The hydraulic press. (North San Juan, Nev. Co., Cal.) 1858-18??, 1858-09-25
teered the following characteristic
account of how one of the brutes
freed him on a certain occasion.

teered the following characteristic
account of how one of the brutes
freed him on certain occasion.
He was out alone hunting deer, land
was about returning unsuccessful
when he espied a young bear cub
After debating within his mind whe>
Their he should shoot it or not, he con-
cluded to fire. He knew from expe.
rience that the old bear must be near,
but, said he, 81 jest allowed I had a
dead thing on him at forty yards, an
kalkilated eff I TUX him plumb thro'
the eye he wouldn't boiler, so the old
dam wouldn't show herself till I made
tracks with mister cub.
Well, I up gun an let silver, an
TUX the dern thing right plumb in the
belly, an he hollered like blazes!-
He'll an thunder! You'd oughter
heerd the brush crack then! Ididn't
stop to see what was comin'-you
bet! but made straight for the near
dest tree-an' Pm ID eff thar wer
moron one in sight! You'd oughter
seen me cuttin' for that tree! I
could hear the OF bar takin' after me,
blowin' an snortin' like a dang'd big
hog run wild ter beechnuts, an a tar
in up the yarth reel savage. I drops
my gun an up tree | gets, keepin' a
clim'in' till I was high up as I could
git among the slim branches; an then
[ begun to feel toler'ble easy, an
looked down to see what the Of bar
was dom. Wal, sirs, she marched
right up within sixty feet of the tree,
an thar she stopped an reared up on
her hind legs, an give the awfullest
howl that ever I heyard since Godal~
mighty made me; twas reel human.
Then she turned about an made for
whar the cub was lynn kickin' an
moanin' like dog, an picked it up
give it couple Of licks-like this
with her big paw, knockin' it down
reel ugly. An then the dern thing
picked it up agin, put her arms around
it, like, an squose it up tight agin
her two or three times. Wal, as
soon's she'd done that, she dropt it
an made off, very imperlite, never
noticin' this chap in the tree at all.
She'd done killed the dang'd cub
for you know they never let EN- stay
alive after they gifts hurt, but kill 'em
and leave 'em. l watched the old
bar goin' over the mountains for FIVE
mile afore I got down from the tree,
an then I picked up my gun, shout
dered mister cub, an made bee'line
for the camp. 1t was gittin' kinder
dark, an afore I got home the owls
wor a hootin'. an the doves wor a
gurglin', an the branch was roarin'
louder'n that bar. You bet / made
a high old supper on the cub! But
the kiotes barked around very anx>
ious, SO that I had to pepper one or
two of 'em, for the sake of peace an
quietness.''
When "Kentuck :" finished there
was a general laugh, and many COM
ical reflections. The picture he had
drawn on our memories so wildly, Of
his position in the solitary tree, with
Mrs. Bruin on her hind legs beneath
him, produced ludicrous fancies which
We expressed only by our laughter.
Kentuck's phraseology, indigo
nous to western border life, but ia
miliar enough to Californians, amused
me more than his stories it was the
very seasoning Of them. He always
transmogrifed cards into ke-yerds,
and bears into bars, paid no attention
to grammatical rules, and garnished
his speech with dreadful Spanish,
learned from the Diggers. When he
was not speaking, or when l saw him
walking in his usually graceful, up
right manner, he looked like cult
waited gentleman. He aOas a gentle
man of the woods-kind hearted,
brave, and truthful, but a bitter hater
of indians and eastern dandies.
He is dead now. He heard a woS
man screaming as he passed through
our mining village one evening, rush-
ed to protect her from a brutal assault,
and received knife-blade deep into
his side. That was the last of poor
Kaintuck," but the miners sent the
craven spirit Of his murderer after
him. I can see now the long mound
which marks the spot of the soldier
hunters regt-there, at the foot Of
that pine, on which is nailed board
bearing the rough inscription of Poor
II ontuoE -