, 1880-05-10
A Facilitating 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. I at once
loaded my rifle, loosed my Cuban blood
hound, aud followed the man to his
hut. There I put the dog upon the
boys scent, following on horseback
myself.
It turned out that the young scamps
had gone on the trail of o large bear,
though they were only thirteen years
them not to meddle with wild beasts.
They began their adventure by hunting
the bear, but ended, as often happens,
in being hunted by the bear; for Bruin
had turned npon them, and chased
them so hard that they were fain to
drop the gun and take to tree.
1t was 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 horizon
tally in opposite directions. They were
rs like each other as the twin brothers
themselves. Change took refuge on
one of these, Mango on the other.
The bear hug9ed 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 gingeriy, sinking his claws into the
bark at every step, and not depending
too much upon his balancing powers
Changes position was now far from
pleasant. 1t was useless to play the
trick-well known to bear-hunters-of
enticing the animal out to a point
where the branch would yield beneath
its great weight, for there was no
higher branch within Changes reach,
by catching which he could save him
self from a 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 chattered.
At this moment. Mango, nerved to
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 ami
NAL firmly by its stumpy tail. The
bear turned to punish his rash assall-
ant; but, angry as he was. he turned
cautiously. 1t was no easy task to
right-about- face on o branch which al
ready had begun to trembie and sway
beneath his weight.
Change was saved. for the bear evil
dently had transferred his animosiIy 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 reseuer in the
lurch. Waiting until the enraged brute
was we'll 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 danger
ously close to one twin, the other twin
would sally from ths 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,
for the tenth time, on Chango's 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 to keep his leet, let go the former.
Change could now retreat no farther,
and he was hardly yard beyond the
bears reach. The branch was swaying
more than ever, and the beast seemed
quite aware that he might tax its
strength too far. After pause, he ad
vanced one of his fore feet quarter of
a yard To increase the bears difficult
ty in seizing him, the terrified boy let
himself down and swung with his hands
from the bough.
He was hanging in suspense between
two frighttul deaths. His heart was
sinking, his fingers wers relaxing.
Then the deep baying Of hound
struck his ear, and his hands again
closed firmly on the branch. In a mo-
ment, blood hound and horseman
sprang through the underwood.
Change held on like grim death
held on till he heard the sharp report
of rifle ringing through the air;
beld on till the falling CARCASS of
the bear passed before his eyes; held
on till 1 had climbed the tree, crawlsd
along tho branch, and, grasping his
wsaried wrist, had assisted him to get
back to the fork of the tree, and rest a
bit.
| If that bear only had undarstood in