Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-04-04

The rest Of the party stopped when
we did, and formed circle, all gazing
ut tho holes.
"'rhis certainly looks like some
animals track, said Cook. Did the
bear come this wayr
"'Yes, I said; he must have crossed
here
ut he made those tracks, Great
Scott, what beast no must bel
Suddenly realizing that these were
the tracks Of tho animal we were after,
we oil looked at one another and then
around, For few moments silence
reigned. We oil found ourselves un.
consciously turned back to buck, while
every eye involuntarily searched the
hills. Our courage slowly came back,
and we once more took up the trail,
hut We were now looking for the other
division Of our party quite as much a.
for the bear. And, OIL how cautious
ly we went What lookout we keptl
Presently we overlook our friends OF
the other party, who, having seen no
tracks, were pushing CALAMITY on.
This gave us fresh courage and our
pace quickcncd. Our force was SO nu-
merous through the addition Of the
other party that wo did not notice the
absence Of several, among them the
representative Of the Smithsonian In.
stitution.
"Some ono had seen the bear enter
small crooked gorge or canyon In the
rocks Slowly we pressed Into the
ravine, cautiously peering behind each
point o. rock with rifles In readiness
for instant use. Walking was impossi-
BILE, clambcring the only means Of get
ting ahead.
I'VE were all scrambling onward,
when o heavy growl ahead brought
every ono to n sudden standstill ind
caused the rear guard TO execute q
hasty backward movement. We stopped
SO prccipitately that for Il few seconds
most OF us were occupied industriously
In falling about tho rocks and trying
to get on our feet again. We had found
the bear, md now most Of US cherished
secret hope that tho impediments to
travel were fewer beyond him than
those which lay behind, and that he
might be minded to keep on going I'M.
I'll we should lose him again.
"lle was close at hand, that was evi-
dent, and there was no predicting
what he would do, There was moth.
Ing for us, however, but to present .
bold front md continue our advance.
We had come for that bear, and II no
would persist In letting us overtake
him = we'll, II seemed reasonable
TO assume that our nine or ten
rifles were sufficient TO give any bear
his quletus II tho 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
"Suddeply from the rocks above
came the sharp crack Of o rifle, tho
echoes Of which were mingled with the
tremendous roar Of the bear. Another
cracking report, another roar and
scramble Then all was atill but tho
echoes among the crags
"'Who's therc2' Who fred that
riAey Whore Ia he? Was asked on al
sides, but none could snswer. Then
we heard tho voice Of Townsend from
tho rocks above and ahead, calling:
"'I've got himl He's deadl He's just
above you In tho canyon. How the
mischief can got down 70 hiing
with ono or two ssilors 10 had
scaled thgcll3s that inolosed tho oabin,
had caught sight Of the bear from
above, and had sent In bis fire 1t once.
His shot ranging downward had besn
most fortunate, catching the baar b.
tween tho shoulders and almost IN.
stnntly disabling and Killing him' had
the animal been merely wounded 10
would have made sad havoc among our
party hemmea o. W. were between
canyon walls with ~ change % gat
away A lucky shot might bRvH