The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-08-03

| bear
THUS eXhorted, we set off afte
matches. Neither of us had the slight
est idea of what the bear or father wa
doing, for we had been warned not tt
come out in sight.
CAS- we ran back to where the mules
were tied, Sam said that one could lust
| as well ride for the matches as two, anL
told me l had better climb up the side
of the gorge, and so along on the ridge
above, to where ! could look down
down and see what was going on, anc
be ready to help if | could. He set of
at a gallop. - r--..r.
after following along the path fol
some distance, l found a place where ]
could climb up out of the canyon, and
after a hard tuSsle, gained the top.
" Keeping back from the brink, and
hiding among the evergreens, | made
my way cautiously forward till
judged that | was opposite where We
had heard father. Getting on my
hands and knees, crept down to the
brink of the chasm, and looked ovel
from behind a tangle of ground-bem.
lock.
"A queer sight met my eyes.
think that / should laugh now; but ]
was quite too anxious then.
"Down thirty OF forty feet, among
the ledges, | saw the bear, as if in the
act of crossing on drift log from one
big rock to another.
Father was ut the other end of the
log. on the other rock. The chasm be.
tWiXt the two rocks, over which the
log lay, was perhaps twenty feet deer
by twenty-five or thirty in width.
1T was not a large log, and the
bear evidently did not dare to trust his
weight on it. In case he did venture,
father stood ready to push his end OF
the log off the rock.
81 could hear him talking to the
bear Il guess ye'd better not. ]
guess ye'd better not try it! Well,
try it if ye think best. Try it if ye
want to! Try itH
"Then he would gather ,up, bits OF
the animals head, at which the beal
would growl and shuttle iiercely, and
show his ugly teeth, and scrub his feet
on the bare rock.
"Pretty soon. as if an idea had en-,
tered his big gray head, the grizzly
turned and lcaped down from rock tC
rock into the trail. Running along, he
began to climb up in the rear of the
rock on which father was perched.
"But the old gentleman was watch
ing him, and as soon as the beast came
near, he very quietly walked across or
the log to the rock which the bear hat
just quilted.
"Then there was more conversation
"Didn't make that work, did ye!
Didn't make much out of that. Try
it again. SO | would
And then more stones would be
thrown across. Some of these frag
mentS as large us mans fist, hit The
old brute's head and sides pretty solid
ly; but he did not mind them much.
after a few minutes of this by
play, the bear would go down and rul
round again; and then father woulC
cross over to the other rock. He was
safe enough 50 long as he kept the los
between himself and the bear.
I" AS | could not help my father,
thought l might as well remain quietly
where | was, and not draw the bears
attention to myself, though the Great
IRE could hardly at that place have
climbed up the side of the canyon.
THE way they had got into this pre-
dicament, as father explained to us
was purely accidental. When ths
mule threw him off his back, the beal
had bounded directly over him as hi
lay on the ground, and had gone sey
cral rods after the mule; but he sool
turned about, with another louc
growl. Z '~5F' A.. "
Meantime father had scrambled
upon his feet, and seeing the bear com
ing, jumped on rock beside the path
and from this to another, going up tht
side Of the canyon, till he came tt
where this drift log lay across from
ledge to ledge.
"He instantly ran across it. Bu
the grizzly hesitatcd; his great weigh
would probably have broken the ole
trunk,
"Itmust have been the best part o
an hour before Sam returned from
home. ! heard him call out to me a
he came. along toward where lay
Father heard him, too, and glancin.
up, caught sight of me for the frs
time. J Z" SCI aGyS
"'Build fire, sboysv he shouted t.
us. Build a a,rousing fire. Then pitcl
down the brands, and see if you can
drive tle9old rascal away s
"Sam kindledsa fire back a'few rod
from the brink of the ravine In tn
course of half an hour we had a scor
or more of half-burned brands. ogs
"Seizing one in each hand, we RAJ
forward to where we could look owe
into the canyon, then threw then
down at the bear.
"As the blazing billets went whirl
ing downwards theTola fellow growle'
out sharply, then burst into a wild roar
zone of the brands struck on til
rock close beside him, and lay ther
smoking, ,:pd blazing up. The bea
sniffetlat. it, but the nextn,pinent sen
it spinning off with his paw.
"We threw down others. Grizzl
reerod on his Launches, roaring like
bull, and fought at them, with bot
paws. For a few moments he stoo
his ground.
''But we, ,shqwered them 50 fast, an
| made such "a smoke arelna his ears
that he at length began to back OF, an