The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-12-02
SERGT. LONGS SHOT.
A BEAR KILLED WHICH SAVED THE
GREELY PARTY FROM STARVING.
Weakened Men Excited by the News
That Bruin Was in Their Neighbor-
hood-A Long Chase Over the Ice-Kill-
ing the Brute.

Sergt. Francis Long, Of Brooklyn, survi-
vor Of the Greedy Arctic expedition, tells the
following bear story. which has hitherto been
scarcely more than mentioned In the accounts
of Starvation camp. He says: The day
before we came to our last round of TatiOns l
had discovered the tracks of a bear. had
followed them about until l was exhausted
trying to meet the beast, but had utterly
failed. This day a light snow fell in The
morning, just enough TO obscure the trail,
bat still I hunted. l gave it up late in the
afternoon and returned to the camp. Brain
erl had gone To the shrimpng ground and
was still absent when [ laid by my gun.
Suddenly be appeared, running down Gene
terry ridge as fast as his poor weak legs would
bring him We all started up and waited
his coming in the most painful excitement.
When he reached the camp he fell to the
ground all cut of breath. The men crawled
to his assistance and two of them raised his
head in their arms He gasped and looked
at Us wildly.
.Brainerd,' exclaimed the lieutenant,
what is itr
Bear! bear" was all he could answer, in
a choking whisper
"'Where, man, wheren I cried, reaching
for my gun, all trembling and quivering with
hope and fear.
There. he said, family, pointing towards
coming.
IN \ PERFECT FRENZY.
How can | tell the terrible excitement that
prevailed! The men were in perfect frenzy.
Cruel suffering had made them worse than
unreasonable. Some of them could bhink of
nothing but cursing poor Brainerd for not
killing the bear, and We're with difficulty re-
strained from falling upon him to wreak ven
geance. He did not take his gun with him
they cursed and raved at that and burst into
tears at their last chance for life Others
and they were the weakest men i'll the
party-were for starting out at once for
all night hunt over the snow fields and ice
bergs. Nothing could be more fOOlhardy
They couldn't have gone beyond the top of
the ridge without breaking down, to say
nothing of carrying gun and firing &C
Curately. The lieutenant used his authority
and my influence to quiet the men, and at
last the plan of the hunt was arranged. 1t
was really only a few minutes, but it seemed
an hour. Jan, the Esquimau, and L started
up the ridge to meet the bear if he should con-
tinue towards us.
Hardly had we got a rod from the camp
when long white nose appeared over an ice
covered rock at the top of the hills. The men
set up shout and I think it unneryed me,
but it was a long range shot, nearly 300 yards,
and the target was small. l raised my gun,
and, taking quick aim. fired. The ball missed,
but it did not go wide of its mark. The bear
was startled He paused just too short a time
to give the Esquimau a chance at him and
turned tail and ran | heard the bowls and
groanS of disappointment and rage behind
me. l believe that some of those poor half
starved. half-frOzen men would have shot at
me in tEseir anger if they had had their guns
at hand.
jan 1 said hastily, take the course to che
left and go round the ridge and keep well to
the west so as to get between the bear and the
water. 1 will go in the same way on the
east
The faithful Esquimau understood the plan
at once, and set out without word. l
crawled to the top of the ridge as fast as l
could and saw the bear a long way out of
range still on the run. He turned round for
a second and looked back, and then, as if
satisfied that he was pursued, continued his
flight l didn't go straight after him, but
keeping out of his sight much as possible,
crawled, and ran, and slid up and down the
icy slopes, making all the time for the water.
was feverish with fear. 1t seemed as if
every possible obstruction got in my way,
and many time [ fell to the ground. 1t
was a terrible chase. May 1 never have
another like it!
A LONG CHASE.
at seems incredible now, but l actually
went ten miles out of my way to get in front
of that bear l knew that he would stop run
ming when he got over his scare and saw no
body in pursuit and | had to take this round
about course to keep out of sight. Mighty
little of that distance was passed on the run.
Most of it was crawled. But 1 had no idea of
giving up. l plunged on, and at last, two
hours and half after leaving camp, l gained
the position | wanted. / climbed low hill.
and there was bruin 1000 yards away, sitting
down after his hard run, within thirty feet of
open water. | had not succeeded fully in my
plan. He could still escape but his back was
toward me and | did not despair. Almost at
the same moment that | saw the bear | dis
covered Jan, the Esquimau, at some distance,
and we both made for the beast. With the
utmost care not to alarm him we crawled
over the ground, approaching nearer and
nearer to our prey. We had got perhaps half
the distance when Jan raised his gun and
fired. l think it was bad judgment, for we
might have got much closer. But there was
no time for regret. Excitement gave me
more strength and [ ran with all my might
straight toward the bear. He got up and
looked at me, ana seemed not to know whether
to run again o. stand and make fight of it.
l resisted the temptation to fire at him until
l was within $50 yards. Then 1 stopped run
tens and acted as deliberately as if l were
practising at a target My excitement seemed
to leave me, or, rat er, TO make me steady. |
took long, careful aim and fired The bear
turned slightly, but it was evident that had
missed. fired again quickly. Another miss!
My heart sunk low Jan had not been able
to get another shot, and was not now where
he could fire with any hope of hitting The
bear began to make for the water Ready to
die with despair if | should fail again, took
another long aim.
THE bullet struck the bear in the head, and
he tumbled over instantly, stone dead
at was $50 o'clock, and the place where
bruin fell was three miles in a straight line
from camp We left the 400 pounds of food
lying on the ice and returned to the anxious
party to get help in bringing the carcass
home. We did not sleep that night until the
dead bear was brought into camp The lieu
tenant gave out extra Tations to the men who
assisted in the work, and made up a stew of
all the scraps that were left of the regular
rations. 1t wasn't much, but it seemed quite
a feast to us. The bear saved us, for just be-
fore it in its turn gave out the rescuing expe-
dition found us. New York Letter.
strawberry and Cream.
Some one writes from West Point of q
yomE lady in Il white dress, who was play
inc tennis with all Ter might and small boy, So
that her red face above her white dress re-
! sembled Il strawberry on top of plate ot
IA.