The morning news., 1892-03-31
DANCED WITH A BEAR
It Was Not the Court Minuet and
Did Not Embrace His Partner.


not 70 my liking, certainly not Of my
choosing, and the only music was the basso
of bis grizzlyship. But as it was dance or
a death hug, 1 choose the former, and
right merrily | tripped il. / was out in
the San Juan country about four months
ago, enjoying a season OF recreation. My
time was spent mostly III the
foot-hills. hunting mountain grouse
| aod smaller game. A fairly good
shot. and with enough ambition to stimu-
late effort until my game-bag was full,
had enjoyed to the bent three weeks vaca-
tion without killing any thing more dangers
GUS than a mountain hon, which. to my
thinking, is the hyena Of American ami
mails.
1t was rumored that grizzly bear had been
marauding to the south Of our camp, but
as we had spent nearly a month tramping
across the mountains without sign OF
bear, we paid no attention. We had made
| no our minds to go back without bear
skin, and, in fact, /, for one. had no especial
hAnkering for a bear hunt.
The morning OF the day we were to break
camp and return again to work 1 started
| for a last hunt among the grouse. Not ex-
pecting TO be absent long, l filed the mag
aZine of my Winchester leaving my heavy
ammunition belt to be packed,a away by the
colored understudy. The mountain mist
was still heavy in the valley, and l started
up the mountain side, intending TO begin
my hunt well up aud work my way down
toward the camp. BY the time l reached
the point desired the sun had cleared the
| fog and began work.
For some cause game was scarcer than
usual, and was bewailinR my hard luck
on the last day. when. with a whirr, pair
OF mountain grouse flew up from under my
feet. l fred at the nearest one, and it fell,
| but with the roar of the gun came an
! anQWariOU hal N
huge bowlder not thirty feet away came
tearing huge silver tip. must have dis
| turbed him in his snoOZe, FOR he was unmis-
takably raving mad. He paused half
minute to locate me, and then, with an
ugly grunt that made my hunting cap fall
from my head, he charged me.
| or course, / ought to have shot him, and
doubtless would have done SO had it oc-
CURED to me. But it didn't. The distance
between US was so short that by the time
| could turn to run imagined could feel his
hot breath burning the edge of the tails of
my hunting jacket. 1t was cut and run, and
did some expert lodging and twisting. In
the rush dropped my gun. By a quick
dodge around tree l gained sufficient
headway to scramble upon large bowider
which rose to nearly the hight Of my
shoulder.
The grizzly was right behind me, and as
fell scrambling on the top Of the stone a
wicked swipe from his claws tore to tatters
one leg Of my trousers. Exhausted and half
dead from fright, l managed to crawl far
enough from the edge to be out of reach of
| those terrible claws. For about q minute
heard nothing from Bruin. He was evil
IDENTIFY trying to ASCERTAIN whether / had
come out on the other side. Presently sa W
two huge paws feeling around over the edge
OF the howlder, and then the ugly snout and
the peering evil eyes came into view. He
1 hu az md inn Iexgf Eha
edge. His rage when he saw his prey so
nearly in his reach was frightful. He gave
roar and dug great tnrrowstn the rough
surface Of the stone with his claws in his
efforts to get at me.
When I felt the great rock on which lay
between despair aud death slowly oareening
under the weight of the ferocious devil, !
tried to pray. AS the stone slanted further
/ threw myself as far over the opposite
edge as l dared. when, to my great joy, my
weight tipped,the bowlder back again, and
the grizzly, with a mad roar, slipped down
and charged around the stone to get at me
from the other side. But l was playing the
same game, and as fast as he would pull al
one side | would tilt up the other. 1t was 3
desperate game of ssesaw, In which the
stake was a life. When ths infuriated
grizzly would give a particularly vicious
lunge l would grow white for fear my see-
saw would lose its balance and be torn from
its base. But as we continued our game
grew more confident. BY standing erect !
could at all times keep my unwelcome part
ner in sight, and as quickly as he would
throw heavy paw over one corner would
put my 140 pounds on the other, and the
baffled brute would have to content him
self with great handful of stone and DIRT.
No doubt it would have appeared amusing
20 disinterested observer, this game Of see
saw on the mountain side between a terror
| a4- ~ Ton a
grizzly, but could see only the serious side
of it. | know that l was comparatively safe
while | could keep his bearship overbal.
ancei; but the cold sweat broke out when
thought over the situation. Suppose the
boys should break camp and go away
thinking that / would rejoin them at q
point further down the stream on which We
were campeds Suppose that this huge devi
should sit down to deliberately wear mt
outa Suppose-but just then a savage pas
of the brute's aw caught tattered section
Of my trousers leg. and once more begar
our see-saw.
Finally, when / was nearly exhausted
and half crazy from fright, and when th,
bear had relaxed somewhat his efforts,
set up shout, half in despair, half ii
hope that 1t might be heard by my com.
. panions, who mlghtlbe up in the mount
, aims. r-rE
My first shout was drowned in the roa
q | with which the grizzly greeted it, but a.
| continued to shout he settled upon hi
launches and regarded me with half
quizzical look, as though wondering wha
he would do with that windbag when b
got it.
! continued to shout. Finally, to M,
great delight, l was answered. l shoutet
again. A reply came. and soon / saw m,
two friends climbing up the side The bea
was on the opposite side of the rock, anC
l shouted the situation 10 my friends
While they were creeping around TO ge
= In position for a shot that would tell,
peeped over far enough to excite the bear
and at once we resumed our see-saw. Blu
this time stood erect, aud by waving M
arms aud yelling melted Bruin to the verg
Of madness. Resting his paws upon tn
, ledge he fairly howled in impotent rage
: When the guns cracked he half turned, an
then slowly keeled over in a heap. Bot
shots had struck him fairly in the left side
and he was dead when he struck the ground
a ! danced hornpipe on that rock, and thei
l scrambled down and sat down on th
warm carcass of my late partner.
We carried the hide to camp. Il nov
ornaments my bedroom as a rug, and as
place my slippers in its soft fur after Dime
/ / reflect that it is much bstter to win tina
4 lose in a game where the stake is life o
3 death.
, ANSWERS to CoAREsPoNDENrs.- " assa
!. Girl-The bitters are put in after you hav