River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-01-26

hand. There's the staff sticking up.
but how am 10 know whether it's be-
hind the point or a foot 10 one side OF
it2s'
lie wiped the glass Of the instrument.
and looked again The men standing
by soon saw an expression Of astonish-
ment ovcrspread his face
lie had reason TO look wonder-struck
and doubt his senses. for the cross
hairs Of his telescope were focused
upon the nose Of blac'- bear standing
upright behind the rear staff, and hold
ing il with both forepaws.
..Will one Of YOU look down the line
and inform me what that is behind the
rear staff? If IL isn't a bear. / don't
know one when I see IT." said John
son. Here, Jim, sight through the
telescope. and tell me what you see, I"
he added, turning toJames Labree, the
head chairman. who mad come back for
an armful of stakes
Jim squinted through the transit,
while the other men stared with unas-
sisted eyes down the line to the rear
point
Its hear" said Jim, ''or I never
saw one! He's a-shakin' the pole Now
he's got IT down. Where's Bod6sh all
this time?"
Without the aid 81 a telescope the
other men could see that some animal
was there. and Jim, through the tran
sit. saw the bear swing the staff to
the ground. toss and cuff il about. and
rise on her hind legs, holding it in her
paws as "a y recruit might handle a
mu,llet
Probably since railroads first were
built no surveying party was ever more
thoroughly astOnished than was that
particular party about the transit
The first symptom of returning pres
ence OF mind among the group mani
tested itself in a call to the axman
ahead 70 hurry hack to join them.
Then leaving the transit standing
where IL was. all hands set out on the
run for the rear station.
It was not an easy matter to make
haste over the woodland hummocks
and hollows, with the stunps of the
lately cut bushes and saplings sticking
up TO trip ones feet, and Bog stream to
cross.
One by one the runners reached the
water course. balanced and tiptoed
upon the slippery tree trunk that
served as a foot bridge to the other
bank. and l-c il onward as well as their
surpiy of breath would permit down
me path; but when the foremost ones
reached the rear point, neither bear nor
staffman could be seen.
The men called loudly for Ephraim
as they beat about the wood on every
hama in search of him and the bear.
hardly hoping TO fad the one alive, and
not expecting to see the other at all
Tut they did not know the tricks and
the manners of the audacious four
footed animal that had so coolly
usurped the rear staffman's place.
Jim Labree. catching sight of a move
ment in a clump of brakes. threw a
club into IL; when the bear, which had
been living low, cane out at him so
suddenly and furiOusly that he was
nearly sized before he realized his
danger.
The head-chainman stood his GROUND
manfully, and swung his ak stoutly at
the brute. the blow was narried as
neatly as a. fencing master would turn
a foil, and 50 foreibly that the weapon
flew out of its owners hand. As jim
turned 10 run, the bear struck ~ him,
I'D her claws caught in his bootleg
and threw him down.
~ the time the other members of
the party realized what was going on,
Jim was flat on the ground, and the