The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1888-07-26
kRD: jAGKse


the head, and Bruin yelped like a
whipped dog. But he kept right on
with his meal of trout. At that mo-
ment, much to my surprise, Bruce re-
appeared on the scene He had eyi-
DENLY discovered that he had ceased
to be the one altogether lovely in the
bears estimation, and-had slipped back
to reeonnoitre. Seeing the sudden and
unexpected burst Of courage on my
part he had braced up himself, and as
the stone threw struck the bear the
dog sailed in with amazing fury and
attacked Bruin in the rear. The bear
turned and made an ugly. dash at
Bruce, Bruce retreated with neatness
and despatch, and the bear promptly
returned to his pleasant task of alb
sorbing my catch Of trout Ichucked
stones and Bruce returned to his nip
ping the bears heels, but the bear
simply howled when he was hit and
dashed at the dog at convenient inter
walls. As the trout disappeared one
by one, and with aggravating rapidity,
my courage gradually acted as Bob
Acres did, and, arguing to myself
that Bruin in all probability now had
it in for Bruce and me more than
ever, and that as soon as he had encir-
cled the last Of my trout he would
proceed without hesitation to give his
attention to US, began to put more
space between myself and the bear,
preparatory to a grand and mastery
retreat when the time came I backed
away. Bruce had apparently got on
such good terms with himself that he
imagined the bear was afraid to engage
him in actual conflict, and so he re-
manned on the field, nagging at Bruin.
A LIVELY PROCESSION.
s'The last trout disappeared. The
bear turned and bore down on Bruce
like an animated cyclone. l turned
and ran Bruce in some way or other
evaded the rush Of the bear and fol-
lowed nae. The bear followed Bruce.
The procession was lively one. The
bear being loaded with trout didn't t
make as good time as he might have
done, but it was good enough to suit
me. / was twenty-five feet ahead of
Bruce and Bruce was twenty-five feet
ahead of the bear, and gaining. The
indications were that Bruce would
soon put me second in the race, when
/ caught my foot in root and tum-
bled heels over head. | rolled over
and over and came up on my feet
without making a stop in my course,
but my remarkable drop and my pick
up seemed to confuse my dog, and he
fumbled himself around in the brush
SO that the first thing he knew the
bear was dead onto him. There was
an immediate ENHANCEMENT of bear
and dog, and during the diversion |
made for tree. / had never climbed
a tree in my life, but / wasn't the
whisk Of a lambs tail in shining up
that one. As soon as | got there /
turned to take a survey of the field.
Il don't know how it ever happened,
but my dog had managed to disentan-
gle himself from the bear and was
even then busy in putting great gaps
of daylight between himself and Bruin.
It may have been that my trout had
amply rewarded the bear for his days
sport, or it may have been that in the
little wrangle between him and the
dog the latter had developed points
that surpassed the bear, but whichever
it might have been, Bruin stopped f.
nallY, gazed after the dog, cast a
glance at me safely crouching in the
branches Of the tree, and then turned
and slouched back towards the brush.
ST was not inclined to lay the
slightest obstacle in the way Of the
bears departure, but Bruce. who had
stopped In his wild fight. seemed sud-
denly to have come under the control
of the old boy himself; and what did
he do but bristle up and start after
that retreating bear as If he hadn't t
had experience enough with it already
to satisfy any dog that ever lived.
The bear was either unaware Of
Bruce's advance or didn't care any
thing about it, for it was not until
the dog nipped him in one of the hind
legs that he turned. The turn was a
fierce one, and Bruce came tearing
back towards my tree again, faster
than he had gone away. The bear
stood a moment gazing after the dog,
as though undecided what to do with
him. Then he seemed to have made
up his mind that the best thing to do
would be to settle the pestiferous dog
once and for all, and he started after
Bruce at rate Of speed that would
have surprised race horse. Bruce
apparently looked upon position in
under my tree as safe and impregna-
BILE one, but the bear quickly stormed
it. Bruce started and ran in a circle
around and around the tree, and the
bear followed. For at least five min
utes that circus was kept up. The
bear couldn't get nearer than one good
jump to Bruce, but the dog wasn't at
all happy for all that. At last the
bear got tired Of the chase and