The Arizona sentinel., 1888-09-01
A LIVELY TIME.
Novel Adventure in the Wilds of
 Pennsylvania.
A Fisherman's Disagreeable Encounter with a Hungry Bear-How His Dog Helped to Enliven the
 Occasion.

AShSo bdlys ESQaS Ol Gne
 Ninth ward, caterer to the Criterion
 Club of this city, has returned from a
 few days outing among the trout
 streams of Monroe County, Pa, fetch
 ing with him a few trout and some
 most remarkable tales of adventure
 He especially delights in some remi- niscences of bear that trespass over
 the border of the extraordinary.
 "YOu remember that fine collie dog,
 Bruce, of mine?" remarked Mir. Daly
 at the club last night ''Well, you'll
 never see him again. If I am not
 very much mistaken, he now lines the
 stomach of an interesting member of
 the bear family that honored me with
 an interview one day. I had been
 fishing at the head waters
 of the Big Bushkill, and.
 having filled my creel with big
 trout, was thinking about returning to
 the farm house of my friend Finnegan,
 with whom l was spending my little
 vacation. Bruce was with me and had
 wondered off into the brush. I was winding my line on my reel, when I heard the dog barking and snarling in peculiar way, and I went into the brush to see what he had run up against. The sight that met my eyes would doubtless have carried joy to a
 bear hunter, but it froze my blood, and my blood was at fever heat at that. A bear that seemed to me to be towering up into the air at least ten feet, stood on his launches and kept dashing at Bruce as the dog circled about him. When Bruce saw me he ran to me and got right between my legs, from which vantage ground he parked and snarled with renewed vehemence. This dis play of cowardice on the part of my dog appeared to embolden the bear, for he came slashing right toward me like a locomotive. It wasn't me he seemed to want, though, for he had evidently set his mind, heart and stomach on Bruce, as l could see by the way Bruin glared at the dog alone. A slight of that kind was willing to overlook, as was out for pleasure and did not want any feeling of selfishness or jealousy to mar the harmony. But the bear had his mouth open, all the same, and while Iloved my dog I was not above a suspicion that as the bear advanced the dog would avoid those jaws by taking to his heels, and that the bear would do the next best thing and take to my legs. So anticipated the re- treat of the dog and retreated hastily, but in good order, myself. The talent Bruce developed in sharing my re- treat, but at the same time maintain ing his position between my legs, might, at time when I was less ab- sorbed in other things, have excited my greatest admiration.
 Under existing circumstances it an- noyed me, especially as the heart of the bear was still set on the dog, and his legs were extremely ready in fol- lowing the promptings of that heart. Consequently, I was compeled to eFteeea t4 e88U6s the atlS talSSsurances of ing him a kick that separated us as much as ten feet. The recoil of the kick sent me sprawling on the ground, and the impetus it had given the dog gave him good start of the bear, and he never looked around, but tore wildly into the brush. The bear, now impressed with the fact, suppose, that prostrate fisherman in the hand was worth any quantity in the bush, | hushed the promptings of his heart for Bruce and set it beating wildly for me- | AL least interpreted the situation to | mean that when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Bruin steering for me. I didn't wait for his arrival, but scrambled to my feet The bear wasn't more than fo,1r feet away. Scarcely knowing what I did Jerked the strap of my creel off my shoulder and turned on the advancinG bear, and, swinging the creel, weighted with its twenty pounds or so of trout. brought it down on the head of that bear with all the force I was capable of. It fell on that ponderous skull with a sickening thud. The bear stopped. The lid of the creel flew open, and in a second the ground was 5trewn with my crimson-spotted tro- phies of the rod and fly IL noted it with a pang, but hastily that the pang would be as nothing compared with the one that would follow the meeting of the bears avs with ny person, sadly, put with