ion of the big
brute and that only a silver bullet blessed by a priest can kill him;
and, in proof of his belief, he told me that he himself had shot five
lead bullets at _El Feroz_ and that he had heard the devil laugh when
the bullets struck and fell hot and flattened to the ground. Now he
always carries a silver bullet with him that he had a priest bless when
he was down to San Francisco last fall; and the next time he meets _El
Feroz_ he expects to kill him with the holy bullet. He showed me the
silver bullet," and Thure laughed. "But I'm willing to put my trust in
lead, if it hits the right spot, Indian devil or no devil. Now, look at
_El Feroz_. He doesn't seem to be worrying none over our presence.
Appears to think the filling of his greedy belly too important an
operation to be interrupted by us," and Thure's eyes turned to where the
huge grizzly was tearing with teeth and claws the carcass of the horse,
his wicked little eyes turned in their direction, but otherwise giving
them not the slightest attention. Evidently _El Feroz_ had only contempt
for the puny prowess of man.

"Well, we'll soon teach him better manners, the ugly brute! Come on,"
and Bud Randolph and Thure Conroyal both started slowly toward the
grizzly, loosening the strong ropes that hung from the pommels of their
saddles as they rode.

There was no need of haste. _El Feroz_ would not run away--not from a
good dinner like that he was now eating--for all the men in California.
For four years he had terrorized this part of California, had never once
turned his back to a man, but had seen the backs of many men turned to
him; and now the killing of the horse had aroused all the ferocity of
his savage nature, and he was ready to fight anything and everything
that threatened to rob him of his prey.

Thure Conroyal and Bud Randolph did not for a moment expect _El Feroz_
to run, when they rode toward him. They knew grizzly nature, especially
the ferocious nature of _El Feroz_, too well to dream of such a thing.
They knew he would fight; and, if they had been afoot, they would not
have dared to attack the evil monster, armed though they were with
rifles and so skilful in their use that they could cut the head off a
wild goose at a hundred yards. But, seated on the backs of their fleet
and well-trained horses and on a smooth and open field like the one
before them, they did not fear even _El Feroz_ himself. If their ropes
did not hold or their bullets k