Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-02
UND MYSELF FLYING THROUGH THE
OPEN AIR.

and then again | struck the mountain. /
had passed over dreadful gully at least
100 feet in the clear, and the thought
flashed across me that | had at least got
rid Of the bear. But hot breath upon my
neck convinced me Of my error. The bear
had also crossed the gully in safety and
was still gaining upon me. He evidently
felt that he had me, and gave a savage
roar of triumph, which sounded above
the roar and din of the avalanche. l was
saved by miracle. | glanced over my
head just in time to see a huge boulder
crush the bears skull and bound harm
lessly over my head. But, while the
bear was out of the race, the odds
were largely in favor of a snow
slide for winner. Already the drift
ing snow was above my knees, and l
expected mOmentarily to share the
fate Of the bear from some of the bOulders
hurled out of the terrible mass of moving
matter so close behind. | had still a mile
and half to go, and while l was sweep
ing along with almost lightning speed the
conviction was growing upon me that l
would soon be a part of the snow-slide.
Suddenly, as if by inspiration, a thought
flashed through my mind. 1t was that l
could increase my speed by adding to my
specific gravity. | cast my eve quickly
to one side, and seeing a boulder bound
out OF the mass of matter | grasped it in
my arms. The effort almost cost me my
life, for if the snow had not been piled up
to my armpits l would doubtless have
been carried off my feet. In an instant
L saw that had reasoned correctly, for
MY SPEED BEGAN TO INCREASE AT A
FRIGHTFUL RATE.
I fairly flew along, and before had made
half a mile more of the distance the snow
around me scarcely covered my snow
shoes, and bOulders were quietly sailing
along by my side, sometimes knocking
greatly against me, but doing me no
harm.
''The speed was too great to keep my
head and for a moment | must have lost
consciousness. When | came to myself.
l felt my speed greatly diminished. In an
instant l realized the situation. L had
struck the gulch, and was sweeping over
it at a still frightful speed, but with the
dreadful snOw-slide tumbling down upon
my head. In an instant | threw the
boulder away and dropped my rifle and
staff and prepared myself for dash up
the opposite mountain in the hope of get
ting above the tremendous torrent which
was filling up the gulch. / seemed to
bound into the air as / struck the mountain
ana swept up its side, carried on by the
fearful impetus which had attained The
great wave struck the mountain too, and
exhausted its fury in one wild dash which
raised a column of snow hundreds of feet
in height and shook the hills with its deaf
ening roar. The column fell and closed
around me, burying me completely under
it just where l had come to a standstill.
l put up my hand and felt the open air
above me and knew that was safe. /
worked my shoes up as an incline and
soon found myself on top of the snow.
looked around me and all was quiet again.
l knew that there was no need to search
for my horse, as he was buried beneath
hundreds OBJECT of snow and rock: but pro-
truding through the snow L saw the foot of
a grizzly bear. l went over and pulled it
out. 1t was the bone and foot, that was
all, but it was evidently portion of the
cause of the trouble. threw it over my
shoulder and walked to Breckenridge,
where 1 dined upon the bears meat"