The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-04-19

80 Will they eat you7''s some one
inquired for there was a ring of specta-
tors around U the performers by this
time.
GAS likely as not, if they are sharp
sety and you lay Yourself out to be eaten {;
but it amt their habit to- 60 for human
flesh, Roots, nuts, berries, bugs, and
any small game they can pick up,
satisfies their humble appetite as gem
eral thing. ...rr.
-" But they're amazin fond of honey,
and there's no end of stingin' they won't
stand for the fun of Robin a bee-nest.
They're omnivourous as hog"
The spectators smiled, while some one
remarked, - i.l el.st
You mean omnivorous." .=
The hostler winked his one eye know
iugly, and replied
mean omniuourous," with still
stronger accent on the wrong syllable.
81 found the word in a book, and it
means eatin' or devourin' all sorts.
That's what bear does. He likes every
thing, and good deal of it. He can't
live on suckin' his paws all winter,
neither. That's foolish notion"
Do you mean to say bear doesn't
hibernate ?'' I asked
tdt"He hibernates. believe that's
what they call it, replied the one-eyed
.hostler. " He lies curled up kind O.
torpid sometimes in winter but what he
really lives on then is his fat.
Fat is fuel, so ter speak. He lays it
up in the fall, and burns ii out in the
winter. He goes into his cold-weather
quarters plump, and comes out lean but
it's only in very cold weather that he
keeps 80 quiet. In mild. open winters
he's out foragin' around, and when there
comes a warm spell In the toughest
winter, you may see him. He likes to
walk ont and see what's goin' on,
anyhow
The one.eyed hostler leaned against
the pole, stroked Pomp's fur affection
ately, and continued somewhat in this
style:
Bears are, particularly fond of fat.
juicy pigs, and once give 'em taste of
human fesh,-why, | shouldn't want
my children to be playin' in the woods
within good many miles of their den
. Which reminds me of Old Two
( Claws as they used to call him, bear
town, where was brought up,-wal, as
much as forty year ago. .."g' y e.
He got his name from the peculiar
shape of his foot, and he got that from
trifing with gun-trap. You know
what that is,-a loaded gun set in such
way that bear or any game that's
curious about it, must come up to it the
way it p'ints; bait is hung before the
muzzle, and a string runs from that to
the trigger. = r,
He was a cunnnng fellow, and he
put out an investigator paw at the piece
of pork before trying his Jaws on it, 20
instead of gettn' bullet in the head, he
merely had a bit of his paw shot away
There were but two claws left on that
foot, as his bloody tracks showed.
He got of; but this experience
seemed to have soured his disposition
He owed spite to the settlement.
Zone night great row was heard in
my uncle's pig-pen. He and the boys
rushed out with pitchforks, gun and a
lantern. They knew what the trouble
was, or soon found out,
A huge black bear had broken down
the side of the pen; he had seized fat
porker, and was actually Juggling him of
in his armsl The pig was kicking and
squealing, but the bear had him fast.
He did not seem at all inclined to give
up his prey, even when attacked. He
} looked sullen and ugly; but few jabs
, from pitcbfork, and shot in the
shoulder, convinced him that he wa:
making a mistake,
: .a" He dropped the pig, and got away
: before my uncle could load up fol
! another shot. The next morning they
examined his tracks. 1t was Old Two
, Claws. + i4e ~
: b.. " But what split him for being quie
neighbor was something that happened
: about year after that.
There wasa rowing family of indians
encamped near the settlement, hunting
fishing, and making moccasins and bas
kets, which they traded with the whites
: '.One afternoon the Red ,Sky-of-the
Morning, wife of the Water-Snake-with
3 the-Long-Tail, came over to the settle
/ ment with some of their truck for sale
! She had a pappoose on her back strapped
t on board another squaw Travelled
with her, carrying an empty jug.
/, Almost within sight OF Gorman'l
grocery, Red-Sky took off her pappoost
and hung it on tree. The fellows
4 around the store had made fun of it wher
: she was there once before, so she pre-
: ferred to leave it in the woods rather
, than expose it to the coarse Jokes of thu
I boys. The little thing was used to sucf
treatment. Whether carried or hunl
up, pappoosey never cried.
The squaws traded off this truck
and bought, with other luxuries of civil
ization, a gallon of whisky. They
drank out of the jug, and then looked
e at more goods. Then they drank again
and from being shy and silent, as a
= first, they giggled and chatted like &
! couple of silly white girls. They spen
s a good deal more time and money al
l Germans than they would if it hadn'
(; been for the whisky, but finally they
9 started to go back through the woods.
"They went chattering and giggline
2 to the tree where the pappoose had beer
l left. Then suddenly their noise stopped
There was no pappoose there.
"This discovery sobered them. They
, thought at first the fellows around the
store had played them trick by taking
! is away; but by-and-by the Red-Sky-of.
3 the Morning set up shrek.
"She had found the board not far off
9 but no pappoose strapped to it, only
4 something that told the story of wha
had happened.