The Bossier banner., 1892-03-24

Oh uP, bus HOI mupn hurG,
and never even paused TO look be-
hind raced over the short remain
ing distance, scrambled across the
dry bed OF the creek, and was running
aimiessly up the hill on the opposite
slde when came to sheer wall, and
IN that wall the mouth of cave. The
sandy floor sloped downward q little
from the entrance, and I 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 I knew anything
else, however, the fire came. The
smoke grew thicker and thicker in the
cave. The fire licked up the weeds
and grass growing about the entrance
saw that, and it was about the last
thing l saw for some time / was COM
PEELED to close my eyes and breathe
through folded handkerchief, and
even then l came very near being
smothered. After long ,time 1 ven-
tured to look up, and there in the door
of the cave was the bear, the largest
bear ever saw in thy 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 a 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 wasn't in very
good condition to meet bear. now,
was /? | looked around, and my
eyes having become accustomed to the
, darkness, the first thing l saw was a
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
a risky business, but it was better than
| being chewed up. What fastened my
decision was the fact that the bear
commenced ambling down the slope
| from his position in the doorway.
| Without further hesitation ! rambled
up on the rock, balanced myself as well
as 1 could and made a jump for the
spur. / just did catch it, and it took
my very best work, joined with the
knowledge that a hungry bear was
waiting to receive me down below, to
enable me to draw myself up and final
ly gain a sitting posture upon it. AS
started to jump from that stone, you
see, the stone rolled and went clear out
! of reach for stepping stone on which
to descend, if / should ever chance te
grow tired of my perch. However
there was one consolation about it. Il
left the bear no chance to get up
When the stone rolled the bear reared
himself upon his hind feet and growleC
in most threatening manner. While
was suggesting to myself the horrible
thought that he would probably camp
right there until [ consented to come
down and be eaten, l heard another
growl more frightful than that of tn,
bear, and out from a narrow crevic'
that probably led off into other depart
ments of the cave, huge panther
came gliding, its long body almos
sweeping the ground. Now thought
I'm a goner, sure enough. The pan
ther will be sure to spring upon me
and knock me off this rock, and thel
they'll dine upon me comfortably.
But they were too much engrossec
with one another to think about me
The low growls and vicious snarl
with which they regarded each othe
for several moments were merely al
intimation of what was coming. Th,
panther began circling about, alway