Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1844-04-11


turkey tree, we found Il A half acrc adjacent to
the creek, with no other growth upon it than
few Struggling reeds, aud half a dozen huge wal
nuts and sweet gum trees, was the spot The
boy kindled fire and cooked breakfast, which
being swallowed, the poneys were hobbled and
turned into the cane. The next thing that claim
cd attention, WINS the arrangeme.h OF the days
campaign This was settled by giving Johnson
and Jones both side Of the creek upwards, Smith
the swamp on the left, and ourself that, on the
right bank, downwards -Four Of the dogs fol-
lowed Smith, aud 'Pont of course was with me
the other two said they were dogs enough them
selves.
We all burst of,every man to his range. And
now comes the tough part ofmy story, We have
often b, en- told that thar tcar bar on Oakchun,
but we had never given credence 10 the story
Judge our astonshment then, at beholdng before
we had gone half mile through the cane TO &c.
complIsh which consumed more than an hour)
stout black animal, good deal like black
hog dar, out Of the cane before us, and make for
huge halIow popular 1t was bear-a cub
Of about six months old--a real live bear. There
he was ascending the tree, aud we with the 'trem-
bles so bad that we couldn, keep the gun on his
broad at forty stepsl Wasn't it proyoking2-
Arrived a, the enterance Of his den, the cub put
one fore paw into the hole, and letting 60 the
other, turning little round so as TO have look
at u.s. We have seen 'kxmass whose faces lacked
the intelligence Of that bears, placing his loose
paw on the side of his snout, he plainly said by
the gesture you can't exactly come it.. We should
have instantly convinced him of the fals;y of his
proposition, had not the head of another individual
precisely similar except in size, to our waggish
cub, showed itself in the hole. 'Helloo' thought
| we, family concern, ehT And with that we
pushed another bullet down the Darrell ofour gun.
for we recolected some very terrible stories Of the
ferocty ofthe bears when defending their young,
Prudence was always in large proportion to the
other constituents of our valor After cogi;ating
while on the novelty Of our position, "a long
ways from home and nobody close by but a fam
lily of bears, we bethought ourselves Of our horn,
and forthwith sounded the notes want help most
Justify. Smith and his dogs were soon on the spot,
and the rest followed pretty soon. Johnson went
to the camp and returned with the boy and axe.
The tree was tremendous one, but it was re-
solved to fell it, which however was easy work as
it was a mere shell. When it started to fall, such
rumbling and tumbling as were made within,
none but a bear hunter, had ever heard. 1t could
only be linked to the sounds produced by hall
dozen school boys gamboling in The bowels ofan
old steamboat boiler down came the tree! out
popped the old lady, next cub; the dogs cover
them. The bear give gentle sling with one Of
her paws, and simultaneous Herewith, old Troup's
clock work comes to view through gaping
woundl Another sling--the fan pup finds him
self yelping and bleeding, ten feet off in the cane
Cries Of don't shoot, "s'mind the dogs, ""brng the
axe" 'come away Point" 'come away" are
mingled with the crash of dry limbs and the
cracking of the cane. 1t was not long before The
bear disposed Of both men and dogs; and though
three shots were fired at her, she managed to &c
cut of the scrape followed by the cub.
Suddenly all was silent, and disappointment was
on every face Hist! what noise is that2 There's
something in the old tree YET, Another cub
watch out boys, at the end Of the log Here h
is, Just midway Of the log and waged so that h'
) can't move except TO turn round Sure enough
this was the fact Sam was instantly put TO worl
to Gu. him out and in dozen ticks, the black Goa
of the imprisoned cub was visable. The opening
was then little enlarged. And young bruin ther
contrived to turn round so as 10 bring his head t
the hole. Sans axe is poised--"steady Saml hi
him right between the eyesl' The axe DEFENDS
he bears head is cleft--he quivers and dies
In the morning we found our way 10 the camp
after day light During that dismal night, CIR
,cumsance occurred which may appear incredible
but which we solemnly avertto be as true as an
other part of this story. About nightfall ,immens
flocks OF ducks descended into the little stagnar
pools around us, and excited gayety the admiraiio
and astonishment of Pont who had mortal al
,ipa,hy for ducks growing out of the i'll treatmen
he frequently receives ut home from several ind
viduals of tina, species, who help themselves out
his dish, when at meals. Here was chance 10
, revenge. which the sagacous animal did not i
slip, Abou, midnight he awakened us, and gl'
ing us, 10 understand that he had something
hand, he silently crept into the nearast lagoon
:, and with stealthy tread came upon fine flock
q they rode at anchor near the shore like fleet
e little boats He gently touches the tail of one, wit
|. his core paw-,he duck takes its head from unde
- It's wing-in an instant, Pont seized the head
! his mouth and crushed il before the note OF alarl
!. can be sounded Thus he despatched one by on
!. the whole flock In the morning he piled y
r. before us, twenty seven fine fat ducks! We u
|. stantly voted him silver collar
,r Upon our return to the camp we found tn
n our companions had killed fifteen ducks, whic
/. with those taken by Pont, make the respectful
: number of fonytwo They had also killed
rs couple of young turkeys and small doe.
le Sam arrived about ten o'clock with the pac
Of horse. and the weather ihreatning rain, Il WI
n agreed that VIC should break up our camp al
% return home. But as we had not yet killed
/. single thing, the rest of tho party consented
n ,r.mn with MS IN the creek TO the Upper Pond