American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-09-16
&c He's RIGHT here -

boWn There IN tne patni Dut We |
can't get it. Bear'n see ye."
Then there was pause of doubt.
Sam, have you any matches about |
YEP Have you, George?" father pres
emily said.
We did not have a match about us,
thanks to his fatherly injunction against
smoking.
"Then run for home and bring some.
Climb up the side of the canyon, and
come along on top. Then I'll tell ye
what to do. And don't let your mother
know a word about the BEAR
Thus exhorted, we set off after
matches. Neither of us had the slight
est idea Of what the bear or father was
doing, for we had been warned not to
come out in sight.
As we ran back to where the mules
were tied, Sam said that one could just
as well ride for the matches as two, and
told me had better climb up the side
of the gorge, and go along on the ridge
above, to where 1 could look down and
see what was going on, and be ready
to help if could. He set off at gal
lop.
After following along the path TO
some distance, found a place where
1 could climb up out of the canyon, and,
after hard tussle, gained the top.
Keeping back from the brink, and hid
ing among the evergreens, made my
way cautiously forward till 1 judged
that was opposite where we had heard
father. Getting on my hands and knees
1 crept down to the brink of the chasm,
and looked over from behind a tangle
of ground-hemlock.
A queer sight met my eyes. 1 think
that should laugh now; but was
quite too anxious then. Down 80 or 40
feet, among the lodges, 1 saw the bear,
as if in the act of crossing on drift log
from one big rock to another. Father
was at the other end of the log, on the
other rock. The chasm betwixt the two
rocks, over which the log lay, was per-
haps 20 feet deep by 25 or so
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.
1 could hear him talking to the bear.
{" I guess ye'd better not. guess ye'd
better not try it! Well, try it if ye think
best. Try it if We want to! Try it!''
Then he would gather up bits of the
broken rocks, and pitch them at the ami
malls head, at which the bear would
growl and scuffie iercely, and show his
ugly teeth, and scrub his feet on the
bare rock.
Pretty soon, as if an idea had entered
his big gray head, the grizzly turned
and leaped down from rock to 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 watching him, and as
soon as the beast came near, he very
quietly walked across on the log to the
rock which the bear had just quilted.
Then there was more conversation.
ssDidn'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 as mans fist, hit the
old brute's head and sides pretty solidly;
but he did not mind them much. After
few minutes of this by-play, the bear
would go down and run round again,
and then father would cross over to the
other rock. He was safe enough SO long
as he kept the log between himself
and the bear.
As I could not help my father,
thought I might as well remain quietly
where was, and not draw the BEARS
attention to myself, Though the crea-
ture could hardly at that place have
climbed up the side of the canyon.
The way they had got into this pre-
dicament, as father afterwards explain
ed to us, was purely accidental. When
the mule threw him off his back, the
bear had bounded directly over him as
he lay on the ground, and had gone
several rods after the mule; but he soon
turned about with another growl.
Meantime father had scrambled to his
feet, and, seeing the bear coming,
jumped on a rock beside the path, and
from this to another, going up the side
of the canyon, till he came to where
this drift log lay across from ledge to
ledge. He instantly ran across it. But
the grizzly hesitated; his great weight
would probably have broken the old
trunk.
1t must have been the best part of an
hour before Sam returned from home.
1 heard him call out to me as he came
along towards where 1 lay. Father
heard him, too, and, glancing up, caught
sight of me for the first time.
''Build fire, boys!'' he shouted to
us. "Build a rousing fire. Then pitch
down the brands, and see if you can't
drive the old rascal away"
Sam kindled fire back few rods
from the brink of the ravine. In the
course of half an hour we had score
or more of half-burned brands. Seiz-
ing one in each hand, we ran forward
to where we could look over into the
canyon, then threw them down at the
bear. As the blazing billets went whirl-
ing downward, the old fellow growled
out sharply, then burst into wild roar.
One of the brands struck on the rock
close beside him, and lay there smoking
and blazing up. The bear shifted at it,
but the next moment sent it spinninp