The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-04-23

narrow footpath, not over PLAIN at any
time, that led through the woods, instead
OF taking the main road. In about an
hour the snow began TO come down, and
IN soft, tiny fiakes-the kind that means
business.
Along toward twilight. which came
eafiy shat afternoon on account of the
storm. wher reckoned l should be well
along OF my fifteen miles toward home,
entirely out of the forest and on the main
road, noticed fallen tree / had never
seen before. It was peculiar. A very
large hemlock with perhaps fifty or sixty
feet of trunk free from limbs 1t had evl-
denJly been uprooted by the wind and
blown over. 1t made me certain that
was out Of my way, and darkness was
fast approaching.
l climbed up on the fallen tree and
paced back and forth its entire length,
straining my eyes to catch glimpse OF
some familiar landmark. 1t vase use
less.
/ was lost in a vast forest with the Sha-
wangunk mountains, that were nlled
with ferocious wild beasts, between me
and home, and there was drifting snow
Storm and it was already dark
/ knew any further attempt 20 ind my
way out, with neither sun, moon nor
stars, would be utterly useless, and that
the night must be passed in that lonely
forest. Also that if ] succumbed to
drowsiness and fell asleep ! should either
be frozen TO death or eaten by wild ami
1nals-tho chance for the latter was ex-
cellent anyway.
/ could not build a fire. That would
have warmed me and also have kept Will q
beasts away.
pulled out my large jack knife; it was
my only weapon OF defence. ''ThIs
~ bolh n
hand, sis probably ali that stands be-
tween me and horrible DEATH
Then | thought of the folks at home,
and how anxious they must be by that
time-and-Well, my next move was to
Jump off that tree trunk and cut stout
cudgel that might perhaps be of some use
IN hand to-hand fight with bears or
wolves.
The fallen tree trunk seemed the least
perilous place of any. 1t was raised from
the ground, and its length permitted quite
a walk back and forth. So for the third
time l climbed upon it-there TO pass the
hours of long night
In that way, pacing to and fro, time
passed monotonously. l was growing
cold and sleepy. Few boots were made at
that time and wore only shoes. Already
my feet were so numb that l had fire.
quently to stamp vigorously 10 restore
the circulation. Several times, too,
paused nnccnsciously, nearly overcome
with sleep, only to rouse myself with a
mighty effort and resume walking.
BY and by / heard the cry of wolves IN
the distance, coming nearer sometimes,
then sounding away in the distance, then
again coming nearer. Every sense must
be on the alert. Eagerly / strained eyes
ard ears that their approach might not
find me OF my guard.
Along toward II or l O'Clock, as nearly
Il .F---1 - = -
siderably lighter and the snow had nearly
ceased TO fail, when suddenly there walk
ed out from behind a clump of trees ovel
at my left two large bears. / was much
more afraid of them than l had been Of
the wolves, and taking out my jack-knife
I quickly opened the largest blade, an6
grasping the knife firmly in one hand anC
my cudgel in the other, | awaited their
coming, wide awake now.
They came on slowly, bear fashion
stopping every few seconds to raise theil
black noses in the air and sniff, and &C.
casionally standing up en- their launches
The minutes seemed like hours. Final
" they were quite close to the tree.
First one and then the other stood upon
its launches and shifted the air, for re-
manned motiohless. Then the old she
bear cautiously laid her paw upon the
tree trunk.
At that moment l inflated my lungs,
opened my mouth and gave vent to the
most ear-splitting shrek l ever COM
passed.
think the animals had never heard
such ye1l-and l viii say that, despite
frequent efforts, have never succeeded in
giving another exactly like it. Evidently
they were very much surprised. Mrs.
Bear dropped to the ground as suddenly
as though she had been shot, and both
turning aside, quietly and quickly skunk
out of sight. They didn't go far off
though; all the rest of that night occa-
sionally heard their growlings and once
or twice caught glimpses of them skulk-
ing about through the trees
Time passed and it seemed so much
lighter ! thought the clouds must have
broken away and raised my eyes to the
sky. Sure enough the stars were out
There were two which seemed almost
overhead. And how nearl And how
very bright. Strange, / thought, only
those two, so close together, SO unusually
brilliant. / never had particularly no.
ticed just such stars before. Then made
cut the outlines of the bare branches of 8
tree, and saw that those stars were peep
ing out from tree, not from the sky.
They were not stars. a catamount was
crouched in those branches just abou'
ready for probably fatal spring. And
knew well enough Just how the creature
looked. / could see in imagination how
she was gathered for the leap: how hel
long tail was lasbing her body, and eau
tiously | backed away, keeping my eyes
fixed upon the two glowing Goals of fire
that seemed first yellow, then red, ther
green-all bright, flashing tints. And
backed hard and fast with my iackknife
which had held open since the approach
of the bears, upon my cudgel. No time
was to be lost. At any moment the claw!
OF that powerful, sinewy little beast nigh
be fastened in my shoulder, and The
chances then for my life would be slight
Soon had good sized chunk cut OF
from the cudgel, and taking straight
aim at those glowing balls of fire, threw
with ali the strength and skill OF my
right arm. Luckily it had been trained
Well, sir, that piece of wood hacked of
the end OF my cudgel with a jacknife
owing to good luck-or something highei
and better than luck-struck the cal
square between the eyes as she spranl
toward me, causing her to land, instead
of on my head, almost at my feet, with
horrible yell and roll of into the snow
Still yelping, Mrs Catamount gathered
herself up and limped away. At safe
distance she turned to look. but did no
venture back.