In Old California, coastal grizzly bears preyed on livestock from Spanish and Mexican ranchos. Expert horsemen captured 1,000-pound bears and pitted them against the fiercest bulls in bear-and-bull fights, the leading spectator sport of the 1800s.
THE BEAR AND THE BULL is an adventure about thirteen-year-old Ramon Montiel’s quest to save his pet bull, Toro, from certain death fighting a marauding grizzly at Rancho Ortega, near San Juan Capistrano.
Ramon meets Betsy Crowley, the pretty daughter of the rancho’s creditor. He cannot forget her. They become friends but her mother catches them in an embrace. She forbids Betsy to see Ramon again. “He is not our kind.” Then she tells her husband to call in the rancho’s mortgage.
The rancho’s Padrone has no mortgage money. The fastest way to raise the money is to pit Ramon’s bull against the captured grizzly. Ramon is devastated. He pleads with the Padrone that Toro is too tame. The Padrone says Toro is bred to fight. Ramon is fearful Toro will be ripped apart by the grizzly and also is anguished that he cannot see Betsy.
Betsy’s mother learns about the fight and is outraged. She threatens to stop the fight because it is inhumane.
The Padrone defies her. The fight stands. Again Ramon pleads with him to spare Toro but the Padrone will not listen. Toro is the champion bull, the only one to save the rancho. To Ramon, Toro is still his pet. He tries to train his bull but Toro thinks they are playing and stands still.
The night before the fight, Betsy sneaks out and watches Ramon repeatedly provoke his bull to charge but Toro will not. Ramon gives up and he and Betsy fall asleep against a fence post in the corral.
Early in the morning, the bear breaks free and attacks Ramon and Betsy. To save them, Toro charges the grizzly. . . .
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