CHAPTER XX
ROPING A BEAR
The round-up was drawing to its close. Most of the country to be riddenhad already been covered and, as Joe said, scraped of cattle as if theyhad gone over it with a fine-tooth comb. McIntyre was an excellentcow man, and besides keeping his men up to their work he himself hadcovered much ground and had satisfied himself that his crew had beenfaithful and thorough. Most of the cattle had been sent off in bunchesto their home ranges, and now only one day more of riding was to bedone, over a rolling country among the foothills of the low mountains.
On this last day, Jack, Donald, Vicente and Tulare Joe were coveringa stretch of country among the foothills. The ground was open, andso rolling that the riders could see one another only occasionally,yet still could keep track of one another's movements pretty well.Donald, who still occupied the position of pupil, though he had madegood progress, rode pretty close to Jack and was often within hailingdistance of him. There were not many cattle here, and only a few hadbeen gathered, which Donald was driving along, trying to keep up withthe other riders and yet not to hurry his cattle.
As Jack rode up toward the crest of a ridge rather higher than most ofthe hogbacks coming down from the hills, he looked off to the west andsaw something that made him rein in his horse. A rider, too far off tobe recognized, but whom he knew must be Vicente, was riding in a circleand at the same time signaling with his hat.
Jack knew, of course, that this was a call to him to come, and hestarted at once; on his way picking up Donald, whom he told to leavehis cattle and to come over to Vicente. Before they reached him, Joehad joined Vicente, and the two waited for Jack and Donald.
When the four had got together, Vicente motioned toward the ridgebefore them.
"Big bear over this hill; suppose we try catch him."
"Whoop!" cried Jack. "That will be more fun than a goat! But have wegot the ropes to tie him, if we do catch him?"
"I guess we can make out," said Joe. "Vicente and me have our macates,and if we can get him fairly stretched, they ought to do for his hindlegs and his mouth. If we can catch him close to some timber there'llbe no trouble to tie him up, but if we get him in the flat countrywhere there's nothing to tie him to, we're liable to kill him. I'veheard how they used to catch bears in California, but I never saw itdone myself, though I've heard the story over and over again. MaybeVicente has seen it done. How's that, Vicente?"
"Yes," grinned Vicente, "in my country, sometimes they catch itbear--make him fight bull. Suppose we had big rawhide here; no troubleto catch it bear and take him to camp."
"You two fellows will have to tell Donald and me what to do," saidJack. "We are green at this sort of thing; but if you will tell us, wewill do the best we can--eh, Donald?"
The young Englishman's eyes snapped as he nodded.
"Well," decided Joe, "I reckon the best thing to do is to charge thebear together. I think that Vicente has the best horse and will get tohim first. Then, if he can catch him by the neck, I'll try to pick upone or both of his hind feet, and then you two fellows will have to dothe rest. The main thing, of course, is to keep him from getting one ofthe ropes in his mouth, for if he does that he'll just naturally chewit off and we'll be short a man."
"But," asked Donald, "will these horses go up so close to a bear thatyou can rope it?"
"I know that Vicente's will," answered Joe; "Vicente makes his horsesgo wherever he wants them to; and I expect that my horse will be allright, and so will Jack's. I don't know about yours, Donald. Guessit will depend a great deal on its rider. Now before we get ready tocharge the bear, we must tighten our saddles, and see that everythingis in good shape; we don't want to have a saddle slip after we get ourropes on the bear. Might be kind of unhandy for a man to be left afootthere."
The boys dismounted, loosened their cinches, pulled forward theblankets, tightened the cinches again, saw to it that their ropes werewell arranged, and then everything was ready. Vicente turned his horseand rode toward the ridge, and the others followed a little behind him.
Presently Vicente took off his hat, checked his horse and, letting itgo forward only a step or two at a time, scanned the country beforehim. After a few moments it was evident that he saw something. He bentlow and backed his horse down the slope, rode a few hundred yardsnearer to the higher hills on the right and then stopped.
"Bear pretty close now; just over ridge."
He started on a gallop toward the crest of the hill; the othersfollowed only a little behind him; and in a moment all of them weresweeping down the gentle slope toward a great brown animal, which fora moment stood on its hind legs looking at them. Almost at once itdropped on all fours and raced off at great speed across the flat andtoward another ridge on which grew a few gnarled and stunted cedars.
The horses were now going at their best gait, down the slope, acrossthe dry wash near which the bear had been standing, and over thelevel flat on the other side. Vicente's horse had put on a burst ofspeed that astonished the other boys. It was rapidly overhauling thebear, and by the time it had gone about three-quarters of the way upon the opposite slope Vicente was swinging his rope. In a moment hethrew forward his hand and, checking his horse, the bear turned asomersault and struck the ground with a sound heard by all of them. Fora moment the animal lay still, apparently stunned by the shock, andthen, springing to its feet, it charged furiously down the hill towardVicente, whose horse still stood there motionless. Jack saw Vicentecoolly shortening the rope, and then the little horse made a sidewiserush and again the bear flew head over heels. At that moment Tulare Joecaught the hind feet; and the bear, notwithstanding its great strength,was fairly stretched out between the two little horses, which werealmost sitting down on the ground in their resistance to the pull ofthe two ropes.
There was little time for observation. Quick action was needed now;action which would render the bear powerless and would enable Vicenteto free the rope which was about the bear's neck and would soon chokeit to death.
"Try to catch the right fore leg, and I'll catch the left!" Jack calledto Donald; and riding close to the bear he caught the left foot, andbacking his horse away put a heavy pull on it. Donald had failedto catch the bear's right fore foot, and was slowly recovering hisrope. He looked as if he did not know what to do. Meanwhile, the bearwas throwing its right fore leg up over its head and hooking it inVicente's rope in the effort to free its head, and Jack feared lest thelong claws might cut the rope or fray it so that it would break. If thebear's head and one fore leg were free, it would be a difficult matterto hold it, for it would readily cut the rope that held the left foreleg. Vicente recognized this danger before any one, and every time thebear hooked its right leg over the rope, Vicente slacked up a little,so that the bear's leg and foot slipped off the rope, and as soon asthis happened Vicente quickly backed his horse away, until the rope wastaut again.
Seeing to it that his own rope was securely fastened to hissaddle-horn, Jack tumbled off his horse, and ran swiftly around by thebear's head, jumped over Vicente's rope and came to the bear's rightside. He had beckoned to Donald, who rode up close to him. Seizingthe loop of Donald's rope, he waited until the bear's foot was free,threw a small loop over it and told Donald to make the rope fast tothe saddle-horn and back away strongly. Donald was riding a good cowhorse, but it was evidently afraid of a bear and objected strongly tocoming close to this one. However, its rider at last drove it up closeenough to get his hands on the rope, and when the horse found that itwas holding something, it seemed to gain confidence. Though snortingand uneasy, with pricked ears, it nevertheless remained quite still andheld the right fore leg so that the bear could not move it.
"There!" cried Jack, "I guess we have got him!"
All this had been done in a very short time. While it was happening,Tulare Joe had left his horse and run around to the bear's head, andnow with Jack's assistance he made a sort of hackamore of his macateand, binding the loose ends f
irmly around the bear's jaws, turned toVicente and threw up his hand. Vicente at once slacked up on his ropeand Joe loosened it. It had cut deep into the bear's neck.
For a moment or two the bear lay motionless. Donald supposed it wasdead until Joe, stepping around to one side, pressed his foot heavilyon the animal's chest close behind the outstretched fore leg andthe air from the lungs came whistling through the bear's mouth andnostrils. A moment later the animal gasped for breath, and after two orthree intervals began to breathe regularly, and then to struggle. Itthrew its head violently from side to side, and its little eyes snappedwith fury, while it uttered muffled grunts and groans. The boys stoodnear its head watching its efforts to free itself from the ropes. Itcould move only its head which it threw from side to side and up anddown, beating it against the ground in its impotent efforts.
"Hadn't we better get on our horses?" suggested Donald. "Suppose one ofthese ropes breaks, or a horse yields a little."
"No danger," said Joe; "the ropes and the horses are all right."
Vicente sat on his horse looking down at the bear.
"Pretty soon he goin' die."
"Why will he die?" asked Jack. "What's going to kill him?"
"He get pretty mad," answered Vicente. "So mad can't live any longer.You see."
The words were scarcely out of Vicente's mouth, when the bear gave agreat bawl and then lay still, except for a few convulsive quivers.As Vicente had foretold, he had died of rage. The boys watched himclosely, and gradually they saw his eyes grow dull.
"Well," said Jack, "I'm sorry that the old fellow died. It seems as ifit would have been better for him to have been killed by a bullet thanto die in this way."
"Yes," responded Donald, "it does seem sort of an ignominious deathto be caught and stretched out on the prairie like this, perfectlyhelpless. On the other hand, if he had ever gotten a wipe at one of ourhorses with those paws of his, I am afraid that there would not havebeen much left of the horse."
"We may as well get our ropes back again," said Joe, "and go aheadabout our business. Do you boys want to take off the hide? It'll make apretty good robe for one of you."
"I should like very much to have it, if nobody else wants it," saidDonald. "How do you feel about it, Jack?"
"Why," replied Jack, "if you want it, you had better have it, and Joeand me here will help you take the hide off. It's no joke to skin abear. It takes a long time and is hard work, and you get covered withgrease while you're doing it. However, we may as well pitch in and getit out of the way."
"Well," drawled Vicente; "me, I goin' off to look for cattle; when youget ready, suppose you come along."
"All right," answered Jack. "It won't take us very long. We will putthe hide on Donald's horse, and then Joe and I will hurry on to catchup with you."
Nevertheless, it was nearly an hour before the hide was freed from thecarcass and done up in as compact a bundle as possible; and then tenor fifteen minutes more had to be devoted to the work of getting iton Donald's horse, for the animal wholly objected to the smell of theload. At last, however, the work was completed and Donald mounted; butno sooner had the blind been lifted from the horse's eyes than it beganto pitch, and so furiously and long that the boys feared that Donaldmight be thrown and hurt. They threw their ropes over the horse's head,and called to Donald to dismount. He did not greatly care to do this,but finally did so, and the boys advised him to turn about and go home,leading his horse at least for a mile or two before attempting to mountit. They would go on and finish their circle, and would then comearound to the camp.
Before he began his walk to camp Donald saw the other boys mount theirhorses and ride off over the hills. As soon as he started, his horsebegan to make trouble for him. It began by bucking hard at the end ofthe rope, and Donald was somewhat uneasy lest either the strings whichbound the hide on the horse's back should stretch, or come loose, orelse the saddle should shift. In this case he would lose his hide,for once on the ground it was not likely that one man could tie it onthe horse again. Fortunately, everything held, for Tulare Joe beforeleaving him had carefully gone over all the fastenings. Even after thehorse had ceased bucking, it was very uneasy, looking back at its loadand trying to bolt, or occasionally swerving from side to side anddragging Donald about on the end of the rope. He had not had sufficientexperience with a rope to understand how to hold a horse effectively,and sometimes he was dragged along, with arms outstretched, for anumber of yards over the prairie, before the horse yielded to the pullof the rope. A man of greater experience would readily have stoppedthe horse in a number of its rushes by throwing his right hand behindhis hip and then leaning back against the rope, but Donald had notyet learned how to do this and during his long walk back to camp hesuffered much discomfort because of his lack of knowledge.
Two or three times he thought that he would mount his horse; but eachtime the beast threatened trouble, so that Donald feared he might losehis bear skin off the saddle; and now, since he had worked so hard tosave it, he was determined that he would take no risks about it. Itoccurred to him also that if his horse should get away from him andshould run to camp and in among the c?vaya, the loose horses would becertain to stampede, and might be scattered far over the prairie. Itseemed better to walk the whole way than to take a risk such as this.
So he kept walking; and it was a hot, dirty and weary young Englishmanwho at length reached the camp. He tied his rope short to a wagon wheeland took the bear skin from his horse, and then unsaddled and turnedloose the animal.
It was some hours later when Vicente, Jack and Tulare Joe reached campwith a small bunch of cattle.
Jack the Young Cowboy: An Eastern Boy's Experiance on a Western Round-up Page 22