The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1895-03-15
heard the boat and disappeared up a

to surround and head them Off Cook,
Brown, and myself with four or Eve
men went to the right, while Towns
end with the surgeon, pilot and four
or five sailors took the left. Our party
hurried rapidly on, looking bravely to
our arms, each telling where he meant
to place his shots, and only feeling
anxious lest the bears should get away.
Soon we saw one OF them scrambling
| over the rocks about a quarter of a
mile off, and were surprised at the size
to which he had grown. He was now
as large as COW, some said an OK,
while others declared that he could
not be one of those we had seen from
the ship
Every man thought that the bear
was now quite large enough for our
purpose, and privately wished he would
stop growing. What we said how
ever, was: The bigger the be tier; we
want big one,' and kept on after him.
Whether from fatigue or some other
reason, we certainly did not 60 so fast
now as before. We began to find the
walking bad and to complain Of being
awfully tired and blown Every one
of the party from time to time found
something to detain him for moment,
the effect being to hinder his keeping
too far in the front.
while getting on in this manner
we came to a soft piece of ground. In
1t was line of curious large holes,
which we had to take care to avoid
stepping into. I fell to studying their
shape. They were ls to 90 inches long,
10 to IL inches wide and to 6 inches
deep. They were in very regular
order, and crossed the soft places to
the hard ground beyond. Cook, too,
became interested, and paused with me
to closely examine one Of them. No
ticing this, said:
Cook, what do you think Of these
holes?'
The rest Of the party stopped when
we did, and formed circle, all gazing
at the holes.
"'This certainly looks like some
animals track said Cook. Did the
bear come this way?'
Yes, l said; he must have crossed
here
"'If he made those tracks, Great
Scott, what a beast he must bev
Suddenly realizing that these were
the tracks of the animal we were after,
we all looked at one another and then
around. For a few moments silence
reigned. We all found ourselves un-
consciously turned back to back, while
every eye involuntarily searched the
hills. Our courage slowly came back,
and we once more took up the trail,
but we were now looking for the other
division Of our party quite as much as
for the bear. And, oh! how cautious
ly we went What a lookout we kept!
Presently we overlook our friends Of
the other party, who, having seen no
tracks, were pushing gallantly on.
This gave US fresh courage and our
pace quickened. Our force was so nu-
merous through the addition of the
other party that we did not notice the
absence of several. among them the
representative of the Smithsonian in
stitutioA.
''Some one had seen the bear enter a
small crooked gorge or canyon in the
rocks Slowly we pressed into the
ravine, cautiously peering behind each
point of rock with rifles in readiness
for instant use. Walking was impossi-
BILE, clambering the only means of get
ting ahead.
1--WE were all scrambling onward,
when a heavy growl ahead brought
every one to a sudden standstill and
caused the rear guard to execute a
hasty backward movement. We stopped
SO precipitately that for few seconds
most of US were occupied industriously
in falling about the rocks and trying
to get on our feet again. We had found
the bear, and now most Of us cherished
a secret hope that the impediments to
travel were fewer beyond him than
those which lay behind, and that he
might be minded to keep on going un-
til we should lose him again.
'He was close at hand, that was evil
dent, and there was no predicting
what he would do. There was moth
ing for us, however, but to present a
bold front and continue our advance.
We had come for that bear, and if he
would persist in letting us overtake
him well, it seemed reasonable
to assume that our nine or ten
rifles were sufficient to give any bear
his quietus If the shots were poured in
at once. We cautiously moved for
ward, peering and craning our necks
over rocks, nervously anxious to get
sight of the bear and rid ourselves of
the suspense.
Suddenly from the rocks above
came the sharp crack of rifle, the
echoes of which were mingled with the
tremendous roar of the bear. Another
cracking report, another roar, and
scramhla Then all was still Init the