The morning call., 1893-10-03

was. my companion; and indeed a more
soeiable ard pleasant gentleman | could
Ilot>wish to have. Well, from Eureka we
jonrneyed TO Dalton's: cabin. which is
Something like twenty-five miles north OF
COrhelts, and thence 10 Hooper Valley. the
Indian reservation. There we met Cap
tain Dnugherty, whom all sportsmeE who
have had occasion to visit that country
know 10, be a most Spitable and oolglng
army officer. Unfortunately the captain
was called a8ay~CD official business, and
co1sequently could not join US. in the
chase.
=. AFTER resting our tired anatomies |
could not resist the TEN ptation to try my
: luck for big game, which abounds in that
gactfon of-Ithe country, and shoudering
my 40-S2 Winchester rife of / started
rather late In the evening on reconnot-
tering. expedition. Tie doctor remained
I'M: camp, preferriDg to enjoy good rest
preparatory to: an early rise the next
morning ::
t'Havipg explored. so to speak, the
. country that is within few miles OF camp
in former years | was fairly conveIsant
with the Surroundings. and trusted 10 luck
TO find game. Having tramped i've or SIX
miles without the pleasure OF pulling
9: trigger, / concluded to>head for camp as
old Sol was: then about TO hlde his lace
behind the big mountain.
that shooting and fishing go hand in hand,
,; and thatthe~ best sport is always to be had
uuring the hours of twilight Cautiously
: T moved along With my eyes VIDE open Tor
anything that resembled an animal. as
there are no tame cattle wandering In
those parts. -
:. Occasionally caught glimpse of a
deer moving through the heavy under
growth. but unfortunately failed OF an
onpOrtunifY to score a Dag.
. 1.-THE Hight of day was quickly fading
and eenclu uded tnat to reach camp must
hurry my footsteps, hoping Tor better luck
the following. morning. Well, had not
taken mere than a dozen steps when
cracking of. the brush to my right drew
my .altentiort instantly to the spot and l
feIt.a peculiar sensation which. seemed to
hold me, as if ! W ere suddenly rooted 10
the ground. The strange feeling was only
momen taTy, :. however, tor L instantly
fealized:lha ] was a sportsman and armed
:. with the most improved weapons. OF SELL
defense.
''"What did Isee ?
). sThree monstrous black bears feeding
upon alderbefries and OF more than hfty
yards from the place where was stand
ing!f :,
'*Yon shot and-"-
>. Before the question was finished Mr..
Wicker held up his good right hand and
:'T: did. not shoot. Not because was
afraid of my quarry, but for the very. good
:. reason that afavofable opportunity of bag
;. gin grgam e. did not present itself.
~ remained perfectly still, however.
hoping every instant to see one. OF the anil
mails raise its head and expose a vulner-
able target for me to shoOt at. l can assure
you that while | waited the opening for a
: shot the excitement was some What in
tense, and Thousands of ideas fitted
through my mind.
: i'Presen tly. one of the trio smelt a
m mense,'' and raising his head for an in
slant above the berry trees he detected my
presence before had time to shoot. and
giving a mighty suOrt he dashed into the
: heavy .c6pse. followed by the rest Of the
brHln family, and was. lost to sight
s'Ireturned hastily to camp, and bright
and early next morning | was alter the
black coated 'Yarmint,' having as my
companions, five of what / consider the
best .bear-hunting dogs IN America.
"By the way, I came near forgetting the
DOCTOR He; came as my assistant bear
killer; promising to put bullet into the
carcass of an animal should | kill it.
when we arrived at the place where
encountered my first surprise the hounds
soon gave tongue and slowly but surely
followed the trail, which led through al
rough O piece of country as you could hope
hours hard tramping. would cry. VIVA,
fools we poor mortals be
~ kept his gradually drooDng spirits up
by words of cheer, with an occasional IN.
production to little pocket spiritualizer
always carry when away from home.
'After two hours of tedions pedestrian
ism the dogs howled as only bear dogs can
when game is sighted.
"You should have been there to see the
doctor when l shouted Bear in sghtp
well, it's enough to say that he did
not show the white feather, although he
acknowledged having queer feeling about
the knees which he attributed TO tight
pants and poor-ftting shoes.
"Yes. the dogs had jumped the bears and
were going at full speed, giving tongue as
they tore through the berry bushes on the
trail of the blacks. Tue doctor and / fol
lowed as best we could through an almos
impenetrabe thicket, until finally the bay
ing of the dogs ceased for short time.
''rhis was a signal that the bears hat
'treed. and we hurried to the bagging