Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-04-03

fury than to disable her. Anyhow abe
fetched q yell to make . mans blood
turn cold, and came bouncing through
the smoke, rushing straight at me.
jumped to my feet, and having no time
to aim and fire, made push at her with
my rifle, but she knocked the gun fifty
feet into the air with one stroke Of her
paw, and with another slap knocked me
down as easily as could child in arms,
tearing my shoulders pretty badly by
the blow.
I-fell with my back across the log,
and before could draw a weapon from
my belt the bear was upon me, crushing
and nearly suffocating me with the
weight Of her big, hairy body. With
her forepaws she Rugged me round the
shoulders in clasp little too loving
to be altogether comfortable, and, pin
ming my arms to my side, would draw
up her hind feet again and again, trying
to rip me open it'seemed. BY the luck
lest chance in the world / had on one
of these oilskin Jackets such as sailors
wear and a pair of buckskin overalls,
reaching to my knees, where my thick
boots met them, and it was only my
dress that saved me from being torn to
pieces, for the bears claws, as often as
she tried to rip it, would slip over the
smooth surface Of the oilskin jacket and
spend its force on my overalls and boots,
which protected my legs to a great OK
tent, though the flesh was badly torn
even through them.
All this, though 1T takes some time to
tell 1T, happened SO quick that all had
been able to do before the bear grabbed
me was to yell to Nip and Tuck. They
4 7 -
first by the sight of me lying on the
ground with the bear on top that they
could only stand still and look, with
their eyes popping out of their heads;
but when they did fairly take in the sit
more ado than if she had been pussy
cat. One took her by the ear and the
other laid hold of her hind leg.
Now, bears have trick of always
letting go any thing they have their
clutches on for the next thing that
bothers them, and it was to this way of
theirs that owe being here to tell the
tale, for If she had held on to mo much
longer 1 would have been suffocated, as
sure as death. But when the dogs
grabbed her she let go of me and turned
on them, swapping her jaws and snarl-
ing like devil gone mad. Away they
went, tumbling over tho rocks and
crashing through the thick under
growth as If it had been dried grass
the dogs too cutc to get in the face of
the bear and only worrying her from
behind whenever they could, and tho
bear too big and clumsy to get good
chance at them.
While this scramble was going on I
got on my feet and ran to get my gun,
but found the muzzlo full of snow and
the ramrod gone, SO l drew my pistol
and rushed back to help the dogs. 1
fired when I thought l could hit the
bear without hurting the dogs, but as
chance would have it the pistol snapped.
just at that moment the bear made a
sudden rush at Tuck, and the two,
struggling and yelping and growing,
rolled over q ledge of rock and disap-
peared.
Though was still dizzy and sore from
my fall, with the blood running down
| my legs and face, [ could not leave my
faithful friends to fight it out alone, SO
dropped the blamed pistol, and, draw
ing my tomahaw1, 1 jumped over the
ledge right in the thick of the shindy
Tho grizzly now dropped the dog and
turned to me again, but jumped to one
side and caught her by tho nape of the
neck, striking at her forehead. She
turned to bite my arm as l brought my
arm down and the weapon glanced,
nearly cutting off ono of her ears, which
made her turn her head to that side,
SO giving me a chance to strike her
again. l took good aim that time and
suoceeded in burylng the tomahawk in
her brain, SO that she fell at nv feet
without struggle or a groan.-St
.n,,is nbo-