Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-03-12

81 never saw but one ella monster In
my life," said Kickapoo Jim, who was
sitting beside me, sand I'll never forget
him. Do you see this SCARF" he con-
tinued, barring his left arm, and show
ing terrible scar extending nearly from
the shoulder to the elbow. ''Ihere's
where he chewed me, and felt mighty
lucky to get off with my life.
seTell us about i'll" we cried, in cho-
rus, and drew closer around the fire.
''It's not much of story" began
Jim modestly; "but such as it is you
shall have it.
cit was eight years ago, if remem-
Der rightly, when it all happened. I was
at Ell Paso, and was engaged by party
of prospectors to guide them into the
Sierra Madre, where they had an
idea that there was plenty of gold and
silver.
owe were well QUILTED, and crossing
| the river, took course due west, aim
ing to strike the head of Lake GUziman.
sFrom the lake we shaped our course
southwest, and after two days travel
struck the mountains.
''We established a camp at q place
where the boss prospector thought there
were mineral indications, and while the
rest of the outfit wandered around
pounding rocks and digging holes, I
stayed about camp, did the cooking, and
kept up the fresh meat supply.
"Game was plenty, and could Jump
up deer any day a half-mile from
camp. The country was pretty rough,
and I had a great deal of difficulty in
| getting my game back to camp after
it was killed.
Zone morning left camp and took a
new course, climbing to the top of a
high, fat mountain, about mile and a
half distant.
81 reached the top after an hours
| hard climbing, and although I found
plenty of antelope signs, and allowed
| several punches to pass me, [ did not
| fire at this meaner game, trusting to run
upon black deer.
81 was unsuccessful in my search,
however, and, after tramping around for
two or three hours, had turned back to
the spot where I had climbed the
mountain, considerably Disguised with
my ill-luck.
''Just before reached the head of the
path billy and two nanny antelopes
passed me. We were entirely out of
fresh meat, and I thought that antelope
tenderloin was a good deal better eating
| than fat bacon. So blazed away at the
| billy. He wasn't more than fifty yards
| distant when fred, and it was an easy
shot.
81 knew by the way he jumped at
he was hit and from the fact that he left
the nannies and bounded toward the edge
OF the mountain.
''They were lodging in and out
among the rocks, and were 200 yards
away before l got shot, which I
missed. [ looked around after the billy,
but he had disappeared. You know
they are mighty hard to kill, and run q
long way after they are MORALLY
wounded. So 1 took up his trail and
followed it matter of $50 yards to the
edge of the mountain.
"'He must have died Just as he
reached the cliff, for I saw his body
about thirty feet below on q narrow
bench.
''There was no way to climb down to
this bench, but the billy looked fat and
! was determined not to lose my tender
loins, so laying aside my rifle and six
shooter, and stripping off my coat, I
made fast my rope to big rock and
lowered myself to the shelf.
g had taken along my butcher knife,
and, after bleeding him, skinned the
hams and cut out the tenderloins.
81 was busy tying the meat into a
bundle with my rope, intending to haul
it up to the top of the mountain, when
[ heard a hiss in my ear, and, wheeling
around quickly, came face to face with
the biggest ella monster I had ever
heard tell of.
''BOys, he looked as large as an ele-
plant, and the cloud of steam that
came out of his nose was worse than
the blow-off of Mississippi steamboat.
1t was SO strong that it blinded my eyes
and made me gasp for breath. I could
see his little eyes glazing at me like
Goals of fire. and his mouth was wide
open.
''He was so close when [ first saw
him that had no time to retreat, and
l just braced myself and lunged out
with my knife. [ put out my left
arm as shield, and the varmint
grabbed it. His sharp teeth sank to
the bone and he hung on like a bull
dog. [ kept slashing at his throat
with my knife, and every time ran
the blade in to the handle. He
thrashed around considerable, and we
rolled over and over on that narrow
ledge, and l expected every minute
we'd tumble over the brink, but we
didn't, and did such good work with
my knife that be got weaker and weak.
er.
Give fought grizzlies hand to hand,
had desperate tussles with painters and
catamounts, and been tortured by Iniuns
but I'll swear to you that two-minute
fight beat them all.
''I was covered with blood, and when
ne finally let go his hold on my arm, I
was SO sick and weak from the vapor he
had breathed on me, that 1 couldn't
crawl away from him even.
81 lay there along side of him for
matter of ten minutes before [ got
strength enough to stagger to my feet.
and although / bound up my arm with
prickly-pear, it was good two hours,
and / made more than twenty trials, be-
fo,.o 7 vOoonoOo1 10 -oo~-co1F - IL.