The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-03-30


the descriptions of oammelleppards, and
tigers, and so on, which were told there.
You see, had never seen anything on
| nigh 80 big scale before, and it made
a great impression on me. All of sud
ding an idee struck me, and 1 got
a-talkin' with the agent, although he
rally did seem to me to be Almost too
great a man for me to hinder or inter
rupt in his business. l thought he was
wonderful oondescendin' to speak to
me at all. 1 says to him:
"You say on your show-bills that the
lion is the king of beasts =
"Of course aoe do says he; every
body admits that
"Well,' says I, make you a bet of
fifty dollars that 1 can bring critter
thatll lick your lion
"Nonesense ? says he.
"Well,' says 1, all you have to do, If
you don't believe it, is to take my bet,
otherwise you back out
"This rather cornered him. for, of
course, you see, he couldn't help betting
with me, without risking the success of
his show; so he pulled out big wallet
stuffed full of money, took out fifty
dollar note, and handed it to the land
lord, whom he chose for stakeholder.
Fifty dollars warn't much to him,
but it seemed heap of money to me !;
and told him he must wait little, till
l could scare up my part of the stakes.
I went away, and don't think he ex-
pected to see me again, although L told
him l would be back in about half an
hour. l had little money in the bank,
for l was naturally of a savin' turn !;
but it warn't more than half enough, so
l went to a gentleman in the place, for
whom / had worked occasionally, and
who had alters been friendly with me,
and asked him to lend me the balance,
and agreed to work it out or pay him
within the year. gave him my note,
the first l ever writ, and when l signed
it actilly felt as if had committed
state-prison offence. Then 1 drew (this
word Chips pronounced dree-ew, al
though he had to a great extent laid
aside his Oriental idiom) out my money
from the bank, and this, with what L
borrowed from the gentleman, made out
the fifty dollars. l went back to the
tarvern, and handed over my money
without saying much, for l felt little
solemn; and then, having got the mare
shod, / rode over home.
"That night dreamt of all kinds of
things you ever did see-agents with
lions heads, who roared at me monkeys
who rode on my back and grinned in
my face, and then arrested me for steal
in fifty dollars. 1t rally did seem as if
half a dozen menaggeries had broke
loose in my room. When mornin' came
1 realized what had done, and was al
most shaky in my resolution but there
it was, thought nay idee was good
one, and SO I concluded to go ahead.
Meantime the story got round that
Bildad Bunker was goin to have some
kind of lion-fght, and lion-fght in
Bethel was not by any means common
occurrence. Ifound myself as notorious
as fighter trainin', and was the town
talk. Some people laughed at me, some
thought that at all events l knew what
l was about, and some took sides with
me or with the agent, according to cir
cumstances.
"In few days the meneggery arrove
in a grand procession, with brass bands,
and calico horses, and cages on wagons,
and the big tents were pitched, and
everything prepared for the show. At
last the day for the exhibition came. Of
course, everybody knew by this time
about the fight, for in place like Bethel
such a thing as secret was never heerd
on, and a public affair like this brought
folks from far and near all through the
country. There was Almost an enormous
crowd, can tell you.
"Inside the tent they had an enclo-
sure built for the fight; and there were
seats for the umpires, and everything
was in tirst-rate style. went to the
back of my house where my critters
were kept, and, putting one in each
pocket OF pair of saddle-bags, l slung
them over the mares back, and started.
81 am usually strictly punctooal, but
this day was jest little belated, and
when 1 got to the tent found that the
boys was a-talkin' and wonderin' why 1
didn't come, or whether 1 would come
at all. 1 hitched the mare, took the
saddle-bags under my arm, and started
for the tent-door. Strange to say, the
doorkeeper didn't happen to know me,
and stopped me as l was going in.
"'Ticket, SIR says he.
"Says 1 l am the man (for 1 thought
l was man) who has got critter to
fight the lion
"Oh pass in, SIR says he; pass in. ;
And here Chips bent his body and
waved his hand, to show the marked
consideration with which he was ushered
into the tent.
"In went, and found the place just
packed full of people, and you may be-
lieve that their faces were all blurred
together, so that / couldn't see one on
'em, for I rally felt onpleasantly con-
spicuous.
"There was a kind of hummin' all
round the tent, and my head was a
bummin, too; but l was in for it, and
you never did hear such shoutin' and
cheerin' and laughin' as when l undid
one pocket of the saddlebags, and put a
big snappin' turtle on the ground. The
agent was standin' there, and his face
grew rather long when he see this, for
you know what savage critters them tur-
ties are, and not easy killed. He OBJ
jected to the match, and said it was un-
dignifed, and that he wasn't going to
be imposed upon; so the question was
left to the umpires.
"They decided that the match must
go on, so he was obliged to yield his
pint, and everybody was glad of it.
$50 the turtle was put in the enclos-
ure. He stayed very quiet, with his
nose just outside the shell, and his eyes