Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-11-08

that had been blown down, and when
he had got five rods or so beyond it he
rose up on his hind feet, faced right
about like soldier. and walked back
In the tracks he had made on his way
out He knew the dog vas after him,
and he was cunning enough to try to
fool the dog by taking his back track
and hiding IL the tree top, with his
face toward the way he had gone in.
That was how he lay when our friend
found him. He was peeping out
through the limbs and dry leaves, but
he didn't think that any one could see
him, and the Philadelphia man put a
bullet right between the old tke's eyes
and laid him out as stiff as crowbar.
Well, sir, that fellow felt so good over
it that he couldn't do enough for me
and Charley, but he didn't want to
hunt any more that day.
"a friend of mine came here on .
visit from the West in the winter. a
few years ago, and invited him to go
on bear hunt with me. He had been
used to handling lasso out there. and
he said he would go if l would agree
to let him have some fun with the
lasso on the first bear We might have
the good luck to get near enough to
reach with it. / told him all right,
and with long rope for a lasso We
started out with old Dash early the
next morning. This time we went to
Long Swamp, which we reached about
the middle of the forenoon. / had a
double-barreled rifle, but the only
weapon my friend had, and the only
one he said he wanted, was the lasso.
He made me promise, in case old Dash
should bring a bear to a standstill.
that would not shoot until he had had
a chance to practice on the bear with
his rope, and over to the swamp We
trudged through the snow.
1--WE had no trouble in finding a
bear track, and back and forth through
the long and narrow swamp old Dash
dashed until late in the afternoon,
when he brought bear to bay not
far from the center of the swamp. l
could tell by the peculiar noise he
made that he Lad run foul of the bear,
and l told my visitor from the West,
who had kept around with me all day,
that he would soon have chance to
practice with his lasso. Then we
plunged into the swamp and found
that old Dash was teasing the bear in
an open space that had alder bushes
all around it. In trying to escape from
the dog all day the bear seemed to be
pretty well played out. The bear had
been nipped SO much on the hind quar-
tiers that he was sitting up when We
got there. and every thing was favor
able for my friend to use his lasso. So
stood in the bushes and called the
dog to me, and then l told the man
from the West to pitch in.
He was as brave as a lion, and he
swung the coil OF rope around a few
times and then let drive at the bear.
His aim was tip-top, for the rope
lliO pCdi OGuo lAC OCCh anu
then my friend began to pull and yank.
That walked the bear up, but he didn't
run away. He got as mad as a wet
hen in seconds time, and his getting
mad surprised my friend, for he sup
posed that the bear would pull back on
the rope and soon choke himself so
that his tongue would hang out. In
stead of that, the fiery old fellow slack
say scat. and made lunge at the man
with the lasso, knocking him down in
the snow and falling on top of him.
The bears weight almost knocked the
breath out of my visitor, and he gasped
something that sounded to me like !:
Shoot the old devil, Nick!' and I
hauled up and put a bullet into the
bears skull. When my friend crawled
out from under the heavy carcass his
face was as white as milk, and when
he got his wind again he looked sheep
ish. but he owned right up, declared
that it was his own fault, and wanted
me to say nothing about it. Well, l
never did to any one that knew him.
and l haven't mentioned his name to
you, SO telling about the fun he had
lassoing the bear won't hurt him any,"
Il see you keep a few bees. Have
bears ever disturbed the hives?"
Several years ago found a skip
tipped over one morning along in the
fall. 1t looked as though the mischief
had been done by bear. but it hadn't
rained any in three weeks, and the
ground was so dry and hard that a
bears tracks wouldn't show in the dirt
except in the road, and couldn't find
any tracks there. But l was pretty
sure that a bear had been around in
the night, and that he would turn up
again before long, and so l put all of
the skips but one into the cellar that
day. and just before dark that night l
set trap in front of the other skip, COW
cred it up with leaves and dead grass,
and fastened the chain to a post in the
doOryard fence. l knew that if bear