Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-08-15

the bear was tangled II the lar:at.
Locking down, | was amazed to see the
guide running toward MS end Of the
rope, aud arclher bear, not zoe feet
away, chasing min. The guide reached
the rope, and, Placing his fee, on the
crossbar at the end Of It, implored me
20 pull him up, as he had nothing but
his knife to defend himself VITA I
yelled back: How IN thunder can pull
you up, when / can't pull myself up?
Besides, there is another bear at that
end of the line The words were hardly
spoken when there came a tremendous
pull from above, and we were lifted
eight to ten feet. Again came the pull
and we were dangling in midair. | Slid
down and joined the guide on the cross
bar.
we hung on to that rope. | looked
and saw my bear twisting, squirming,
and apparently turning in the lariat. A
glance below, and there was the guides
bear right under us. The guide said:
What if this ere rope breaks? I said;
Let 'er break; there's a bear at the up
per end, just as anxious and madden to
get us, for he is carrying 1900 grains of
lead in his system
"All this time the rope was being
tueged and pulled and we were swaying
back and forth, two mighty anxious
men. Again came lift. and we neared
the top by ten feet more. Again and
again, and still once more came that
mighty haul on the lariat, and we could
almost touch the roots of the tree 20
which it was fastened We could see
where It was tied, but it reached back
from the tree where it was tangled
around the bear, and he was now out
of sight
The hauling and Juggling ceased. A
heart-breaking minute passed. Then
the guide said: We've got to get out of
this pretty blamed soon; this rope amt
goin' to hold a matter Of $50 pounds.
dead weight, forever; and it will be dead
weight, sure, If we drop down on that
bear. Climb up on my shoulders and
take look at things. Cautiously rails
ing myself to that position | at once
had a good view of the ground. A
glance showed the bear completely
wound up in the lafiat, the last turns
around his neck; there was blood spat-
tered and rubbed on the rocks; he was
perfectly still, seemingly dead. My RI
fie lay between the bear and myself
considerably 10 the left. II seemed
desperate thing to do, but I must have
that rife. Grasp:ng the roots OF The
bee | easily raised myself over the edge
Of the cliff and crawled toward the gun.
and in a moment more grasped it. Noise
lessly l showed cartridges into the mag
azine The bear lay perfectly still. Adj
vancing with tense nerves, prepared 10
fire instantly, l stood near enough in a
moment more to see the bear was stone
dead Hurrying TO the edge | helped
the guide up; then. after examining the
dead bear again, we turned our attention
to the live one below. We opened on
him and it took but a short time TO lay
him out; so there we were with two dead
grizzlies and a mountain sheep, after a
most remarkable and exciting expert
ence.
The only way we could account for
being hauled up by the bear is that
when he rushed for me he must have
run under the lariat, and in stopping
and turning to save himself from going
over he became entangled. Then. for
tunately for us, he must have been
seized with death agonies. and by roll
ing over and over wound the rope
around his great body, thus drawing us
up. American Fled.