Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-13
A PANTlIER'S CAVE.

ance of the buffalo, and before the power oi the fighting tribes of Indians was broken, white man could get almost any sort of ad. venture west of Omaha at 8 very early hour in the morning. The Blue mountain country of Oregon, in which rise two of the branches of the Columbia river, was once a hunters
 paradise, and it was there the cinnamon and the grizzly bears grew the largest and were | always aching for row with some one The first few white men in there after pelts ,chanced so many perils that it was almost a miracle If any of them got out alive. The Indians were numerous and watchful, bears | and partners as thick as mice in a farm house and an adventure of some sort was sure to occur daily
 had been in bit of cove or valley on the
 eastern side of the mountains for ten or | twelve days before l got anything like @
 scare It was within forty miles of the south
 line of Washington territory, and the country l for hundred miles around me was in the | same savage state as when Columbus discov- cred the continent The Indians were further | east, on the Snake river, or further west. on | the Columbia and its branches and only de | tached parties were to be feared While this was O great burden off my mind, the bears and partners were so numerous that was in | state of constant alarm through the day, |
 night. l had O pack and a riding mule, and
 on the first night of my arrival, while I had | bright fire burning and the animals were | tethered within a stones throw, a panther l sprang upon old Bob, my riding mule, and
 clawed him in a terrible way before I could | get near enough to settle him with a bullet.
 Three or four bears prowled around my
 camp all night, and the screams of panther
 kept my eyes wide open until daybreak-
 However, after had thinned out the colony
 by a dozen or fifteen, the varmints began to | give me a rest
 On the tenth or eleventh day of my stay
 left camp at an early hour in the morning
 loaded for bear. I followed the valley up | for half a mile, and then turned into a
 ravine which was the bed of a creek during
 the melting of the snows. It ascended very
 gradually, and had been following 1t for
 half an hour when it took sharp bend to
 the right. At this point there was hole in
 the right hand cliff, and as I halted to look
 at it wondered if it was not the home of
 some savage beast had moved on about
 500 feet when grizzly, which had been ly-
 ing down among the broken rocks, suddenly
 rose before me 1 was looking for his kind,
 but his appearance was so sudden and he
 showed fight so quickly that my heart was
 beating altogether too fast as pulled up for a shot. It he'd to be a snap shot, for not
 more than thirty feet separated us. Mine
 was single barreled rife, and I also had a
 knife and revolver The bullet struck bruin
 in the left shoulder, and he spun around a
 dozen times like a top. l was reloading | when he got ready to form a closer acQuaint-
 ance. He had worked up the ravine and
 had worked down, and we were now 100 feet apart I knew I 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 hadn't made ten jumps on this occasion be fore my foot slipped a stone and I went down with a crash. Old grizzly was within twenty feet of me when I got up, and pitched my rife into his face as took a new . start. The roar he uttered lifted me foot high, and made dozen extraordinary leaps but 1t wasn't minute before realized that
 he was holding his ground, if not gaining little. No man can guess how far @ wounded and enraged beast will pursue him. l be , lieve could have kept clear of this down tt the mouth of the ravine, but if he pursued
 me far enough he would be certain to over take me. I made up my mind as ran tha
 would try the hole in the cliff. It wa 7 large enough for me to enter, and might b
 large enough for the bear, but once inside
 could turn and use my revolver. Old grizzl,
 was hardly more than rod behind me whel 1 plunged into the hole and scrambled aheaa f on hands and knees. After going in abou
 ten feet the hole turned to the left and mar
 trowed considerably, and seven or eight fee l further on came to the end. AS did S s my hand encountered something soft am furry, and there was hiss and Q spit tha Il told me that kitten panther was present. IA felt all around me in the black darkness, bu fIo ha opl ivjr EY @ was little fellow, not more than or
 weeks old, but ready to bite and scratch 1 ', my fingers touched him.
 The grizzly did not follow at once into tn IS cave, It was five minutes before heard hir f working his way in, and by this time ha
 recovered my breath and nerve I was cel
 tain he could not reach me within six feet ;. and was rather glad to hear him wheezin u and snorting as he pulled himself along. B o- and by saw his eyes shine. He could com ir no further. His claws dug at the rocks an ia his roars of rage deafened me, but was saf,
 It was now my turn, and 1 gave him tw 70 shots from the revolver which caused him { W redouble his roars of rage For about te ar minutes felt very queer over the situation ,d but all of @ sudden 1t struck me that ha
 gained nothing by the change In place 70. being fugitive was a prisoner. The bes Is showed no disposition to retreat, and no is became aware of the fact that the cave ha es a rank smell, and that the body of the be- prevented the fresh air from entering. Ife IT. that must drive him out, and did vel h. foolish thing I edged nearer to him ar ss put four bullets into bis head, and after
 long drawn moan he closed his eyes and die
 congratulated myself for a moment, b
 then it dawned upon mo that had chok' CT up the passage to liberty with the carcass n bear weighing at least 600 pounds. sb thought might be able to push it before n
 but when made the attempt could not s, 'P it an inch. had done an idiotic thing, al e, there was no way to repair the error.
 h. was wondering how l should get out ,l- 1t, when heard the scream of another a,
 mal at the entrance of the cave, and in a IT ' ment more realized that the mother of t by cub panther had arrived It was well for I to that the body of the bear blocked the ( se trance. The panther went wild with flu when her kitten began to call She bit a IL