The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1892-01-21

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s9''.- % ~ I'D you ever
~ jump out of
the frying pan into the fire-and find
the fire considerable hotter than the
frying pan?' said cattleman from the
territory recently, as some Of his old
Fort Smith friends gathered about him
to ask after his family and his fortunes
since he had visited the city last.
well. that's just what did not long
ago l got into tight place where
there wasn't anything but Hobson's
choice, and I tell you right now that
Hobsons choice is just about the
same as no choice at all. Tell you
about it? Oh. of course. l amt
much OF hand at stringin' yarns,
but this story's true, every word
of it! About month ago business
took me out through the Oklahoma
country, and 1 went horseback and
camped out at night. You never
camped that way much, l reckon. 1
tethered my horse on the grass and
there he was provided for, you know;
and lay down on the ground with the
saddle under my head for pillow, and
there I was fixed. The great difficulty
was that the country was dry, and a
good many of the streams had taken
temporary leave of the country so that
it was long time between drinks, as
the governor of North Carolina said to
the governor of South Carolina. 1t
was pretty wild country was travel
ing over, too, l can tell you. Wolves
howled around me every night and l
heard the screaming of panthers on
more than one occasion. was riding
along pretty brislsly one afternoon, for
the sun was beginning to slant consid-
crably toward the west, and l was
anxious to gain low range of hills
several miles to the north of me,
hoping that might find stream, or
at least spring, where l could camp.
l have habit Of riding along some
times in brown study. during which
1 am generally unconscious of any
thing that l may be looking at. There
is no telling how many miles may
have ridden, gazing serenely at the
volumes of smoke that were rolling
past me across the prairie; but at last
it began to dawn upon me that l
SINE lied smoke. walked up then and
looked around me. Boys, the prairie
was on fire! Far away to the south and
west and east there was a wall of dense
smoke, with long, fiery tongues darting
through it. AS true as l live had
gone incoming along there until l was
almost encircled by it. Maybe you
think didn't light out, though, when
did see it! had splendid horse, and
the way he raced made the ground sw i'm
under me! And we started out for at
least three-mile run against the fire.
Wild animals of every kind were on the
prairie, but they noticed me as little as
did them. They, as we'll as l, were
trying to escape from the common en-
envy that threatened us all. The dis.
lance was almost passed, though, and
was within one hundred yards of the
nearest of the hills which, could see,
rose on the other side of small creek
The fire had gained upon me so that 1
could feel the heat very distinctly, and
the smoke rolled around me in thick
clouds and was becoming unbearable.
And just while was urging my horse
to make one last effort, down went
both his fore feet into one of those
deep dry weather cracks and | went
over his head as though had been
shot out of a cannon. Fortunately l
landed on my hands and feet, consider
ably shaken up, but not much hurt;
and never even paused to look be-
hind. l raced over the short remain
ing distance, scrambled across the
dry bed of the creek, and was running
aimles<ly up the hill on the opposite
side when came to q sheer wall, and
in that wall the mouth of cave. The
sandy floor sloped downward little
from the entrance, and l went rolling
down that slope in a way that you
would have laughed to see. l brought
up against a projection of some kind,
about thirty feet from the mouth of
the cave, and sat up to collect my scat
tered senses. Before 1 knew anything
else, however, the fire came. The
smoke grew thicker and thicker in the
cove The fire licked up the weeds
and grass growing about the entrance.
l saw that, and it was about the last
thing saw for some time. was COM
PEELED to close my eyes and breathe
through a folded handkerchief, and
even then I came very near being
smothered. After long etime ven
tured to look up, and there in the door
of the cave was the bear, the largest
bear ever saw in my life. Where on
earth he came from 1 never did know,
and never will, reckon. tell you
that big black silhouette wasn't a
good thing to stand between fellow
and liberty, was it? carried Win
chester. of course. but it was fastened
to my saddle, and when the horse
fell, why ] didn't go back to
get it. So l wasn't in very
good condition to meet a bear, now,
was I? l looked around, and my
eyes having become accustomed to the
darkness, the first thing saw was
long spur that stood out from the wall
high up on one side. Another glance
showed me that by climbing upon an
irregular fragment of rock, which
seemed to have dropped from the roof,
! might spring from it to the spur, and
SO draw myself up out Of reach. 1t was
q risky business, but it was better than
being c:,cwed up What fastened my.