The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-09-26

the bear was coming at me, stumbling along
with a broken shoulder and screaming with
fury. If he had looked Insignificant mo-
ment before, he seemed big enough nowl
How loud his scream was, how fast his gal
lon. how sharp and white his teeth Retreat
was impossible. / was only fifty yards from F.
him now, and to run meant simply to be old
overtaken and killed; so knelt again with
strange calnlness / could not understand. l
remember that heard the twitter of a bird
near by, and noticed the sky growing red
with the sinking sun as | raised my rifle.
How near he was! What long aim l took,
straight at his head As | fired he stopped
an Instant turned right round, and ran away
from me!
l found afterward that had hit him right
IN the throat. fancy he must have been de-
lirious, if bears ever arrive at such stage,
and imagined, after he turned and ran, that
he was still making for me. was in no
hurry to follow him at too close a distance,
and let him run until | marked him into
thicket of trees half a mile away. Then
followed slowly, tracking him easily step by
step by his heavy blood trail. AS | entered
the thicket. however, the trail was lost; and
/ peered about here and there, longing to
catch another glimpse of him, when sud
denly, just at my feet, there rose a mighty
roar, that made my heart stand still and my
cheeks blanch with fear. Half hidden by
the trailing vines, and not to be distinguished
from the blackened stumps about me, lay the
bear in his death agony, but possessed Of suf-
ficient strength still to make an angry bound,
half jump, half stumble, i'll my direction.
Mechanically, thrust the muzzle of my rifle
at his head, fired again straight into his ear,
and Bruin fell for the last time-dead
confess that was afraid for some minutes to
make a close examination of the beast. How
often | had dreamed of such a somehow
different from the dream was the reality.
A shot at the other end of the thicket made
known to me that help was at hand; for the
advent of "Dragoonn riderless and covered
with foam had sent squad of men to search
for me in the wilderness. The bear was
dragged to the nearest blackboard, and car
ried there till camp was pitched for the
night He was a fair sized beast, in fine con-
dition, and weighed, at a rough guess, about
$50 pounds
The delight of Pas-qu-ac and Mass-ega-wap
when they saw the carcass knew no bounds.
To themselves belonged the honor of the
original discovery, and this fact they pro-
claimed on all sides again and again. And
to me, the Pale-face, was not praise also due,
for had | not gone forth unaided to fight the
bear, and conquered him2 That night, when
the camp fires were blazing and the silver
stars were twinkling overhead, was halted
as l made my usual visit to the prisoners
tent and made to listen while old Kee-way-
tin sang my praises and christened me Wass-
sass-ega-ya THE Red Deer's Horn, in token
of my skill and prowess. Pas-qui-ac and
Mass-ega-wap volunteered to skin the bear
on condition that they should have the en-
trails for their supper "a favorite Indian
dish. This was gladly promised, and the
skinning was done with surprising skill and
quickness. The carcass was afterward
cleaned and quartered, the sharpening of the
knives and the clank of the butchers leg
irons making music the while. 1t was with
fear that ! sat down to the first bear steak;
but who shall tell of its goodness and worth?
Was it because my own hand had slain the
bear. or because was tired and very hum
gry2-or was it because it was a novel disha
Who can tell9 But it was more delicious
than the finest club steak had ever tasted
/ had bears meat for three days on Che home
ward march, and enough left to feast the
mess with for day on my return to Battle
ford. The claws were mounted as watch
charms and given to wondering friends; the
teeth made brooches for others; and the
skin, rich soft and ebony black, adorns my
sleigh, keeps me warm in spite of Canadian
frost and snow, and sets me ALWAYS thinking
of the autumn evening far away when
bagged my first bear.-Chambers' Journal