The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-06-16

assist to hanl ID the barrel. I now began to get an idea of his plan. The barrel, with its contents, was SO heavy that it required our united strength to haul it up clear of the ground. We rugged away at 1t till we had raised it to height of five or six feet, and now saw that Ben had so arranged it that the barrel hung suspended just over one of the large spruce stumps. He made 1t fast there, SO that the lower head swung clear of the top of the stump by about foot and half, and the stump was from three to four feet high.
 Still farther to add to the weight of the cask, he brought stones-a dozen or two of them-and dropped them in at the hole in the top head and in order to ssbait" his device, he strewed two or three pieces of the pork about the stump,and tied two other pieces to the rope near the head of the barrel.
 "There, John," said he, stepping back for final survey of his mo- tion," If that works as we'll as one l once saw rigged up in 'Roostook county, you'll nigh about bust your- self a-laughin'."
 In order not to spoil the game by our too near presence, we made our evening camp fire at some distance away in the woods, but came back at dusk and carefully hid ourselves in the OK camp, which was about thirty yards from the tree, the barrel and the stump.
 But we had out labor for our pains that night, for although we heard bears "calling" at a distance, none of them came into the clearing, or if they did come, we were too soundly asleep to hear them. The old OK camp proved comfortable place to sleep in, and after making trip to Caribou ponds the next day, we came back to pass the night again.
 Ben's "swing barrel" had not been disturbed during the day. l had very little faith in the device, and therefore made no effort to keep awake; but late in the night Ben gave me cau- tious shake.
 "Shv he whispered. Stop that snoring you'll scare the bears. They're round the camp"
 The moon, which was late that night, was now we'll up in the sky above the dark tree-tops. Through the chinks between the logs of the old camp and at crack in the crazy door we could see quite distinctly what was going on.
 lD,Oaf ha Erof Nhiook Ai tfunni nioh Q4 4t upon peeping out was bear ambling up to the man camp, while the noise inside it showed that there were al- ready some of the animals within The bear which was just approaching passed at tho door, and stood swing ing his head to and fro in the charac- teristic manner of bears. Then one from the inside dashed out and chased him away. They came racing past the OK camp, growing and cuffing each other.
 Very soon third bear appeared on the scene, and first scuffing the ground with his feet like dog, gave vent to few snorts, then sallied in to whip both the others-a job which his su- perior size seemed likely to enable him to do; but 1t was mostly fun, l think for after & rough and tumble squab- ble of few minutes duration, they |. separated, and one of them now came upon a chunk of pork laid near the stump under the barrel.
 With a snuffie, he seized this prize whereupon the other two made al him to dispossess him of it and the larger one secured the most of tht pork.
 They soon found the other pieces or the ground, then scenting the sus pended barrel, one of the two smaller bears clambered upon the stump and tried to grasp the barrel with hii paws. It swung away from him and he tumbled off the stump, but imme- diately climbed up again and made 6 more vigorous effort to grasp it. It swung of, as before; but thii |, time the bear rose on his hind legt and lunged forward to grab it, as il swung back. This effort caused the barrel to swing out still farther-per. haps six or eight feet-when, return ing with increased momentum, il , knocked the bear heels over head of the stump. This enraged the brute and, with growl, he turned to go al ; it again. At this point, the biggest , bear, that had been swinging his head and watching the performance, stepped , in to try his luck with it. He clam , bered up the stump and went through with nearly the same man9uvers, and , got knocked of handsomely. Ther the third bear tried it, with the same r success.
 Upon that they all three stood and ] swung their heads and looked at it fol a moment. Then they tackled 1t again Meantime, Ben and l lay with ouI eves to the chinks and shook with sup