, it may almost be said that a grisly
was more apt to attack than to flee.
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