the bull to pieces. But he did not go. The noise, the uproar, the
strangeness of the crowd affected him so that he decided to stay where
he was, and the bull-backers raised a derisive cry. Their champion
came forward bellowing and sniffing, pausing often to paw the dust. He
held his head very high and approached slowly until he came within ten
feet of the Grizzly's den; then, giving a snort, he turned and ran to
the other end of the corral. Now it was the Bear-backers' turn to
shout.

But the crowd wanted a fight, and Faco, forgetful of his debt to
Grizzly Jack, dropped a bundle of Fourth of July crackers into the
hogshead by way of the bung. "Crack!" and Jack jumped up.
"Fizz--crack--c-r-r-r-a-a-c-k, cr-k-crk-ck!" and Jack in surprise
rushed from his den into the arena. The bull was standing in a
magnificent attitude there in the middle, but when he saw the Bear
spring toward him, he gave two mighty snorts and retreated as far as
he could, amid cheers and hisses.

Perhaps the two main characteristics of the Grizzly are the quickness
with which he makes a plan and the vigor with which he follows it up.
Before the bull had reached the far side of the corral Jack seemed to
know the wisest of courses. His pig-like eyes swept the fence in a
flash--took in the most climbable part, a place where a cross-piece
was nailed on in the middle. In three seconds he was there, in two
seconds he was over, and in one second he dashed through the running,
scattering mob and was making for the hills as fast as his strong and
supple legs could carry him. Women screamed, men yelled, and dogs
barked; there was a wild dash for the horses tied far from the scene
of the fight, to spare their nerves, but the Grizzly had three hundred
yards' start, five hundred yards even, and before the gala mob gave