The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-17
BILL CODY on BEARS.
Exciting Story of the Days of the Pony
Express.


taken great fancy to me and had made
me kind of a supernumeray rider, who
only went when it was necessary. So 1 had
a good deal of time on my hands. To put
in my time l would frequently go hunting
for bears.
"one cool autumn day I took an ex-
press pony, a good rifle and a pair of re-
volvers and started for the foothills of Lar
annie peak. 1 rode along until o'clock in
the afternoon. Although 1 knew from the
tracks in the snow that bears were in the
neighborhood. 1 had not succeeded in find
ing any. Feeling hungry shot a sage hen,
tied my horse to tree and built fire, on
After good dinner and a short rest I
started out again. As my friends all knew
that 1 had gone out for bears, l thought
that l would rather spend all night in the
place than go back empty-handed.
Night came on and still no bears.
decided to camp out. Shooting a couple
more sage hens, / hunted up an empty
place in the timber near a mountain
stream. Here l dismounted. l made all
preparations to build a fire, when ! was
startled by hearing not far off the neigh
undoubtedly must be man. But what sort
of a man was he? Was he white or In
dian, an honest man or a crook? That
was the question l determined to solve
before ! let him know 1 was in the neigh
borhoOd. SO l tied my horse 10 a tree,
and, taking my rifle with me, l crept
cautiously up the stream.
Il had not gone more than 400 yards
when, turning the bend in the stream, !
came in sight of a dozen horses grazing.
On the opposite side of the stream a light
was shining high up on the mountain
bank. l waded across, and cautiously ap-
preaching the light, l soon found that it
came from a dugout, or cave, in the
bank. Soon l heard voices. Then l could
distinguish words, and found that they
came from white men, who spoke my Ian
guage. l concluded that they must be
party of trappers, so l boldly walked up
and knocked at the door. Instantly the
voices were hushed to d whisper. Then
one of them called out:
Who's thereg
"a friend; white man. I replied.
IAN uncouth-looking white man opened
the door and invited me to come in. The
light then revealed a dozen other occu-
pants of the room of an equally repulsive
appearance. Among them ! recognized two
men who had once been teamsters in the
train of Lew Simpson, had been discharged
a few months before, and then had disap-
peared. 1t was said that they had robbed
and murdered a ranch man, and gone
off with his horses.
II acknowledged that my heart failed
me for a moment, but ! gave no outward
sign of the fact. i determined to chat
with the men for a few moments, to tell
them as little as / could about myself,
and take the earliest opportunity Of
leaving.
We'll. young man." said the fellow
who appeared to be the leader, who are
you, anyway, and what are you doing
here?'
~ came from Horseshoe station this
morning 1 replied. 1 am searching FOR
bear. and as / did not find any / decided
TO camp out and stay here all night, but
hearing your horses neigh came up
here"
"'Are you alone?
"'Quite alone
Where is your horse%
at left him down the stream
"'WeI said the captain, we will go
down for it,.
THAT was exactly what ] wished to
avoid, for if they were to get my horse
they would cut me off from all possibility
of escape l had a shrewd suspicion that
they were a party of horse thieves, ana
that l would find them ugly customers.
"'No. captain / said as cheerily as
COuld. 1 Will leave NY III AACAN e.AAN
will go back for my horse and stay with
you all night if you will give me the ac-
commodations.'
Il thought that if / left my gun behind
me they would be sure / would come back
for it, My real intention, however, was
to sacrifice it, and get away from that
spot as quickly as possible. The ruffians
evidently saw through my plan. for two
of them spoke up and said: We will go
down with you to get your horse, and
you will leave your gun behind you
There was nothing to do but consent.
After all, l thought to myself, l will be
better off with two of the scoundrels than
with the whole party, and l decided in
my own mind to look out for the first OPP
portunity of giving them the go by. When
we came up to the horse one of the men
unbitched it and said I will lead it,.
All right, said l, with assumed care
lessness; L have a couple of sage hens
here that l killed for my supper and break
fast. guess will take them along.
Il picked up the hens and followed the
man who was leading the horse. 1t had
now become quite dark. | put my. hands
in my pocket and drew out my revolver.
The gang had omitted to search me. Then,
as if by accident, ! dropped one of the
hens
'Win you kindly pick it up?' I said to
the man who was following me.
'Ie stopped down. Instantly 1 knocked
him over the head with the butt end of the
revolver He fell senseless. The crash
startled the man in front of me, and he
wheeled round quick as a fash with his
hand upon the revolver. But / was quicker
than he One shot and he fell to the ground
in his death agonyI jumped upon my
horse and urged him to race for his life.
From the noise behind me ! could dimly
make out that the noise had been heard by
the men in the dugout that they had
rushed out in a body and learned the
story from the man L had knocked down,
and had started in pursuit of me. They
were on foot but in that rough, wooded
country man could make his way quicker
on foot than he could on horseback. /
found that they were gaining on me. At
last 1 had to abandon my horse. / leaped
off his back, gave him a vigorous slap
on the launches, which sent him flying
down the valley, and l crept up the noun
tain side. My pursurers kept on. Hearing
the sound of the horses heels. they fol-
lowed, with the evident idea that ! was
on his back. / hid behind a tree until
they were out of hearing, then / started
to walk back to Horseshoe station. 1t
was a long walk, fully twenty miles. but
as soon as I was out of the woods l struck
out. and reached home at daybreak
my companions were all very much ex-