Volcano weekly ledger., 1857-03-07
Written for the Weekly Ledger.
An Unwelcome Visit.
BY Il. W. E.

beside cold mountain stream, IN the bed OF
which we had been engaged in sinking q large
pit, vaihy endeavoring meanwhile to raise
the color" Our provisions, for safety and
protection from the cayotes and wildcats,
that are known to risk any danger for the
satisfaction of stealing the miners grub were
hung upon the sides OF q tree whose lower
branches had been Topped off for that pur-
pose; and for still greater security, we had
made our camp bed upon the ground directly
under them, so that no animal whatever could
approach our larder without interrupting some
of our party.
The third days work had been completed,
and we had ''retired" for the night, wet and
weary, that having the effect of soon setting
us all snoring at 2.40 rate, with the excep-
tion of one Of the party who was yet doing
between sleeping and waking when his slum-
bering vision was disturbed by the slight
scratching of some animal, as he imagined,
upon the bark of the tree above him, and
upon which our provisions were placed, think
ing however that the scratching proceeded
from nothing more dangerous than one of the
oft repeated visits Of the little mountain cat,
that was wont to thrust its long pointed nose
into our supply of sugar, as opportunity Of
fered He sought to deter the imagined little
night prowler from further troubling his rest,
by Kissing from between his teeth the ejacu-
lation commonly used to frighten this species
of animal-'scat! scat! said he, without any
apparent effect upon the animal in question /;
but upon repeating the warning his somewhat
excited voice was answered, not by the new
of q cat, to whose account this nocturnal Wis
it was accredited but by the deep growl Of
some much larger animal, or otherwise his
catship had evidently caught an excessively
bad cold.
As it was very dark, he could not perceive
at the first glance in the direction of the
sound the object to which he was so assdu-
ously addressing himself but as the deep
tone struck his listening ear, he changed his
position slightly, thereby bringing the object
directly between him and little patch OF
star light that dimly shone through the clot-
ted boughs of the mountain fr trees, when,
O. horror of horrors there stood erect and
nearly over him large bear, who was, not
withstanding the close proximity of the sno-
ring party endeavoring to wrench from the
limb upon which it hung our weeks supply
of beef which purpose he successfully ac-
complished after some little difficulty, and just
as he was discovered by our wakeful compan-
ion, who as soon as he had seen the being
that had been watching DER his slumbers in
the Silly night" sprang from his resting place
with most terrific yell, that caused the re-
mainder of the party to start to their feet
with one accord, just in time to catch part
ing glimpse of his bearship's retreating form
as he made off with his prize, without as much
as bidding good evening to the affrighted
party, who now stood each with eyes distend-
ed wide, endeayoring to pierce the thick
darkness in the direction of his steps, which
could occasionally be heard falling upon the
dry twigs in his retreat until gradually dying
away in the distance.
No more sleep with us that night and
even yet when think of the narrow escape
that some one of us then made, it causes
convulsiye shudder to course through my
veins. Had the animal known the toughness
of that piece of beef, hardly think he would
have chosen it in preference to the body Of
g Greasy Dick" who on account of his lub-
berly fatness, had been dubbed with the above
title
We supposed this to have been a brown
bear, as it was in a region where they abound
in greater numbers than either the black or
grizzly. The brown bear is also known to be
far more yenturesome and fearless than either
of the other species
Ever after this, when camping in dark pla-
ces, one of the party was chosen to stand
guard and by adding an occasional log to
the waning embers, keep up continual fire,
as this has been said, and truly too, to be a
sovereign remedy against the approach of
all wild animals in the night time.
INDIAN DIGGINas, Feb. 26, 1851.