Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-01-13

I replied, passing out.
Near the door were tied cur two deer
hounds, Zip and Keene, and, as 1
stopped to pat their heads, both begged
piteously, in dog fashion, to be taken
along.
"No, no, old boys, no hunting to-
day." said. soothingly. And the in
tell .igent creatures, seeing that did not
carry a gun, soon ceased to grumble.
It was the 4th of July, 1859. We
had been for some time engaged In
silver mining near Argentine Gulch,
Col, and were living in a 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 a
mighty easy thing to do" he called
out, as / walked away; while the
hounds gave me cheerful send-off in
the shape of parting howl
'Well, no, Jim, I'm not quite SO
green as all that. But if I'm not back
tonight maybe you'll look me up" ]
laughingly rejoined; the point of the
joke living in the fact that l was an old
mountaineer and Jim a 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,
is exceedingly hard work, not only be-
cause of the physical obstacles, but
also from the unsatisfying nature of
the highly rarcied 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 VIII ich 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 paying
''lead;" but / was not going to give up
hope, and, after ma king hearty din
ner from the bre ad and cold meat in
my haversack, / scaled the heights &c
my right, determined d 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
self wandering in wild labyrinth oi
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.
ertion, ! tried vainly to thread the
mazes, and finally had to confess that
was lost Then / thought to retrace
my steps to the old trail and take
fresh start. but this, too, found inpos-
sible. had, someh ow, ret complete
ly turned round;" and, despite all
reasoning to the contrary. could not
convince myself that the sun, Of which
caught occasional glimpses, was in the
right place.
''Pshaw, I'll get out all rightr' said
aloud, as II arguing the point with
companion. "but can do 1t this after
noon2 II not, Jim viii have the laugh
on me, and can't stand that"
At last, twisting and turning, plung-
ing. climbing and scramblng into,
around and over ravines and rocks,
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 1t in time.
| had come to n little valley hedged
in by great pieces of detached rock,
and there were numerous gnarlcd
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 a big fire until
morning. l picked up one armful OF
small stuff and then stepped across to
attack specially dense pile which lay
close against the base of an overhang.
ing cliff. Seizing hold of protruding
stick, gave "a strong pull and brought
down the whole mass.
Then | saw behind the rubbish was
the mouth Of a rough, shallow cavei
and, curious 10 see what 1t contained,
l very foolishly stopped down and went
in.
At first / could distinguish nothingi
but when my eyes became accustomed
to the dim light saw, huddled up in
one corner and quite motionless, two
furry-loolsing objects about the size OF
raccoons; and, on going closer, found
that they were neither more or less
than grizzly bear cubs.
So soon as the little creatures were
convinced that ] had seen them, they
punched up for a fight, but picked UP
one. and, In spite of It's furious strug.
giles and pig-lilse cries, carried it out OF
the cave.
Holding it between my knees, with
forcpaw in each hand, while the claws
of its hndfeet were vigorously digging
at my boot tops, | was minutely exam.
ing IL, when heard a noise as Of flying
gravel and looking up, saw the mother
bear tearing round the corner OF roch
dHu tpiuluB 1T ilc VIII Opcu blcuLi
and flaming eyes.
Now. there are grizzlies and grizzlies
Even this fearlcssly sa-agc beast, unleH
cornered or wounded, will generally
try 10 get out Of u mans way, but an
old she, robbed Of her young, is one of
the most terrible animals in existence,
and would charge u regiment Of sol
diers without IL moments hesitation.
The enr ed monster was not over
twenty yards from me, and, dropping
the cub, turned and ran for dear life
CHANGING around IN hope OF finding
some place Of refuge, could sec none
close at hand not equally accessible to
the bear; but about sixty yards ahead
stood a tall hemlocls sapling. and to-
ward this | darted Mt my best speed.
In those days ! was very swift Of
foot, and with fair chance might have
made a short dash like that quickly
enough 10 escape. But ] was badly
handicapped by heavy, spiked boots
and rocle-encum bcred course, while
my pursucr, thin from long nursing,
was in prime racing condition; and be-
fore had gone half way, ! found that
she was fast gaining on me.
The four-footed brute cared nothing
for the loose stones; but, should / STUN
BILE, all would be over In n moment.
Hence was obliged TO pick my steps,
though my revengcful enemy came
each instant nearer ana nearer until
less than fifteen feet interviewed be-
tween rs | yag nfrr ~eutIt, ,lonnnad.