The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-13

the trees then began 10 IRE dt them,
and soon one lay dead. One shooter In
his haste damned a cartridge in his
rifle and could do nothing with 1t, and
the other slipped on the limb OF the tree
ne used for a perch and spilled his cart
ridges on the ground. There they were
on their uncomfortable perches, with two
angry bears charging 3 about beneath
them and nothing to shoot with. The
bears frequently threw their heavy
bodies against the trees with a force
that seemed enough to break them off.
growing and making things uncomfort-
able generally. Occasionally one of
them went bach to the camp to vent his
anger on the wreck, while the other 1re-
manned on guard.
Thus the day wore on and the freed
hunters became r~avenously hungry and
stiff and sore. Late i'm the afternoon
both bears went TO the camp, and the
man who had spilled his cartridges
stealthily descended and gathered up a
few on them, hastily climbing the tree
again as the bears observed him and
made a fierce charge. He opened fire
with great care and soon killed one
bear, but his last cartridge was spent
without any impression seeming to have
been made on the other. The man with
a choked gun then threw his cartridges
TO the other hunter. but out of the whole
lot only one was caught. and this was
lost in the bears hide with the others.
About dusk the bear, apparently tired
out, wandered slowly away, and after
a reasonable time the hunters descended
from their trees and gathered up the
fragments of their camp. They cookies
supper, built a circle of protecting fires
and lay down to sleep. In the morning
they followed the blood trail of the
bear and found him lying
dead a few hundred yards from the
camp. The Englishman thought he had
struck something almost as exciting as
shooting tigers from the backs Of ele-
plants. but the hunters assured him
that this was only a kindergarten grizzly
bear fight, n advised him to wait until
he had held a seance with Old Shackle-
foot before he formed an opinion. The
hunters then started out for a two days
trip to civilization for a new supply of
camp necessaries. leaving the young
man alone as camp guard.
OLD GRIZZLY HIMSELF.
Early on the morning of the second
day he heard a noise while he was lying
under a tree smoking his pipe, and sat
UP to see what it was. About fifty
yards distant, investigating the remains
of the camp equipment, he saw an enor-
nous grizzly, by the sid Of which the
three killed were but cubs. He had no
doubt hat this was the old fellow him
self, but having his rifle with him and
being ashamed Of his part in the other
fight. and being a plucky fellow. he took
careful aim at the beast and fired.
There was a savage growl, a hasty look
around to see where the enemy was and
then a fierce charge in the rash young
mans direction. But the young man
made good his escape up the tree with
his rifle, and, selecting as comfortable
a limb as he could find, he settled him
self down to be the original slayer of
Old Shacklefoot. At his first shot the
beast made a charge upon the tree and
threw himself against it with such force
that the young man lost his balance.
dropped his rifle to the ground. and
only saved himself from following it by
catching upOn a limb lower down and
within reach of the bear. He scrambled
back again as quickly as possible. but
before he got out of reach bruin reared
up on his launches and made a swipe
at him with his paw that carried away
his boot, logging and about half a pound
of flesh from the calf Of his light leg.
Now he was in a bad plight. He was
perched on the limb of a tree, his leg
lacerated and giving him great pain,
with no weapon, an angry grizzly on
guard beneath him and no prospect of
help from his companions for six or
eight hours. He felt himself growing
faint, and with a piece of strong cord
he dashed himself to the tree to prevent
falling. Time wore on. He became
feverish and his thirst was intense.
Finally he lost consciousness. and thus
the hunters found him when they ar
rived in the evening. The bear had
taken his departure. They saw the evil
dences OF the struggle and the gun the
bear had broken to fragments at the
foot or the tree, and in the ranch
they at last espied the inanimate form
OF the wounded a They revived him,
helped him down and dressed his wound.
In the morning they mad a litter of
boughs and carried him for two days
until they reached a ranch, where a
wagon was found to take him to Ash
land After a few yyaolxC hn vync xra11
enough to pack up his five different
kinds of rifles and resume his journey
to India to shoot tigers from the backs
OF elephants.
foot before he met his death was one in
which he was guilty of arson. A man
Z named Jones had filed a homestead
" claim in a little mountain valley and
built him a cabin Of logs and brush.
One summer evening as he was cooking
his bacon and biscuits and the savory
doors were waited out of the open door
and the large hole that did duty as a
window a bulky form darkened the door
way. The cool looked up. One glance
was enough. With a tyell he made a
dive through the window and hastily
climbed a tree near the cabin. Soon he
heard growls of pain and a commotion
In the cabin. Old Shacklefoot was hav-
ing a fight tc a finish with the cook
stove. In a little while the cabin caught
fire from the demolished stove and brrin
retreated through the door with his
hair badly singed. He was now mad
to the bone, and prowled around the
burning cabin emitting growls of pain
n looking for the man who went
through the window Meanwhile it be-
came uncomfortably hot for the man up
the tree. but he could not come down
30 long as the bear was looking for
him, At last he could stand 1t no longer,
and, crawling out as far as he could on
the end of a limb. he dropped quickly
TO the ground and made a dash through
a fringe OF burning brush In the rear
or the cabin. The bear saw MIN and
charged. but like all wild animals he
was afraid 10 pass through the fire. and
Jones made good his escape down the
mountain.
Freedom and whisky.