Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-05
OSITO.

On the lofty mountain that faced the
Captains cabin, the frost had already
made an insidious approach, and the
slender thickets of quaking ash that
marked the course of each tiny torrent,
now stood out in Respondent hues and
shone afar off like gay ribbons running
through the d%ark-green pines. Cor
geously. too, with scarlet, crimson and
gold, CLEANED the lower spurs, where
the oak-brush grew in dense masses
and bore beneath q blaze of color a
goodly harvest of acorns, now ripe and
loosened in their cups.
1t was where one of these spurs
Joined the parent mountain, where the
oak-brush grew thickest and, as a con-
sequence, the acorns were most album
dant, that the Captain, well versed in
woodcraft mysteries, had built his bear
trap. For two days he had been en-
gagged upon it, and now, as the evening
drew on he sat contemplating it with
satisfaction as a work finished and per-
fected.
From his station there, on the breast
OF the lofty mountain, the Captain
could scan many an acre of somber pine
forest with pleasant little parks inter-
spersed, and here and there long slopes
brown with bunch grass. He was the
lord of this wild domain. And yet his
sway there was not undisputed. Be-
hind an intervening spur to the west
ward ran an old Indian trail long tray
elcd by the Southern Utes in their mi
g%rations north for trading and hunting
purposes. And even now a light. smoke
waited upward on the evening air told
OF a band encamped on the trail on
their homeward journey to the south
west.
The Captain needed not this visual
token of their proximity. He had been
aware of it for several days. Their
calls at his cabin in the. lonely little
paEk below had been frequent, and they
had been specially solicitous Of his
coffee, his sugar, his biscuit and other
delicacies, insomuch that once or twice
during his absence these ingenious
children of nature had, with primitive
simplicity, enteredh his cabin and helped
themselves without leave or stint.
However, as he knew their stay
would be short, the Captain bore these
n%eighborly attentions with mild for
bearance. 1t "a guests more grace
less than these who had reused his
wrath.
From their secret haunts far back to-
wards the Snowy Range, the bears had
come down to feast upon the ripencd
acorns, and so doing, had scented the
Captains bacon and sugar afar off and
had prowled by night about the cabin.
Nay, more, three days before, the
Captain, having gone hurriedly away
and left the door, loosely fastened, upon
his return had found all in confusion.
Many of his eatables had vanished, his
flour-sack was ripped open and, I'M
kindest cut of all, his beloved books lay
scattered about. At the first indignant
glance, the Captain had cried out:
''Utes again!" But on looking around
he saw a tell-tale trail left BY flourv
bear paws.
Hence this bear trap.
1t was but a strong log pen floored
with rough-hewn slabs and fitted with
a ponderous movable lid made OF other
slabs pinned on stout cross-pieces. But
satisfied with his handiwork the Cap
tain now arose and prying up one end
of the lid with a lever, set the trigger
and baited it with a huge piece of
bacon. He then piled q great quantity
of rock upon the already heavy lid to
further guard against the escape of any
bear so unfortunate as to enter, and
shouldering his ak and rifle walked
homewards.
Whatever vengeful visions of captive
bears he was indulging. in, were. how
ever, wholly dispelled as he drew near
the cabin. Before the door stood the
Ute chief accompanied by two squaws.
''How!" said the chieftain, with a con-
ciliating smile, laying n hand on his
breast Of bronze and extending the
other as the Captain approached.
"How!!' returned the Captain blufhy,
disdaining the hand with a recollection
of sundry petty thefts.
elias the great Captain seer a pap
poose about his wigwam?" asked the
chief, nowise abashed, in Spanish
language which many of the Southern
Utes speak as tluently a. their own.
- The great Captain had expected a re-
quest for a biscuit; he, therefore, was
naturally surprised at being asked for a
baby. With an effort he mustered to-
esther his Spanish phrases and man.
aged to reply that he had seen no pap
poose.
..Me pappoose lost, '.-said one of the
Ssquaws, brokenly. And there was so
much distress in her voice that the Cap
tain, forgetting instantly all about the
slight depredations OF his dusky neigh
bors, volunteered to aid them in their
search for the missing child.
All that night, for it was by this time
nearly dark, the hills flared with pine
torches and resounded with the shrill
cries of the squaws, the whoops of the
warriors, the shouts OF the Captain; but
the search was fruitless.
This adventure drove the bear-trap
from the builders mind, and it was two
days before it occurred to him to go
there in quest Of captive bears.
Coming in view OF it he Immediately
saw the lid was down. Hastily he ap.
preached, bent over, and peeped in.
And certainly in the whole of his adj
v%enturous life the Captain was never
more taken by surprise; for there,
crouched in mi corner, was that pre-
cious Indian infant.
Yes, true it was, that all those mas
siye timbers, all that pcnderous mass
of rock, had only availed to capture one