Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-04-01
THE SUGAR PARTY.
A Story of Early Times in Grant
County.
CONCLUSION.
Written for the Grant County Herald.
CHATTER ".
AN ADYENTIRE
AN ADVENTURE.

great magnitude, but which, like al
streams of water in a new country
was denominated river? This river,
since the date ofour story, has become
noted for furnishing name for the
country in which it heads and empties
and though the volume of water flow
ing through its channel is small and
insignificant. the rocky, old aud lofty
banks which form its borders are in
many places grand, gloomy and mag
nlficent. These banks, or more prop
erly bluffs, were covered with scragg-
ed oaks and tangled vines, inter
spersed with huge boulders and ca
vernous rocks, affording hiding places
and dens for the wild animals which
then abounded in that region of the
country. Such animals, although fire.
quently met with, were rarely danger
Gus, and by the inhabitants generally
were considered as harmless, unless
provoked or attacked. The most fe-
rocous and feared were the common
black bear, and these either avoided or
fled from the approach Of man unless
driven by hunger, or acting in defense
of themselves or their offspring. The
first appearance of the young bears is
in the early spring, when they are
sometimes seen in bright warm days
on the sunny side of a log, rock or
mound near the entrance of their bur-
row, in which case the dam is always
near and any medding with the cubs,
or even approaching them, is extreme
ly hazardous.
The emnence toward which we
left Charles Fisher and Caroline Hast
ings strolling was on one Of the bluffs
above mentioned, and from the sum-
nit of which a wide and extended
view could be obtained Of the deep
winding valley below and the rugged
and majestic hills beyond.
As we have before stated, the day
,ro7 unusually pleasant; ana the warm
sun, the balmy air and the many in
teresting objects along their path, be
guiled our wanderers much futher
from the camp than they had antici-
pated at starting, or even then realiz-
ed having gone. Time passes with
great rapidity, when passed pleasant
~, and before being aware of it,
they found themselves long dis
lance from their starting point
The particulars of their conversation
! need not relate; suffice it to say that
they each made a discovery of feeling
toward each other essentially differ
ent from what the reader might sur
mise from the recitaIs of a former
chapter They had Just started upon
their return when Carrie, with an ex-
clamation of surprise and pleasure,
pointed out to Charles little family
of cubs summing themselves in the
manner before described. She, with
ont knowing the species or even the
genus to which they belonged, and
fearing nothing from their infantile
resistance, determined to appropriate
one for a pet, and before Charles
could warn her Of the dangers of so
doing, she had one in her arms, and
was triumphantly returning to him;
a plaintive whine like an infants wall
for its mother was uttered by the
prisoner, and in a moment that muir
murine cry was responded to by
growl so long and wrathful that it
seemed to shake the branches above
and the ground beneath, until it was
echoed and re-echoed from every hill
side within the vicinity. They stop
ped as if suddenly petrifed and the
palor upon their faces denoted the in
tensity of the feelings within. The
calmness of despair exhibited by her,
who knew not by what they were
threatened, was only equalled by the
nervous tension of him who knew the
danger and felt deeply the weight of
responsibility resting alone upon him.
She neither screamed or tainted, nor
did she cling to or even approach him
nearer; for a brief moment she appear
ed paralzed, and the next she gazed
closely, and with seeming calmness at
her companion, to read if possible
from his countenance the fears or the
hopes that agitated his bosom; her
composure gave him assurance, and
the realization of their peril, instead
Of appalling nerved him for action.
His firm but cheering look created
within her hopes of escape which his
words justified and strengthened. He
mildly informed her that the relin-
punishment of her prize was the first
action toward their escape, and this
alone might insure their safety, should
the pursuer he satisfied with the re-
covery of the captive. Caroline will
lingIy dropped her pet, and a flight
ouickened to the utmost by warning
notes behind and glimmering hopes
before, soon left no inconsiderable
space between them and the point of
their hurried departure. These hopes
were raised, when on looking back
they discovered the mother, with the
cub in its mouth, returning toward
the spot from whence it had been TAX
en-. They slackened their pace aud
recovered their falling breath, and
this relief to their fears partially re-
stored the bloom upon their cheeks
and the sunlight in their eyes. Caro-.
line, with her city education, had
dreaded their removal to the far west
much more than her mother, not that
she flinched at the deprivation of lux
uries to which she had always been
accustomed, not that she feared con-
tamination from a necessary associa-
ton with class of persons palmer,
rougher and perhaps lower than those
with which she had all her lifetime