The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-01-29


would find him. BY the time the first
class in geography was called, and To-
bias was made to stand in the floor for
making faces at Nehemiah Simpkins
they had almost forgotten about it.
Little Jake had been jOlted off at one
of those thank-you-ma' ans as he sat
unconcernedly hugging the dinner
basket, and whistling to keep his toes
warm. And they were laughing and
shouting so on the sled, and the snow
made such a crunching, and bells such
a jingling that they could not hear him
call. The sled whisked out of sight
around Daddy Long-Iegs, and he was
left all alone in the 1ogging-road, with
deep, dark evergreen woods on each
side, and mountains of snow-drifts
everywhere. Jake did not once think
of being afraid, but he knew it would
be impossible for him to get to school
or to get home through the deep snow.
''Td better 90 do down to the log
ging-camp. It can't be more than
and they'll have a fire, - he said to him
self.
His hands and feet ached so with the
cold that he could scarcely keep the
tears out of his eyes, but he wasn't 60
ing to cry, like baby, for the cold
not little Jake.
He started bravely towards the camp,
but suddenly he caught sight of huge,
dark, moving mass on the edge OF the
woods, a few PAGES ahead of him. A
bear! Jake knew at once that it was,
although he had never seen one before.
Bears were not numerous in that re-
giOn, but Jake had heard that one had
been seen by some hunters, and all
Squire Dayton's sheep had been killed
by one.
Little Jake was paralyzed with fear
for one moment; the next he ran;
through the deep snow beside the road
he plunged and struggled, and into the
woods. He heard the snow crunching
under the heavy feet of the monster
behind him. A sudden thought struck
him.
perhaps the bear likes apple pie
and cheese. He might stop for it on
his way to eat me, and give me time to
get away"
The dinner-basket still hung on his
arm, and he opened it and threw out
behind him some apple pie and cheese.
The ground was comparatively free
from snow in the woods, for the trees
had sheltered it, but the growth was
very thick and it was hard to make
ones wav through. But Jake scrambled
and pushed along courageously. He
dared not look behind him, but at every
few PAGES he threw back some pie and
cheese to tempt the bears appetite and
delay him. If Tobias had only been
there he would have known what bears
like to eat, for he was always reading
books on natural history. Jake knew
they liked small boys to eat; he could
only hope that this bear might have an
appetite for pastry.
He stopped at last, because he was
exhausted. He was in the very heart
of the woods. The basket was empty.
He ventured to look back. There was
nothing to be seen of the monster he
feared; there was no sound except the
wind in the trees.
Before him was an opening between
two great rocks that seemed to lead
straight into the side of hill. Jake
peeped in. 1t seemed warm and cozy
in there, and it was a good hiding
place from the bear, and he crawled in.
His fatigue and the warmth of the place
caused drowsiness. He did not see the
glittering eyes in a distant corner, and
if he heard low growing he thought
it was the wind. And so, in the bear S
cave, in the heart of the woods, miles
from his home, little Jake fell asleep.
When Luke reached the logging
road and saw no little Jake he imme-
diately concluded that he had gone to
the logging-camp, and went there as
fast as Jolly would carry him. The
men there had seen nothing of him,
and then Luke thought he must have
tried to get home. Back he went, and
looking carefully along the road he
saw a sight that made his heart stand
still. Luke was a hunter, and he
knew a bears tracks when he saw
them. 1t was strange that bear
should be about, for they usually went
into their dens for the winter at the
first sign of snow. After all little Jake
might be safe at home; the bear, if he
had seen him would not be very likely
to attack him on a travelled road like
that, he thought, and then there would
have been some signs if anything like
that had happened. Homeward he
drove, stopping at the few scattered
houses along the way to ask if little
Jake had been seen, all in vain. He
looked in vain, too, for small foot
prints in the snow; but somebody with
a team might have picked the little fell
low up, and carried him home. That
was Luke's hope until he reached home.
When he heard that he had not been
seen or heard from there Luke's face
grew very white.
Little Jake's father and several of
the neighbors set out with Luke to seek
for the lost boy, and Luke carried his
gun. The others were surprised at
that; the worst fear they had was that
little Jake had lain down exhausted, in
the snow, and was freezing to death.
Luke kept his own counsel. He
thought it was better not to say any
thing to Jake's father about those bear
tracks.
But when the party reached the
logging-road little Jake's father saw
something that Luke had overlooked
small tracks in the snow leading into
the woods. They all hurriedly fol-
lowed them, but once inside the wood
the ground was so bare of snow that
they could not be seen. But Luke, who
was ahead, suddenly raised shout.
'Applepie and cheesel Little Jake
has been hereP'
'''Some of the wood-eutters may
have left it here said one of the
party.
But Luke and little Jake's father
knew well enough that it had como out
| of the dinner-basket.
Here is more-and herer' cried
Luke. HE has made trail of it.
And they followed the trail with
| difficulty, going out of the way often,
| but before noon they had reached the
opening in the hillside which little
| Jake had thought warm and coy.
There on the ground in front of the
cave lay the empty basket, and little
red mitten. Luke was hurrying into
the cave when rushing, crashing
noise among the trees made him turn,
none too soon. A huge bear was rush
| ing f1riously upon them.