Canadian Transport Sourcebook

Chapter XVIII

The Lost Dog and a Bear Hunt

Upon one occasion during my explorations, I had a curious adventure with a strange dog.

I was often alone, riding ahead of the line (we were several hundred miles West of nowhere) and this day, right ahead of me, I spotted a good sized dog, also alone. He had his nose to the ground and seemed to be intent upon scenting some North and South trail. He was some sort of mongrel, but quite a decent looking dog. As I rode up he wagged his bushy tail and fraternized with my horse in quite a friendly manner.

I knew there was not a single living human being within a radius of a hundred miles or so from where I encountered that lonely looking dog. I rode on and he followed me and seemed delighted at his discovery. When I returned to my main camp he proceeded to make himself very much at home and after I had fed him, curled himself up comfortably at the foot of my bed. Some of the men tried to pet him, but in vain, he would have none of it, in fact resented their friendly attentions with a growl. He took no notice of anybody but myself, and followed me day after day.

One day, while exploring the shores of "Old Wives' Lake," accompanied as usual by my faithful unknown canine friend, I sighted a herd of antelope in the near distance. I had always believed that no dog ever known could catch an antelope, but nevertheless I decided to try the unknown wanderer. I dismounted and getting hold of him between my knees tried hard to point his muzzle in the direction of the grazing herd, but instead of joyfully pursuing and catching them as I fondly hoped, to prove or break the theory, he refused to look in their direction and did nothing but whine and try to lick my face.

I was disgusted with his want of sporting instincts and cursed him for a base-born mongrel, but at last, after pointing his nose towards the unsuspecting antelope, I gave him a swift kick, at which he disappeared like an arrow shot out of a bow pointing for those antelope. I mounted my old pony and leisurely followed the frightened herd, now being pursued by their strange enemy.

Within less than a mile I caught up with my friend. He was mounting guard over his victim, a fine buck antelope with a broken hind leg, a neat piece of work, thereby disposing of the theory that a dog could not catch an antelope.

I soon despatched the poor animal and we had antelope steak for breakfast next morning. A week or so after this event, while riding ahead as usual, followed by my unknown friend, I noticed that he seemed to be much troubled in his mind about something, continually sniffing and looking about him, while running ahead of me. Suddenly he stopped dead, then, with his nose to the ground, gazed for a minute due North and with his tail up and ears laid back trotted off in that direction.

I whistled and shouted in vain. He never even looked round and disappeared into space as mysteriously as he had arrived.

"Where he goes or how he fares

Nobody knows and nobody cares."

The dread monotony of survey life was occasionally relieved by the unexpected. One day when riding alone ahead of the transport, I sighted an object which at first I mistook for a harmless domestic cow, but of course, upon reflection, I realized that this was impossible, as we were not near civilization of any sort.

I soon discovered by the snort of my little "cayuse" that the object in front of us was a large-sized black bear. This gentleman seemed to be amusing himself by going round and round in a circle, and before he had noticed my approach, I turned about and retreated towards the head of the transport cavalcade now approaching. It did not take me long to gallop back and stop that noisy procession.

I took my finest revolver and two reliable half-breeds, one armed with a shot gun and the other with a puny little pistol that he fancied, and the three of us started ahead in pursuit of Bruin, well mounted and eager for the fray.

We found the gentleman still revolving, until he sighted us, when he decided to escape. I had no idea that a bear could run so quickly. The enormous leaps he made were wonderful and it was all we could do with our ponies to keep up with him. I emptied my revolver at close quarters, the others did likewise, but still the animal plunged ahead across the open prairie apparently unhurt, until he struck a poplar bluff, or small thicket, which we of course surrounded. This gave us and our horses a breathing space, until our friend suddenly appeared again and headed far across the prairie to another small patch of poplar. Here we rested for a few minutes, thinking he was not hurt and would soon come out and resume his wild career, but as he did not reappear I went into the little clump of trees on foot, and following the blood-stains on the dried leaves soon discovered the gentleman, who had given us such good sport, in sad distress, standing on his hind legs with his back against a tree and with his mouth wide open.

It did not take long to despatch him, and signalling for my two half-breeds, we dragged out the carcass. Unfortunately, we did not reckon on the attitude of our horses, which had been left outside and were quietly grazing. If there is anything those horses are afraid of, it is a pig and a bear, so that when we arrived with our prize, two of our saddle-horses stampeded at once.

I had the luck to catch mine and rode back for a cart in which we transported Mr. Bruin, to the great glee of the grinning half-breeds. One of my officers pretended to be very fond of wild untamed meat, and so I was able to recommend a bear stake that night for dinner, but after being chased for over an hour, I fear that stake was not a success. I certainly did not touch it.

That animal took a lot of killing and when he was skinned, the fact was disclosed that he had been hit in about the dozen places, so that the hide was entirely ruined, for it was riddled with bullet holes. He was shot almost everywhere but that did not seem to stop his speed. He weighed over four hundred pounds.