The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1892-11-19

A<Ao@ uAu olCPt Akc tOpS. EdrlY ueXG
morning Erhnrdt awakened me to give
me word of caution. There never
was better huntsman than the Herr
Graf" he said, "but his success has
made him foolhardy. Don't hesitate to
use your rifle if he gets into close quar-
ters with that big bear. I had rather
see my right hand cut off than hair of
his head injured" promised to see to
it that his master should not run too
great risks If I could prevent it, and
the honest fellow gave me his hand.
By the time we were dressed he had
good breakfast ready, and half an hour
later we were heading for the whortle-
berry patch.
When he reached it nothing was in
sight. sThe brutes are getting on
their winter fat and are too lazy for
anything, said Eltz. ''Let us climb up
the cliffs piece and see If we can
chance upon their retreat" We began
the ascent and in an hour had left the
deciduous trees behind - the region
grew wilder and made progress more
difficult. We scrambled through brush
and thicket, sometimes crawling pain
fully up bare rocks, still wet and Slip
perry with dew, sometimes having to
descend abrupt places in sitting posi-
tion. Once ] missed my footing and
rolled and slidtwenty feetdown steep
incline, clutching vainly at stones and
roots only to pitch headlong into q
thorny bramble that held me prisoner
until Eltz hacked me out with his knife.
While I was pulling the thorns out of
my flesh and clothes Eltz went forward
to reconnoiter great fissure few hun
dred feet up the mountain side. When
ready to follow him / noticed kestrel
hanging in the air, its shadow vibrat-
ing at my feet. Suddenly it swooped
downwards and then spied its clear
cut figure outlined against the sky at
the top OF dead pine, and one foot
clutched some small animal it's keen
eve had marked for it's prey. Right at
the foot Of the pine saw great dark
moving mass which knew was bear.
1t reared up and tore the bark of the
tree with Its great claws just like a
cat, then came slowly up the slope,
evidently heading in our direction. It
had not-yet seen me. and lodging be-
hind bowlderSand stumps / hastened
to join Eltz.. He was on his hands and
knees peering into dark, low cavern
when | reached him and his eyes
sparkled at the news brought.
Lets go into the cave and surprise
the old fellow if he tries to get in" he
cried.
"Supposing his mate is in there?" 7
ventured to remonstrate, but he de-
clared that all signs showed that the
occupants were not at home, and be-
fore l could find another objection he
had seized my arm and dragged me in
with him. The entrance was too low
to stand upright, SO we crawled for
ward on our hands and knees, Eltz
leading the way. We had hardly gone
seven yards when Eltz drew back. He
had nearly gone headforemost into a
hole. The rock dropped abruptly here,
and passed him my rifle. Lowering
it by the shoulder straps he could Just
touch bottom. There was no time to
stop, SO we lowered ourselves careful
ly and then passed around to see how
much OF footing we had down there.
just then we heard the bear enter the
cave. 1t came with rush, and as we
fiattened ourselves against the steep
wall it dropped at our feet with a
hoarse grunt and went shutting off
into the dark. Itcame so much sooner
than we had expected that we had no
time to explore the cave and determine
on our plan of attack. We could hear
it thrashing about and grunting some
where in the depths of the cavern, but
OF course we could see nothing.
Let's get out of here" whispered.
All right" said Eltz, and he gave
me hoist up. AS struggled upward
! saw the great bear had seen coming
up the mountain NOT two yards from
the mouth of the cave, and dropped
down again, stammering out:
Here's the other onel Lie close to
the rock for your lifer'
The great brute came shuffiing in
slowly and stopped when it reached the
edge of the rock. Peering upwards
could see its huge head swinging slowly
from side to side. 1t was snufing
loudly and suspiciously. Would it de-
tect us?
A deep bass snort came as If in ar
swer to my thought, and / sawits fierce
red eyes glow as it glarcd upon us.
The long-stretched neck tempted Eltz
and he sprang up, knife in hand, but
before he could strike had pushed my
rifle against his shaggy neck and fred
three shots that tore it's throat out. A
deluge OF warm blood streamed down
upon us, the walls Of the cavern rang
again and again with the cracking re-
ports and the. horrible roars of the NOR
tally wounded brute. In the dim light
and through the smoke saw it half
fall, half spring over the ledge. We
jumped out of the way, but the cave
was so narrow that one great paw
struck my foot before could get away
and threw me headlong The long
claws tore through my boot and lac
Grated me badly The other bear was
uttering frightfnl roars. and as I lay
half stunned and helpless on the ground
1 never expected to get out Of the