The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-06-28
A HUNTERS PLIGHT.

Twenty years ago, before the disap-
ace OF the buffalo, and before the
power of the fighting tribes of Indians
was broken, white man could get al
most any sort of adventure west of
Omaha at very early hour in the morn
ing. The Blue Mountain country of
Oregon, in which rise two of the
brauc ches Of tho Columbia river, was
onco hunters paradise, and here it
was the cinnamon and the grizzly bears
grew the largest and were always ach-
ing for a row with some one. The first
white men in there after pelts chanced
so many perils that it was almost mir
acle if any of them got out alive. The
Indians were numerous and watchful,
bears and panthers as thick as mice in
a farm house, and an adventure of some
sort was suro to occur daily.
| Ihad been in bit Of covo or valley
on the eastern side of the mountains
for ten or twelve days before l got any
thing like a scare. 1t was within forty
miles of the south line of Washington
Territory, and the country for a hun
dred miles around me was in the same
savage state as when Columbus dis
covered tho continent. The Indians
were further east, on the Snake river,
or further west, on the Columbia and its
branches, and only detached parties
were to bc feared. While this was
great burden off my mind, the bears
and panthers were so numerous that l
was in a state of constant alarm through
tho day, and dared not shut both eyes
to sleep at night. l had pack and
riding mule, and on the first night of
my arrival, while had bright fire
burning, and the animals were tethered
within stones throw, apanther sprang
upon old Bob, my riding mule, and
clawed him in terrible way before l
| could get near enough to settle him
with a bullet. Three or four bears
prowled around my camp all night,
and the screams of a panther kept my
eyes open until daybrcak. However,
after l had thinned out the colony by a
dozen or fifteen, the varmints began to
give mo rest.
On the 10th or 11th day of my stay l
left camp at an early hour in the morn
ing loaded for bear. followed the val
ley up for half mile, and then turned
into ravine which was tho bed OF o
creek during the melting of the SHOWS.
1t ascendcd very gradually, and l had
been following it for half an hour, when
it took sharp bend to the right. At
this point there was u hole ia the right
hand cliff, and as l halted to look at it
l wondered if it was not the home of
some savage beast. had moved on
about 500 feet, when grizzly, which
had been lying down among tho broken
rocks, suddenly rose before me. was
looking for his kind, but his appearanc ce
was so sudden, and he showed fight SO
quickly that my heart was beating alto
gether too fast as pulled up for shot.
1t had to be snap shot, for not more
than 80 feet separated us. Mine was a
single barreled rifle, and l also had a
knife and revolver. Tho bullet struck
bruin in the left shoulder, aud he spun
around dozen times like top. was
reloading when he got ready to form a
closer acquaintance. He had worked
up the ravine and had worked down,
and wo were now 100 feet apart.
knew could not finish loading before
he reached me, and there was no other
way but to run for it and hope that he
was too seriously wounded to overtake
me.
In those days could run like horse,
and was accustomed to all sorts OF
ground, but l hadn't made ten Jumps
on this occasion before my foot slipped
on a stone and l went down with a
crash. Old grizzly was within twenty
feet of me when got up and pitched
my rifle into his face as I took a new
start. The roar he uttered lifted me q
foot high, and made dozen cxtraor-
binary leaps, but it wasn'ta minute be-
fore realized that he was holding his
ground, if not gaining little. No man
can guess how far a wounded and en-
ragged beast will pursue him. believe
could have kept clear of this bear
down to the mouth of the ravine, but il
he pursued ne far enough ho would be
certain to ovcrtake me. l made up my
mind as ran that would try the hole
in the cliff. 1t was large enough fol-
me to enter, and might be large enough
for the bear, but once inside l could
turn and use my revolver. Old grizzly
was hardly more than rod behind me
,, when l plumbed into the hole and
scrambled ahead on hands and knees.
After going in about ten feet the hole
turned to tho left and narrowed consi |
erably, and seven or eight feet further
on l came to the end. As did SO my
hand encountered something soft and
furry, and there was hiss and a spit
that told me that kitten pan cher wa:
, present. felt all around me in The
!, black darkness, but the kitten was the
t only living object. He was little fel
low, not more than four or six week.
' old, but ready to bite aud scratch if m,
fnger touched him.