Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-05-01
A Yacillating Bear.

My negro gardener came to me one
evening in great alarm, and stated that
his twin sons, Mango and Change, had
taken out his gun that morning and had
been missing ever since. / at once load
ed my rifle, loosed my Cuban blood
hound, and followed the man to his hut
There put the dog upon the boys scent,
following on horseback myself.
1t turned out that the young scamps
had gone ON the trail of large bear,
though they were only thirteen years old,
and their father had often warned them
not to meddle with wild beasts. They
began their adventure by hunting the
bear, but ended, as often happens, in be-
ing hunted by the bear, for Bruin had
turned upon them, and chased them so
hard that they were fain to drop the gun
and take to o tree.
1t was a sycamore of peculiar shape,
sending forth from its stem many small,
but only two large, branches. These two
were some thirty feet from the ground,
and stretched almost horizontally in op-
posite directions. They were as like
each other as the twin brothers them
selves. Change took refuge on one of
these, Mango on the other.
The bear hugged the tree till he had
climbed as far as the fork. There he
hesitated an instant, and then began to
creep along the branch which supported
Change. The beast advanced slowly
and gingerly, sinking his claws into the
bark at every step, and not depending
too much upon his balancing powers.
Chango's position was now far from
pleasant. 1t was useless to play the trick
well known to bear-hunters- en-
icing the animal out to a point where
the branch would yield beneath its great
weight, for there was no higher branch
within Change sreach, by catching which
he could save himself from deadly fall
thirty feet sheer.
Three more steps, and the bear would
be upon him, OR he would be upon the
ground. Brave as the boy was, his teeth
chartered.
heroism by his brothers peril, moved
rapidly from the opposite limb of the
tree. Stepping behind the bear, he
grasped with one hand a small higher
bough, which extended to where he stood,
but not to where his brother lay; with
the other hand he seized the animal
firmly by its stumpy tail. The bear
turned to punish his rash assailant; but,
angry as he was, he turned cautiously,
1t was no easy task to right-about-face on
a branch which already had begun to
tremble and sway beneath his weight.
Change was saved, for the bear evi-
IDENTIFY had transferred his animosity to
Mango, whom he pursued, step by step,
toward the extremity of the other limb.
But Change was not the boy to leave
his brother and rescuer in the lurch.
Waiting until the enraged brute was
well embarked upon Mango's branch,
he pulled its tail, as he had seen his
| brother do before. Again Bruin turned
awkwardly, and resumed the interrupted
chase of Change.
| The twins continued their tactics with
success. Whenever the bear was well
advanced ON one limb, and dangerously
close to one twin, the other twin would
sally from the other limb and pull his
tail. The silly animal always would
yield to his latest impulse of wrath, and
suffer himself to be diverted from the
enemy who was almost in his clutches.
After two hours of disappointment, he
learned his mistake. He was now, fol
the tenth time, on Changes branch, and
very near Change. In vain Mango
dragged at his hinder extremity; he kept
grimly on till Mango, forced to choose
between letting go the brute's tail or the
higher branch which enabled him te
keep his feet, let go the former.
Change could now retreat no farther
and he was hardly yard beyond the
bears reach. The branch was swayine
more than ever, and the beast seemed
quite aware that he might tax its strength
too far. After a pause. he advanced one
of his fore feet a quarter of a yard. tt
increase the BEARS difficulty in seizing
him, the terrified boy let himself dowr
and swung with his hands from the bough
He was hanging in suspense between
two frightful deaths. His heart wa.
sinking, his fingers were relaxing.
Then the deep baying of a hound
struck his ear, and his hands agair
closed firmly on the branch. In a mo
ment, bloodhound and horsemar
sprang through the underwood.
Change held on like grim death-helG
on till he heard the sharp report of /:
rifle ringing through the air; held on til
the falling carcass of the bear passed be
fore his eyes; held on till had climbed
the tree, crawled along the branch, and
grasping his wearied wrist, had assisted
him to get back to the fork of the tree
and rest bit.
If that bear only had understood il
time that boy in the hand is worth two
in the bush, he might have heightened
his days and gone down with honor t.
the grave!-F. Blake Crofton, in st
Nicholas for Ap,Il.