Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-08-22

| IlSnt " my lcSt. COuldn see any
thing but the old white dog | had; but
every now and then the bear made 'em
sing out right at my feet. | had my
knife drawn to stick him whenever he
should seize me; but after a while, bear,
and dogs, and all, rolled down preci-
pice just before me, and could hear
| them fighting like they were in hole.
| loaded Betsy, laid down, and felt a.
bout in the hole with her till got her
agin the bear and / fired, but didn't
kill him, for out of the hole he bounced,
and he and the dogs fought harder than
ever. laid old Betsy down, and drew
my knife, but the bear and the dogs
formed lump, rolling about, and pre-
sently down they all went agin into the
hole.
My dogs now began to sing out
mighty often, they were Citing tired,
for it had been the hardest fight ever
saw. / found out how the bear was
laying, and looked for old Betsy to
shoot him agin, but | had laid her down
somewhere, and couldn't find her. |
got hold of stick and began to punch
him; he didn't seem to mind il much, so
| thought | would git down into the
crack and kill him with my knife.
| considered some time bout this; it
was ten or eleven O'Clock, and a cold
winter night. | was something like
thirty miles from any settlement; there
was no living soul near me, except my
friend, who was in the tent, and | didn't
know where that was--I knew the bear
was in crack made by the Shakes,
but how deep it was, and whether |
could get out, if got in, were things |
couldn't tell. was sitting down right
over the bear, thinking, and every once
in while some of my dogs would sing
out, as If they wanted help; so got up
and let myself down in the crack be-
hind the bear. Where | landed was
as deep as | am high; | felt mighty
ticklish, and wished | was out, |
couldn't see thing in the world, but |
determined to go through with it. |
drew my knife and kept feeling about
with my hands and feet till touched
the bear; this did very gently, then
got up on my hands and knees, and
moved my left hand up his body, with
a knife in my right, till | got pretty
fur up, and plunged it into him; he sunk
down, and for moment there was
great struggle; but by the time | scram-
bled out, every thing was getting quiet,
and my dogs, one at time, came out
after me, and laid down at my feet. |
knew every thing was safe.
1t began now to cloud up, twas
mighty dark, and as didn't know the
direction of my tent, | determined to
stay all night. took out my flint and
steel, and raised little fire, but the
wood was so cold 81 so wet, it wouldn't
burn much. had sweated SO much
after the bear, that began to get ve-
ry thirsty, and felt like would die, if
didn't git some water; so taking a
light along, went to look for the creek
| had waded, and as good luck would
have it, found the creek, and got back
to my bear. But from having been in
a sweat all night, was very chilly.
1t was in the middle of winter, and the
ground was hard frozel for several
inches, but this had not noticed be.
fore, again set to work to build me
| fire, but all | could do wouldn't make
| it burn. The excitement under which
| | had been laboring had all died away,
and | was 50 cold iel: very much like
diving: but notion struck me to get
my bear out of the crack, so down into
it | went, and worked until | got into a
sweat again, and just as | would git
HIM so high, that if | could turn HIM
over once more he'd be out, he'd roll
back. kept working and resting, and
while | was at it, it began to hail very
fine hail; but kept on, and IN about
three hours | got him out.
| then came up almost exhausted,
my fire had gone out, and / laid down
and soon fell asleep, but it wasn't long
before ! walked almost frozen; the WIND
sounded mighty cold as it passed along,
and called my dogs, and made 'em lie
upon me to keep me warm, but il
wouldn't do. | Thought | ought to make
some exertion to save my life, and go
up, but | don't know why or where
fore, and began TO grope about in the
t dark, the first thing | hit agin was {
= tree, it felt slick and icy, as Rugged 1t
d and a notion struck me to climb 1t, 81
j, up | started, and climbed that tree TO
S thirty feet before | come to any iiml
n and then slipped down. 1t was might,
r warm work. How often | climbed il
a | never knew, but | was going up an
y slipping down for three or four hours