Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-12-17

i replied, passing out.
: Near the door were tied our two deer
hounds, Zip and Keenc, and, as
stopped to pat their heads, both begged
piteously, in dog fashion, to be taken
along.
mo, no, old boys, no hunting to-
day" said, soothingly. And the in
teligent creatures, seeing that did not
carry gun, soon ceased to grumble.
1t was the 4th of July, 1869. We
had been for some time engaged in
silver mining near Argentine Gulch,
Col, and were living in stout log hut,
of which, in the absence of other claim
ants, we had taken peaceable posses
sion. We could not think, however,
of prosecuting our usual work on the
Fourth; and Jim, not feeling like join
ing me, had decided to go off pros
pecting alone.
Don't lose yourself, old man. It's
mighty easy thing to do" he called
out, as 1 walked away: while the
hounds gave me cheerful send-of in
the shape of parting howl.
We'll, no, Jim, I'm not quite so
green as all that. But if I'm not back
tonight maybe you'll look me up" 1
laughingly rejoined; the point of the
joke lying in the fact that was an old
mountaineer and Jim comparative
tenderfoot, though one of the best fell
lows in the world.
Prospecting or, indeed, travelling on
foot at all in the heart of the Rockies,
lis exceedingly hard work, not only be-
cause of the physical obstacles, but
also from the unsatisfying nature of
the highly rare fed air, of which one is
obliged to inhale vast quantities in
order to get oxygen enough to sustain
life. Hence, after four hours of in
cessant toll, by which time l had got
above timber line, was glad to sit
down by little spring to rest
So far, though making many tests,
had found no Indications of a paying
'lead;" but l was not going to give up
hope, and, after making hearty din
.ner from the bre ad and cold meat in
my haversack. / scaled the heights to
my right, determined to find my way
home by another route. Twas easier
SAID than done, for. on descending the
ridge, came into an utterly strange
neighborhood, and shortly found my
SCll III w III VI
intricate bowlder-strewn gullies and
frowning precipices, from which extri-
cation seemed hopeless, as every at
tempt to travel in a direct line only
tended to confuse me more and more.
For two hours, spent in desperate ex-
.crtion, l tried vainly to thread the
;mazes. and finally had to confess that 1
was lost. Then l thought to retracc
my steps to the old trail and take a
fresh start but this, too, found impos-
sible. / had, someh ow, got complete
ly turned round;" and, despite all
reasoning to the contrary, could not
convince myself that the sun, of which 1
caught occasional glimpses, was in the
right place.
'Pshaw, I'll get out all right" l said
aloud, as if arguing the point with a
companion, "but can do it this after
noon? If not, Jim will have the laugh
on me, and / can't stand that"
At last, twisting and turning, plung-
ing, mbing and scrambling into.
saround and over ravines and rocks, l
managed to get down to timber-line
again, but of how far had come or of
where / now was / had not the least
idea. Two things, however, | did
know: That the shades of evening
were coming on and that my chance of
reaching camp that night was hardly
worth reckoning.
No glimpse of sunlight now. The
deep shadows of the lofty peaks were
all around me. and IN another hour the
gloomy solitude would be wrapped in
darkness. The night, too, at that alti-
tude, would be unpleasantly cold.
must prepare for it in time.
had come to u little valley hedged
in by great pieces of detached rock,
and there were numerous gnarled
roots, dry, broken limbs and other
available fuel scattered around. De-
termining to go no further, com.
menced TO gather heap of these, in
tending to keep up big fire until
morning. l picked up one armful of
small stuff and then stepped across to
attack IA specially dense pile which lay
close against the base of an overhang-
ing cliff. Selling hold of protruding
stick, gave strong pull and brought
down the whole mass.
Then / saw behind the rubbish was
the mouth of rough, shallow cave
and, curious to see whal IL contained
very foolishly stopped down and went
in.
AT first ! could distinguish nothing
but when my eyes became accustomed
to the dim light saw, huddled up il
one corner and quite motionlcss, two
furry-looking objects about the size OF
praccoons; and, on. going closer, fount
that they were neither more or les,
than grizzly bear cubs.
So soon as the little creatures were
convinced that / had seen them, they
punched up for fight, but picked M
one. and, in spite of it's furious strug
giles and pig-like cries, carried it out O
the cave.
Holding IL between my knees, with 1
forepaw in each hand, while the claw
1f its hiudfcet wero vigorously digging