San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-04-13

| Here we made ourselves conliortu"io,
gave the mules their corn, and had no
Thought of going on the prairie for
honey, or anything else, while the gale
held.
The crag on the side of which we had
our fire was sixty or seventy feet high,
but, as / have mentioned above, was
here all along much tissured and
cracked, showing crevices and crannies
where tie broken strata had worked
apart, about three and four feet wide
The drift rick winch served Us for a
woodpile, burned well, the blaze
mounting half way up the cliif, and
casting nice warm glow back into our
shed.
Here, throughout the rest of the day
and evening, while the gusts howled
across the canon from out over the
prairie to the north'ard, we lay ut our
ease and told stories, going sound
asleep at last, wrapped up in buffalo
skins.
Some hours must have passed, for
our big fire had burned down low,
when l was aroused by scratching,
raking noise on tie rocks in front of
our shed. Before was yet half awake
something-it was so dark l could not
tell what, but some heavy animal felt
sure came down the rocks and fell
partly into the open front of our shed,
and right on Anspach's, the Germans,
feet and ankles.
With that Vert jumped up and we
all arose, jumbling for our guns. But
before Anse or ], or any of us had
gained our legs, down came the shed,
the half. hogsheads we had brought for
our honey, our tilted-up spring-board
wagon, brush and all.
Who had the most to do with knock
ing it down, I am sure don't know.
It was free scrabble. One of the
half-hogsheads tipped over in such a
way as to completely shut Grant, the
colored boy, under it all but his
shanks; and, as the fore wheels of the
wagon lay partly across the bottom of
the hogshead, he was caught fast.
The noise he made was as nothing
compared with the racket the German
was making for the other hogshead had
fallen partly over him and he was
kicking at an unknown wild beast,
whose growls mixed with his shouts.
"Anse, ware bees your" we heard him
calling out in reproachful tones.
The moment we had extricated our
selves from the brush and stakes, Dins-
more and sprang to our feet and tried
to take in the situation.
It was too dark to see much. The
brush was swapping and the hogshead
bobbing up and down; and just then a
savage, growing head of some animal
was thrust repeatedly out betwixt the
spokes of one of the hind wheels OF the
capsized sprjng-board.
Anse, who had seized upon the camp
axe, let it drive at the GROWERS head
His first stroke knocked two spokes out |
of tie wheel. At the next plunge, the
animal came head and shoulder through |
the gap. But had secured one of the
guns, and at this juncture, by great
good luck, shot it.
Almost with the report, Vert, who
he'd been making frantic efforts to get
out through the brush on the back
side, scrambled to his feet, shouting:
"Sharles, pc careful ware you shoots
Whole dozen dem puck shots go puzz
by my ear"
Its bear" said ALT, peeping be-
tween the spokes of the wheel; but be-
fore we had time to haul out the car
cass, or even get Grant from under the
hogshead tub, another bear came slid
ing down the rocks with a scratch and
Il growl, and fell sprawling into the
ashes and still glowing embers of the
fire. A perfect smother of ashes and
Goals flew up. 1t must have been
warm lighting for the old chaps feet.
He whirled around with low yelp,
and leaped over some logs at the lower
end of our shed.
L had Just time to cock my left bar
rel and fire ! $ his hind legs disappeared
over the logs. We heard him give a
growl as the shot struck him, but had
no time to look for him, or even to see
where he went to, for Vert had set up
a great cutlery.
"Queek, Anse! queek, Sharles, nit
your goon! In de holler up de rock
Don'd you hears him VOW? Anoder
Won comm down."
Sure enough, there was another bear
looking out of a great assure, twenty
five or Thirty feet up, growing, and
making as if to descend. L could
plainly see its head, and moment after
it turned to come down, tail first.
"Zhoust you bark, poys!" exclaimed
Vert. "Only hear dem singh"
If there had been a whole menagerie
shut up back among the rocks, it could
hardly have made more music, growl
ing, whining and roaring.
There must be an awful big den
back in those rocks, and it's just bilin'
over full of EN-"
Every minute or two head would