The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-12-22
The HostieTs Story.
TcoS71srED.1

"She hardly knew what she did, but just
followed her instinct, and ran with Johnny
IN her arms or dragging him after her, tc
vhere her husband was chopping.
aWelI." continued the one-eyed hostler
"I need not try to describe what followed.
They went back to the house and Rush tool
b;s rifle and started Oh tie track of the
haar. vowing that Le would no. come
haek without Gather the Child or the bear:
hide.
.The news went like will fire through the
seHlemeut In an hour and half dozf q
men with their dogs were on the track
With Rush. 1t was so much trouble for him
to follow the trail that they soon overlook
him with the help of the dogs.
~But in spite of them the bear got into
the mountains. Two of the dogs came up
with him, and one, the only one that could
follow scent, had his back broken by a stroke
Of his paw After that it was impossible to
track him, and one after another of the
hunters gave up and returned home.
"At last Rush was left alone, but nothing
could induce him to turn back. He shot
some small game in the mountains, which
be cooked for his supper, slept on the
cround and started on the trail again in the
morning
"Alons in tie afternoon he came in sight
Of the bear as be was crossing the stream.
He had a good shot at him rs he was climb
mo the bank on the other side The bear
kept on, but it was easier tracking him after
that by his blood.
sThat evening a hunter, haggari. his
clothes all in tatters, found his way to a
backwootsman's hut over in Whites valley.
It was Rush. He told his story in few
words as he rested on a stool. He had
found no traces of his child, but he killed
the bear Il was Old Two Claws. He had
left him on the hills, and come to the settle
ment for help.
The hunt had taken him roundabout
course, and he was then not more than
seven miles from home, The Eext day, gun,
in hand, with the bear skin strapped to his
baek-the carcass had been given to- his
friend the backwoodslnan-he started to re-
turn by an easier way through the woods.
ut was sad revenge he had Lad, but
there was a grim sort OF satisfaction in lug
ging home the hide of Old Two Claws.
"As he came in sight of his log house out
ran his wife to meet him, with-what do
you suppose? little Johnny dragging at her
skirts, and the lost child i'll her arms.
'Then for the first time. the man dropped,
but he didn't &c. down any further than his
knees He clung to his wife and baby, and
thanked God fer the miracle. But it WASH t
much of miracle, after all
"Little Johnny had been playing around
the door, and lost sight of the baby-and
maybe forgotten oil about him-when he
stnyed into the woods and saw the bear
4ucu u6 remembered sllk lie uit,t UeuTu OF
the danger of being carried off and eaten,
and Of course he had terrible fright
When asked about his little brother he didn t
know any thing about him, and suppose
really imagined that the bear had got him
''But the baby had crawled into snug
place under the side of the rain trough, and
there he was, fast asleep all the while
Then he woke up two or three hours after,
and the mother heard him cry; her husband
was far away on the hunt.
'True-this story I've told. you:" added
the one-eyed hostler, as some one questioned
him. Every word of it,"
but your name is Rush, isn't it,
The one eye twinkled humorously.
my name is Rush. My uncle's brother
n-law was my own father"
"And you?" exclaimed a bystander.
": said the one-eycd hostler, "am the
very man who warn't eaten by the bear
when was baby!"