The Red Cloud chief., 1888-11-16

11rn's:3aa5ly for: lf-male throat. and
pitched Il a keynote o! Tho ufmo-: ter
ror. H turned t,wa-c the further side
OF the patch. There he saw the 5.ahe,
in A state o. violco; a.i.a:ion 1T two
point. a slight figure in;ii-ht and 4 big
blacs one In ho. pursuit.. whi.. tine
screams Kept Up. ana mingled with
them were fanny. shor:. SHARP li...e
yelp- and q queer sub-crliar ba-, .iacI-
la.;on TIA: seemed half howl and half
roar.
1t was impo,,ibl. for half 4 rninu..
; 20 tel, what the mischief waS I'D. and
the old who had in,,;nctiv.ly
started toward Tie scene q! the com-nO-
ton AZ the first SQUAD. kept his Weather
eye wide open and his finger upon The
the trigger Of his Winchester. Pre-
sen:iy the figure of the
emerged from the brier bushes. and
] still unde- full, heaiway. dashed Over
the ODc1 ground. covered with NOISY
rock. that led To the edge of;hecanyoa
ami Hank Saw mat il was Papita. the
tif,een-year-oid daughter OF Old Half
breed jim. aying COR dear life from =
big cinnamon bear that wa- f.jrly IL ,k-
Ing q ,wath through In. bricr. in prir-
suit. = va, % more han Two
rois behind her. Both Were going \,
II IL Old Harry wa, after them. aut.
Of coG-.c. j; AL happened almost ia Tie
aa,a OF al eye. From IA. rackIcs,
KAY IN which "A. girl ran o wIrd ne
edg. Of :h- canyon Old Hank wa. sure
SIZE either d!in': In.y ii was there or
wa- Al frightened TIA. she hci forgot
ten IL. la.tinc,ively h. ca.i"d ont;
''L~ook out thar. Pee" IT,. name BY
which :hc girl wa, kuo.n 10 him.
II va, too late. Th.. girl did try e.
check her sped or :, turn 10 one side.
Hank could not be certain which. Tie
saw her cas-. a Siai.c,. over her
shoulder. catca 4 glimpse Of n. great.
angry braS- behind her. whose blooa-
red "y-, lOok.-i death ~ her. and
who's. hot breath blew out threads of
thick ,pume that almost reached her.
She vas then bat q step from the edge
Of the pr-ripice. With Il gesture Of
despair the girl threw up her arms a.,
,hr plunged forward. ana lrapipg
high into ne air. -h. cleared the
brink AMI Disappeared into the yawn-
ing depths ~ tb, dark canyon with "a
wild shrek thai fairly mad, the
hunters blood r'in thick with cold
horror. IL" was near enough 10 hear (
her body ,tr;k. and break the limb, of
a tree whose top wh, just visible from
whsrr he stood. aud then 20. humping
:,nl rolling down the rocky. almost
perpendicular side of the canyon.
Tie whole thing wa- begun ana over
u oriraiy. and "a- - entirely I'M ,
expected ani out of In. common. .ha,
Old Hank stood m~otiDnle-S for = few
scconl-. during which tim. tn. bear
had halted ~ bracia. On his haunche.
and fairly Srootirg along on th.. moss
cov.nea: rock. stopping ~ the brink
and looking stupidity over at IN. abyss
that had cheated il out % it, prey.
just behind IL. boar cam. two cub,
.waddliny along comical!y enough.
evccy now ani then making IN. funny
little ycip thai had al first been heard. |
sight Of them recalled the old man
to himself. Up went hi. rifle. and he
was just pulling tnr trigger when Ii.
remembered that if he shot the bear
Tn. carcass must fall over into the
CANYON and he lost. With a muttcr.d
curse. for the sight of poor Papita's
death hid made him hlooA:hir>ty. n.
lowered the gun. To await the moment
when the bear should ;urn around.
just then occurred one Of those un-
expected things for which neither man
nor bear is ever prepared. \ mountain
grew near where the bear stood
and n It'll. back from the prrcip;ce. 4
great limb stretched out toward the
and from i. descended by a
springa long. dark animal. .
1.-the ana sinewy. which Ii; full upon
,h. shoulders ri the unconscious bear
with Il thud. The shock wu> :, heavy
one and the result: must have been al
most a. great u surprise IL the big
liOu--for such ,he newcomer
wa>-as % the bear. The impetus car
ricd bot, animals over the brink, and
mad disappeared - few seconds before.
An instant later the sounds OF a terri
bic conflict rose from tn. depths into
which they had plunged. mingled with
the hoar>e grOwl> of the bear and the
wild. ear-picr,.ins cries Of :he NOUN
ta;a lion.
Hank ran Ia the spOt and peercd
over. A. he did 50 the cub. skunk
away into the bushes. and for once the
veteran hunter didn't 50 much rs look
after a pair of fine Young bears. What
he saw below him he can best tell him.
self: Il never seed such = sight u my
born days. ner hecrd SIGH = grOwlin'.
ner KEN acrOst SIGH a clawin' an
scratchin': v see. tn varminis he'd
struck tn sidelin' trunk NV :, tres what
2rOwcd u piece below. n it kinder
thrOwed EN- catawumpus like back
tO'rds tn hill. std a down into the
canyon. n they'd liz in a sOrter little
Nat spot atween tn tree n the hill n
got xedged in thar. both hat on Their
side. n 50 clos, tergether they cudnt
git out noways-jc>s like packed in q
box.
"Neither IA had emmy nd vantage.
n neither one cud git out. 50 they stxid
thar'n fit An SIGH iitin'. Tn bar
tried Z hug n cudn't git ahold. He'd {