Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-01-30
a nr ttsennent.
Smoking a Grizzly.
BY SOLITAIRE

"What, you hev never seen a lire Griz
zly" exclaimed an old Oregon gold dig
ger, with whom we were engaged in q
"bar" conversation one evening on James.
town bar.
"Never,' said |, in all seriousness, "it
has never been my good fortune to en-
counter one of the beautiful varments.'
"Well hoss, when you do, perhaps it
won't be the plcasantest minnit you've ev.
er he'd, for thar aint no varmint in these
hills, nor any whar else Ive ben, that kin
kick wuss, either round or sideways, than
fully grown grizzly
"But you can easily get out of the way
of clumsy animal like that said l pro.
voking the old digger into a yarn Of his
experience in regard to Grizzlys.
"Well, when you kin get out Of thur
way, little fellar, l gives You my advice to
get out quicker, fer tho they aint built
raal beautiful for runnin', they lope awful
smart when thur arter humin' critter. /
was desperate glad to get away from one
myself once
/ had provoked him TO the edge of a
bar story, and knowing from his manner,
that his relation of such an occurrence as
getting away from Grizzly would be in
tercsting, tempted him on.
"Where did you say you fell in with
him?' inquired |.
az didn't say 1 fell in with him any
whar,' answered he; "cuss the rarmint,
he fell in with me, and I'd leetle ruther
hev fell in with the old Nick jest at that
mint. | was over two miles tother side
of the high ridge beyond Sullivan's, look:
in arter that gray mule OF mlne-and
tallsin' about wicked things, jest puts me
thinkn' what determinedly vicious sar-
pint that gray mule was! Well, | was
huntin' her, and arter runnin' over the hill,
and shootin' down half 4 dozen CLUTCHES,
| began to get out of wind; and set down
to bless that gray critter for the many
tramps she had given NELL swar no
lartat 'ud hold her not ef it was made OF
bull hide an inch thick. | hadn't sot
more'n a mint, when lheerd 4 snort, and
roar and growl, and right smart
sprinkiin' of fast travelin' all mixed up to.
gether. Lookin' up parpendickclar hill,
right behind me, thar saw comm, my
gray mule, putin in her best licks, and a
few yards behind her was a grizzly, not
much bigger than ycarling. Many an
infanal scrape that mule has taken me
into afore, but this was rather the tightest
place she ever did git me into. l hadn't a
weepun about me, 'cept one of those
mean, one:barreled auction pistols; and
that hadn't consarncd mite Of load in;
and hadn't nuthing to load it with, and
no time to put it in, eff | had; and ef il
had been loaded, it wouldn't hey been
worth 4 cuss.
"You had better believe, boys, that my
skin got moist suddint-thar warcn't no
dry diggins under my red shirt, long aforc
that grizzly got down the hill. The infar.
nal mule no sooner seed me than she jest
wheeled round and put me atween he1
and the bar, and stood of to see ef
wouldn't lick him about as easy as | used
to whale her when she got Stubborn
Old grizzly drawcd up, when he seed me,
and gin to roll his old barrel head about.
and grunt, as ef I was morn he bargained
for; and djest given him that mule easy,
to hev got off square. AS the fellers say
at monte, he was lay out didn't want
to bet on.
commenced backin' out, and wanted
to make it draw game; but he kept
shufflin' up to me, and any feller who had
been close to his head, would hev gin. his
whole pile jest to got chance to CIT. l
considered my ef1ects-that pan, rocker
and crow.bar-jcst as good as minis.
tered upon; and almost felt the coroner
sittin' on my body. ! stuck my hands in
to my pockets to see if there warn't a
knife about me, and pulled out half q