Wichita eagle., 1886-09-23
9ai1YR eagle
SERGT. LONGS SHOT.
A BEAR KILLED WHICH SAVED THE
GREELY PARTY FROM STARVING.
Weakened Men Excited by the News
That Brufn Was in Their Neighbor-
hood-A Long Chase Over the Ice-Kill-
ing the Brute.

scarcely more than mentioned In the accounts
OF Starvation camp He says: "The day
before we came to our last round of rations
had discovered the tracks of a bear. had
followed them about until was exhausted
trying to meet the beast, but had utterly
failed. This day a light snow fell III sne
morning. Just enough to obscure the trall,
but still l hunted. 1 gave it up late IN the
afternoon ard returned to the camp. Brain
erd had gone to the shrimping ground and
was still absent when / laid by my gun.
Suddenly he 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 lie 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 it,
"'Bear! bear. was all he could answer, in
a choking whisper.
"'Where, man, wherer / cried, reaching
for my gun, all trembling and quivering with
hope and fear.
'''There, he said, family, pointing towards
the ridge; 'he followed after me; he's
coming
IN "A ISRtEC FRENZY.
"How can / tell the terrible excitement that
prevailed. The men were in a perfect frenzy.
Cruel suffering had made them worse than
unreasonable. Some of them could think of
nothing but cursing poor Brainerd for not
killing the bear, and were with difficulty re-
strained from falling upon him to wrea1 ven
geance. He did not take his gun with him.
Nobody ever did who went shrmping, ard
they cursed and raved at that and burst into
tears at their last chance for life. Others
and they were the weakest men in the
party-were for starting out at once for an
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 a gun and firing ac-
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 few minutes, but it seemed
an hour Jan, the Esquinau and 1 started
up the ridge to meet the bear if he should con-
tinue towards.us.
Hardly had we got rod from the camp
when n long white nose appeared over an ice
covered rock at the top of the hills The men
set UP shout and / think it unnerved me,
but it was long range shot, nearly 800 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 time
TO give the Esquimau q chance at him and
turned tail and ran 1 heard the howls and
groans of disappointment and rage behind
me- 1 believe that some of those poor half
starved, balf-frozen men would have shot at
me in their anger if they had had their guns
at hand.
Jan L said hastily, take the course to the
left and so round the ridge and keep well to
the west so as TO get between the bear and the
water. l will go in the same way on the
east
The faithful Esquimau understood the plan
at once, and set out without word I
crawled to the top of the ridge as fast as
could, and saw the bear long way out of
range still on the run. He turned round for
n Secoad and looked back, and then. as if
satisfied that he was pursued, continued his
flight | didn't go straight after him, but
keeping out of his sight as 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 l fell to the ground 1t
was a terrible chase May 1 never have
another like it!
A LONG CHASE
1T seems incredible now, bat | actually
went ten miles out of my way to get in front
of that bear. knew that he would stop run
ming when he got over his scare and saw no
body in pursuit, ard 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 had no idea Of
giving up. | plunged on, and at last, two
hours and half after leaving camp, gained
the position wanted. | climbed low hill, |
and there was bruin ] 900 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 think il 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. aud seemed not to know whether !
to run again or stand and make q fight of it, |
i resisted the temptation to fire at him until |
was within 100 yards. Thea | stopped run
ming, threw my cap down, pulled off my nit |
tens and acted deliberately Is if | were |
practising at target. 8iy excitement seemed |
to leave me. or, rat or, to make me steady. /
took long, careful aim and fired The bear |
turned slightly, but it was evident that had |
missed. 1 fired again quickly. Another miSsl /
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 l should fail again, l took I
another long aim.
"The bullet struck the bear in the head, and /
he tumbled over instantly stone dead.
ut was $50 o'clock. and the place where |
bI1lin 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 III bringing the carcass
home. We did not sleep that night until the
dead bear was brought into camp. The lieu
tenant gave out extra rations to the men who
assisted III the work, and made up 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 1t in Its turn gave out the rescuing expe-
dition found us. New York Letter.
Strawberry and Cream,
Some one writes from West Point of a
young lady in white dress, who was "play-
ing tennis with all her might and a small boy,"
that her red face above her white dress re-