The Arizona sentinel., 1888-07-21

bears face in a most tantalizing way, and switched the end of his nose with it. The animal was fairly beside him. self with rage. He backed up against the post, gathered himself for spring, and lunged forward with all his force in a well-planned effort to break loose. Every link of the chain seemed to crack under the powerful jerk, but it held firmly, and Billy gnashed his teeth in a baffled rage.
 "Lookey heugh, boss!" cried Joe, et-dat-beas'- alone! He'll bust dat chain putty soon, and ef he do yo' hide won't be wuth two cents!n
 But the cracker was decidedly in- torested, and he paid no heed.
 Once more Billy backed up against the post, lunged forward, and again brought up with a mighty jerk. His tormentor instinctively backed off a little farther, and, from a little dis tance, defantly shook the instrument of torture at him. With a whining howl that surely must have been a prayer the bear again backed up close against his post and gathered himself for the greatest effort of his life He stiffened his neck to the very stiffest and sprang forward as if shot out of a catapult. With ring ing jerk the chain flew taunt, and a link snapped in two.
 HoJ not of tho iaply stopped the bears mad career for an instant he would have shot clear for ward upon his tormentor.
 By gosh! he's loose" yelled the cracker, as he dropped his ox-gad, wheeled about, and dashed out of the yard. The bear started for him as hard as he could go.
 'tNow you'll ketch the devil!" shout ed Black Joe after them, but it will never be known for certain whether the observation was addressed to the bear or the man. For an instant Joe was glad the bear had got loose and he heartily wished him success in his en- deavor to overhaul his tormentOr and insert a new set of teeth for him free of charge. But the bear must be re- captured at once or some one would shoot it, and it would be better for him if he could be caught before he hurt any body; so he grabbed up broom handle and dashed after the runaways.
 The quarry led the race up Main street, and it certainly was a sight to see. People who happened to be on that street were startled by the wild uproar at its lower end, and on looking quickly in that direction saw a wild eyed cracker paving gravel for dear life out in the middle of the thorough fare, black object galloping close be- hind him, and the people giving way right and left like frightened sheep. Women screamed and stood still, men ran into stores and banged doors be- hind them, and many jumped into wagons that were standing along the street.
 GA bear! a bear r' and ''bear loose i'' were the cries that arose on all sides, and moment later up came the pro cession. The cracker lost his hat, and as he bumped himself and strained every nerve to put distance between himself and his furious pursuer, his coat-tail foated out behind him like a genuine signal of distress. Now and then he cast terrified glance back ward over his right shoulder, but ex- cept for that he devoted all his energies to getting on in the world.
 Close behind him came the bear, at a rolling gallop, head bobbing up and down at every leap, nose well down for the sake of speed, but pair of glitter ing, jet black, wicked little eyes fixed on the long-legged figure numbering along in front. His mouth was open for breath and business; he uttered little grunt every now and then, and it was astonishing to see how fast the brute ran. Behind him at little dis tance Black Joe came tearing along, hatless, coatless and broomstick in hand, his soul also in arms and eager for the fray.
 "You Billy" shouted Joe, you Bil- ly! come hyuh, sah!''
 But Billy had made an appointment with the cracker, and he meant to keep it.
 ''Go it, long legsr' yelled a cool spectator to the terrified native. ''He's a gaining on you!"
 The procession swept by like hur- ricane and drew in its wake wild mob of men and boys, who raced after to see the result
 The bear presently made sudden spurt, closed up rapidly with the quar- ry, and made slap at the tail of that long coat. He caught corner of it full and fair, and thought he had his enemy at last, but the cloth gave way and the corner only remained to him, while the rest went on faster than be- fore. With disgusted growl that sounded quite like a swear word, he spat out the piece of cloth and bore down on the quarry for something more substantial.
 Nearly the whole length of Main street ran the racers, the bear with blood in his eye chasing the cracker, and the negro, with a bludgeon in his hand, chasing the bear. After they had passed, the stores disgOrged their scared occupants and the whole popu- lation bore down in pursuit. Dogs parked and ran away, horses took fright and threatened mischief. and people in vehicles farther up the street quickly turned them about and whipped away.
 Although it was the liveliest race