Grizzly Killer: Under The Blood Moon

by Lane R Warenski

  It wasn’t long and he felt Shining Star reach her arm around his neck and pulled his face down to hers. They kissed a long and passionate kiss then she slid out from under the robes and he watched her in the early morning light as she slipped on her dress, put a few sticks on the coals and blew life into the small fire to take the chill off. She then opened the flap and she and Jimbo stepped out into the gray light of a cloud covered morning sky.

  He looked down at Sun Flower and those beautiful dark eyes where smiling up at him. They made love in the warmth of their teepee then dressed and stepped out into the damp morning air. Running Wolf was checking all the horses, Raven Wing and Shining Star had a fire going and coffee on. Sun Flower with a smile for Shining Star and her sister started right in making biscuits. Zach looked at the sky and although it was still covered with heavy clouds they were not threatening rain for now. He walked out in the meadow and Ol’ Red came right up to him, he stroked the big mule’s neck as he talked to him and Ol’ Red responded by rubbing his muzzle into Zach’s hand. The rest and food had been needed by them all.

  Running Wolf jumped up on his chestnut and with a wave he loped off toward the top of a hill that came down almost to the creek about a half mile below them. Zach and the women were sitting by the fire having coffee and waiting for the biscuits to finish cooking when Running Wolf came back. He told them from the top of the hill he could see far to the south and he figured if they followed this creek on down it looked like it runs into a much bigger canyon and from that bigger canyon they could head east to the Bear River once again. He thought that would be much easier traveling than going up over all these steep hills from here. It was decided that was the route they would take and they would leave tomorrow if the storm was over by then.

  They were finishing up the biscuits when Zach noticed the hair standing up down the center of Jimbo’s back. He was staring up at the ridge behind them. As he watched and listened he noticed Ol’ Red and all of the horses were staring up at the ridge as well and none of them were moving a muscle. There was a worried glance between Running Wolf and himself and as he stood up he told the women to get their weapons. He and Running Wolf grabbed their rifles, threw their possibles bags over their shoulders and with Jimbo leading the way they headed up the ridge.

  A Jealous Mule

  They spread out about fifty yards apart and he softly whistled keeping Jimbo in fairly close as they started toward the top of the ridge behind them. Zach was watching for anything that might be out of place as he carefully placed each step making sure he was moving silently through the brush and trees. He and Running Wolf were keeping track of each other as well making sure they didn’t get too far apart. They had gone nearly two miles and were nearing the edge of the trees not far from where Zach had cooked the rabbit Jimbo caught for him two nights ago. Jimbo dropped to his belly and started with his low growl coming from way down in his throat.

  Zach froze, then held a clenched fist up to let Running Wolf know to stop. He listened and strained his eyes trying to see anything out of place through the trees ahead but he couldn’t see or hear a thing. The breeze shifted and a light rain started to fall again and the hair on Jimbo’s back lay back down and he slowly came off his belly to standing at full height again. Zach could see every muscle in his body was still tense as he slowly started forward again.

  They moved on with Zach and Running Wolf coming closer together when they approached a game trail just inside the tree line right close to the top of the ridge. The hair on Jimbo’s back was standing up again and with a couple more steps, Zach could see the huge tracks of the Grizzly that had attacked the Blackfeet two nights ago. He knew it had to be the same bear for these were the biggest bear tracks he had ever seen and he figured there couldn’t be two Grizzly’s that big in the same area.

  The tracks were coming from up over the pass following the trail through the woods and as Running Wolf came up to join him, he had an eerie feeling this bear was following him. Then he thought about the women and they turned and started back to camp just as fast as they could go. He sent Jimbo on ahead as he knew his big dog could reach camp much faster than he or Running Wolf could.

  They were only a half mile from camp when they heard the scream of a horse, then Jimbo’s snarls. The big dog was obviously in a vicious fight. They were running recklessly through the trees and brush trying to reach camp, but over the sounds of their own pounding feet and the brush tearing at their buckskins, they heard the bray and scream of Ol’ Red then the echoing sound of two rifles.

  Less than half a minute later the two of them broke through the last of the brush and rushed out into the open. The first thing he saw was his two wives reloading their rifles with Raven Wing standing beside them with bow still drawn pointing out into the meadow. He saw two horses down- one motionless and the other throwing its head around in obvious pain. Ol’ Red was standing near them and he could see from where he was the big mule was hurt. Jimbo was not in sight but they could still hear him barking in the trees on the other side of the meadow. The rest of their horses and other two pack mules were scattered all along the creek.

  They quickly ran to the women, Sun Flower had just finished reloading and Shining Star was tamping the ball against the powder. Raven Wing lowered her bow. She had a frightened look on her face and spoke in Shoshone instead of the English they usually spoke to one another saying, “Giant bear, big as a horse.”

  After he made sure the women were not hurt, just shook up, he ran out to the injured horses and Ol’ Red. One was dead lying there with his head twisted around with a broken neck. The other had his side ripped open and its guts were spilling out onto the ground. Zach quickly pulled the horse pistol from his belt and with a quick shot to the head put the poor animal out of its misery.Ol’ Red was standing there with his whole body shaking. There was a pool of blood forming on the ground running off his right front hoof. He had four deep cuts from his neck coming across his shoulder where the giant grizzly had swatted him. His eye’s had a wild look that Zach thought was almost a look of hatred. He turned and yelled back to the others to bring a blanket. In less than a minute, Running Wolf and the women were there with a blanket and as he was trying to stop the bleeding Jimbo came running up. He ran right to Red and lifted his head and touched the mule’s nose with his own then gave him a big lick across the nose. The look in Ol’ Reds eyes changed at once to a look of love as these two friends stared at each other sharing the kind of silent communication that only the two of them shared.

  They led Red back to the fire and with a little coaxing got him to lie down. These cuts were each a couple of inches deep and from the outside cut to the inside cut they were nearly a foot wide making the bears paw eight to ten inches across. It took almost all of the sinew that all of them had and a couple of hours of sewing to close up the four cuts and Red was getting quite impatient before they were finished.

  While Zach, Sun Flower and Shining Star were stitching up Ol’ Red, Running Wolf and Raven Wing went out and rounded up the rest of the horses and other two mules bringing them back up right near camp. When they were finished Ol’ Red got to his feet and let out a bray loud enough to echo through the canyon letting that bear know he was alright.

  Zach knew his big red mule wouldn’t be ready for the trail for at least a couple of days. The light rain had stopped and the sky appeared to be clearing and the day warming up. With the summer sun those two dead horses would be getting ripe mighty fast. So he and Running Wolf got the two pack mules and rigged a pulling harness on them. They spent until mid-afternoon pulling the dead horses to the other side of the meadow. They hoped if the bear came back he would be satisfied feeding on the horses. Neither of the women knew if their shots had hit the big bear but Zach had taught them both to shoot and he believed they would have hit what they were shooting at and he was concerned about having a wounded bear stalking them.

  They spent the rest of the day bringing in fire wood for they would take turns standing
watch for the next couple of nights, keeping a couple of fires going to discourage the bear from coming right into their camp.

  While Zach and Running Wolf were bringing in the wood the women put a haunch of the sheep on a spit over the fire and built a smoking rack for the rest of it. Meat does not keep in the heat of the summer but smoking helps it last much longer. There were big patches of wild plums growing along the creek and although the fruit wasn’t ripe the dead branches made very good smoke for the meat.

  That evening as they sat around the camp fire eating their supper the women told of the Grizzly’s attack. How the giant bear had broken the horse’s neck with one swipe of his giant paw then reached out as the other horse was running by and opened him up with another swipe. Then Ol’ Red charged right at the bear kicking him but he just couldn’t get out of the way fast enough when the bear spun around and swatted at him. Then Jimbo was there and jumped right up on the bear’s back biting the back of his neck and that is why Ol’ Red had survived. The bear then shook Jimbo from his back and that is when the women fired and the bear left running for the trees across the meadow.

  They set up a picket line for the horses and mules right close to the lodges and built another fire just out from camp, they took turns keeping the fires burning bright but the night passed quietly. After they turned the horses and mules out to graze for the day Zach checked on the dead horses across the meadow but they had not been touched. He hoped the bear had either left the area or had died from his wounds, but deep down he didn’t believe either was the case. Ol’ Red was favoring his right front leg as he grazed on the grass of the meadow with the others. Zach checked the stitches and all four of the cuts were closed and starting to scab over. But he knew it would take at least two more days, or maybe more before he would be fit to travel.

  They were down three pack animals now and Zach would have to ride one of the horses when they left to give Red more time to heal. It would make the travel slower with the others loaded heavy. They may even have to build a couple more travois’ now to carry all of their supplies.

  More meat was needed and this time Zach and Shining Star saddled two horses and with their rifles across their saddles started down the creek. They were moving slowly watching for any sign of the bear and they hadn’t gone far when they saw several deer bedded down in a stand of quakies just across the creek. They carefully slid from the horses and very slowly on foot got within easy rifle range. He waited for Shining Star to shoot and he fired just a split second later and they had two fat yearlings down.

  They had been gone only a couple of hours when they returned and the women went right to work skinning, then cutting up the two deer and getting it all on the smoking rack. After that they got the hides staked out for scraping. As evening approached they brought their stock to the picket line as they were going to keep the fires going all night again.

  This night passed quietly as well and the next morning after they turned the stock out to graze. Zach and Running Wolf crossed the meadow to the dead horses and found they still had not been touched. Zach took Jimbo and went out looking for any sign of the big Grizzly. They made a complete circle around camp at least a mile out all the way around but saw no sign of the bear. It appeared he had left the area but Zach still had the nagging feeling he was still out there just waiting for the right time.

  As they came off the hill he stopped and looked at their camp sitting on the edge of this meadow that the rain of two nights ago had really brought to life. He thought how nice a place this would have been to camp for a few days if they weren’t worried about this man-killing Grizzly. He thought back to the two men that had been with the Corps of Discovery that had stopped in Pottersville, the ones that he and his Pa had first heard from about this great western land. He remembered them telling of one Grizzly they shot ten times and still it chased them off a bluff into the river before it died. He wondered just where the giant Grizzly had gone and if they had the fire power to stop it when it if, and when, it came back. He caught himself thinking when it came back not if , and he realized he believed they would have to face it again.

  Two days later, they still had seen no sign of the bear but they had kept the fires going each night. Ol’ Red was walking now without much of a limp and they planned to move out the next day. There were a number of big horned sheep living on the ridge just west of them and they had taken another of them and smoked the meat for the trail.

  The next morning, they broke camp and loaded all the horses. A couple of the wilder ones needed a bit of coaxing. They were content to stay, graze and rest in this plush meadow each day. When Zach put the first heavy pannier on one bay she went to bucking and crow-hopping right through camp, busting up the drying rack that Raven Wing and Shining Star were still taking the smoked meat from. The pannier went flying and even Jimbo headed for cover to get away from those flying hooves. When the bay settled down, Running Wolf caught her and snubbed her tight to a tree so they could get her loaded and the packs tied down.

  It was a couple of hours after sun up when they started heading down Lost Creek toward what looked to be a very large canyon running mainly east and west. They had to stay up off the creek for the trees and brush got so thick they couldn’t make their way through it. With four of the horses now pulling travois’ and the others loaded heavy the going was slow. Jimbo was out in front scouting as usual and Ol’ Red was staying right by his master as they made their way southwest down the long canyon.

  They stopped to rest the horses every couple of hours and Zach figured by mid-afternoon they had traveled only six or seven miles. They stopped for the day a couple of hours before dark and he rode to the top of a small rise to get a better look on down the canyon. He figured they were about half way down to the bigger canyon where they would turn east heading back toward the Bear River, Black’s Fork and home.

  When he got back to the rest he sent Jimbo out to scout the area and helped unload the horses and mules. They hobbled them to let them graze but would bring them in to a picket line at dark. Jimbo was gone quite a while but when he returned he was wagging his tail and had a big black tailed jackrabbit in his mouth.

  They still built two camp fires and put their sleeping robes on the ground between them. Grizzly Killer still had the feeling the giant bear was around. They built up enough wood by each fire to last through the night and brought Ol’ Red and the chestnut right in close on one side while Jimbo curled up on the other. Grizzly Killer and Running Wolf took turns building up the fires every couple of hours throughout the night. They listened to coyote’s yipping all around them and a couple of hours before light a lobo wolf started howling his mournful song from the ridge top to the west.

  The night was clear, the dark of the moon had passed but there was only a sliver of the moon showing, not giving much light to the dark sky. As the sky started turning gray along the eastern horizon Zach heard Jimbo get up and leave on his morning hunt. He hugged and kissed Sun Flower and Shining Star then slid out from under the robe. He went down to the creek, filled the coffee pot and when he got back Raven Wing had started making biscuits while Shining Star and Sun Flower were rolling up the robes. Running Wolf was taking the horses down to water so Zach set the coffee pot on a bed of hot coals and went over to help him water all the stock.

  The sun was just coming up as they were loading the packs on the horses and then saddled the riding stock. When Zach started to saddle the roan he had been riding, Ol’ Red came up and bit the roan horse hard to get him out of the way then stood there waiting to be saddled. Zach stopped and stroked the big mule’s neck and softly talked to him, telling him he needed a couple of more days to let his wounds heal. When he finally got his saddle on the roan, Ol’ Red had a look of sadness and disappointment in his eyes. As they started following the creek south again this morning, instead of being by his side like yesterday Ol’ Red was bringing up the rear of the pack train. Zach tried to call the big mule up to him but Ol’ Red just ignored his efforts. Wh
en they stopped at mid-morning to rest the stock Zach went back to his mule but Ol’ Red turned and walked away from him.

  It was late afternoon and they were only a mile or so from where Lost Creek emptied into what they could tell was a much larger river. Judging the distance and direction they had traveled he figured this must be what General Ashley’s men had called Weber’s River after their brigade leader John Henry Weber.

  This canyon that Lost Creek ran through opened up to be over a half mile wide at the bottom then narrowed down again as it dropped into the canyon of Weber’s River. They camped along the creek where the canyon narrowed again. Just as they got all the packs off the horses and mules and unsaddled the riding stock, Ol’ Red went right after the roan Zach had been riding. They were kicking and squealing and it took both Zach and Running Wolf to get the fight stopped. As bad as he hated to, he tied the two of them on opposite sides of camp giving them just enough rope so they could graze some through the night. He had never considered that a mule or horse could get jealous. But it seemed that Ol’ Red was just that.

  Sun Flower went to the creek for water and froze as she looked at fresh tracks of several ponies going down the creek and over the top of them was the track of the giant bear.

  The Hunters

  Zach left Running Wolf with the women and followed the tracks on foot. All of his senses were on high alert. He moved carefully and quietly through where the canyon narrowed for maybe a long quarter mile following the tracks to where the bear got in the creek then headed up on the ridge to the east. The ridge was rocky and although the bear probably weighed near a thousand pounds his tracks just disappeared in the rocks and brush. He wished Jimbo was with him to follow the trail but he had left his dog in camp to help protect the women if the bear decided to attack their camp again.