The Iola register., 1888-02-24


l Skinned up that tree 30 quick tina
I made the bark fly. Quick as I was
however. wasn't moment too lively
for the bear was underneath the tree
looking upwith that longing expression
peculiar to grizzly when he has trcet
any thing, and particularly man.
had not yet reached a secure roostins
place, and as the big fellow reared W
and whooped and thrust his paws te
within a couple of yards of where my
feet were resting on a trifling snag,
don't mind owning up to feeling bit
queer. varied as my experience had been
with bears.
Tucking myself up yard or two
higher. l got astride of a big, strong
branch and turned around to take in
the situation. By this time four bears
had arrived on the scene. and Sage
brush was calling out to inquire if we
were both safe. After replying that we
were all right. 1 turned my attention
to the Englishman.
Fortunately for him. the space be.
tween his tree and mine was quite
clear. In the hurry to get him up off
the ground. he had sprung to the near
est tree after Sagebrush called out. and
it turned out to be the poorest kind of
retreat. After the first six feet from
the ground numerous snags made it
easy enough to scale; but a very few
feet higher up and it ended in such a
bushy mass of little branches that it
was impossible for him to climb we'll
out Of danger.
No more uncomfortable position
coull be very well imagined than the
one he found himself in when arrested
by the scrubby branches. Had we been
dealing with an attacking party of
brown bears or silver tips he would
have been nab5ed in less than a min
ute after the bears reached the foot of
his tree. Fortunately for him. grizzlies
have little or 70 notion of climbing
trees. As it was. however. when the
biggest of them stretched up after him
the margin of safety between his feet
and the grizzly's eager claws might
have been measured by inches.
The moon was about half waned,
and wasn't bright enough for me to see
exactly how things were with him; but
all OF Of sudden he sang out "For
Gods sake. Hank. use your Winches-
ter if you can. I'm in devil of a trap;
they re elm bing the tree!"
Sure enough one determined old |
cuss was making clumsy attempt to
hoist himself up by clinging to the
snags above. He was gruntTng horri-
bly,, in eager anticipation of reaching
his victim, vino was all but within his
grasp. The noise he was making
seemed to inspire the others with the
belief that their prey was about to be
seized, and they were all crowding
about the Englishman's tree. reaching
up and whining savagely and licking
their chops. l shuddered at the pros
pecs of his fate should they be able to
reach and drag him down, os should
he loose his nerve.
Drawing bead on the varmfnt that
was trying to Climb the tree, my Win
chester barked. The light was, uncer-
ain. but the distance was short and 1
vas nightly relieved to see hinr top
pie over and take to Topping and
;hrasAing around on the ground. In
his fury at the sharp twinge Of the bull
ct, he tackled org of the other. bears.
md for a minute. or two we witnessed
! scrimmage that was away ahead Of
my circus for neal live show For
he time being the other three. bears
to forget rs; they shuffled
.round the combatsnts. walked back.
xar,t stood on slreir hind fet.. whined
md snarlcd, and otherwise. betrayed
,reat excitement. 1t isn't very often
hat bears get to fighting smong them
elves; they are generally Us peace
ul and playful rs so many kittens.
When they do get at it. however. they
ire pretty savage, and the wounded
grizzly and his antagonist fought and
oiled and roared and kicked up such
! racket that Sagebush shouted out,
N |
up; and two other bears deserted their
7igil under his tree and came lumber
ng over 10 the scene of the conflict
II guess I'm all right now. HANK"
sang out the Englishman at this stage
If the circus. 'I've found snag that
can sit down on after fashion and !
lraw my feet up higher. 1 couldn't
use my gun before"-bang! He seemed
eager to show that he was in position
to use it now. anyhow; and to some
purpose. for. at the crack of his Win
chester, round and round spun another
grizzly. roaring and biting where he
had been struck.
'.Le. 'em have it. Hank; wc'll have
the whole blaws.ei herd a-fghting
and tearing one another to pieces in a
Bang! went my own Win
chester in reply; and bang! again went
his own. Another bear was made fight
ing mad with a bullet. perhaps two. in
his carcass. and began snarling and
around among the others.
The din of battling bears, the fight
ing. cutting. snarling and roaring was
making the pine woods ring. and yet
another one came hurrying across from
direction. We were now
looking down upon herd of seven
grizzlies. the biggest bunch ever saw
up in the mountains, although
I have seen heap bigger parties down
along the creeks in the berrying sea-
son. The beauty of it was that they
were pretty nearly all fighting; it was
the prettiest fight remember. barring