The Van Buren press., 1895-11-02

have no place In my story; Il muat b
connned TO Jack Monroe's doingA
The youth, from having 20 often ex.
plored IL in search Of stray cattle,
knew the forest much better than did
any Of his elders, and when these had
gone their several ways he made di.
rect for a certain gully which. though
now quite dry. had been, In the course
Of ages, scooped out in the face Of .
long slope leading from tho uplands 70
| the river.
This ravine. starting level With the
grounds surface, but ct its lower end
worn by spring and fall rains to q
depth OF forty feet, was quite narrow
and heavily fringed on either side by q
dense growth Of evergreen trees and
bushes, SO that, even at midday, every
part of 1t was much darker than the
surrounding woods
Jack, fully aware of the risk he was
about to incur. entered the gruesotne
place. and went cautiously along its
gradually descending floor until, at =
spot where the banks were about five
feet high, he came to . great fallen
pine, whose still green top lay squarely
across the chasm. Being nearly SIX
feet in height, the young man was
necessarily obliged to stoop in order to
pass under this tree, about which, In
the dim light, he noticed nothing un-
usual.
Bending low. he was in the act Of
gliding between two down-hanginG
branches, when suddenly there de-
scended full upon the back of his neck
. violent blow, rpping his coat collar
TO shreds and sending him headlong
and half stunned to the ground.
For some moments he lay da1ed and
unable 70 move, but soon recovering
his senses, he looked up At the tree-top,
trying to discover the cause of his
downfall. There was nothing there.
He could see through and through
the pine spray; something which, he
now recollected, he could not do be-
fore. Then like fash the erue state
state OF the case occurred to him; and
running back to where the bank was
low he scrambled out of the gully,
pressed through the fringe of brush
wood. and saw, ambling slowly along
in the more open forest, and already q
hundred and ffty yards away, the
Devil Bear himsef.
To Jacks startled eyes the great
beast looked rs big as young ele-
phant; and when, dropping on one
knee, he hastily fred at it, IL was no
wonder that his bullet flew wide OF the
immense but too distant mark. Before
he could recharge his muzzle loader,
the bear, apparently making straight
for the'river. had disappeared; SO, jump
ing back into the ravine, Jack ran with
all his might along its smooth bottom,
hoping by this easier route to intercept
the brute at the waters edge.
Five seconds after the excited boy
had reached the mouth of the gully,
and while still painting from his des-
perate race, old bruin came leisurely
out of the woods, hundred yards be-
low him. and stood on the shore as II
listening for sounds Of pursuit. Now
was the young hunters chance.
Steadying his nerves as best he could,
he took careful aim 1t the creatures
broad shoulder and once more fred,
seemingly scoring another miss, for,
at the rifles crack, the bear looked la
xily around, plunged deliberately into
the water, swan down the stream fol
. little distance, then dived beneath
the surface and was seen no more.
/ Jack quickly reloaded his gun and
rushed to the spot just vacated by the
mysterious beast. supposing that II
must, of course, shortly rise to take
breath. But no such thing occurred
Fifteen minutes passed away, and
though the puzzled hunter could SET
every inch of the water for hundreds
of yards up, down and across stream
not the slightest break could be de
tected on its surface.
The young backwoodsman was nj
fool. He we'll knew that two minutes
at furthest after diving the bear mus
somehow have got air, else he woult
now te dead from asphyxia, and hi
carcass, being mass Of fat, woult
float.
Rejecting ON these facts Jack yer,
sensibly concluded that the knowing
old brute had somewhere near at han,
q comfortable retreat, tho entrance t
} which. like that Of beavers house
} was under water.
Feeling quite sure Of his premises
and much elated by the prospect Q
solving the long-hidden mystery, tn
young fellow now hurried home an
brought Turk back with him. Keer
] ing the hound In hand. he then wen
! slowly down the rivers bank in tn
direction taken by the bear. For neal
: ly two hundred yards Turk jogge
carclessly along, showing no interes
In the proceedings; but when the pal
: came to high hummock crowned b
, three great interlocked cedar treei
whose gnarled roots spread far owe
: the ground and into the water as vel
he suddenly awoke to new life, dashe
forward, and, with savagely angr
! growls, began to te ar furiously at tn
, mounds surface.
"Ho! Devil Bearl Devil Bearl your
found at last!" exultantly shoute
Jack; and, carefully timing the intel
l walls. he at once fred the three agree
signal shots
In less than ten minutes the othe
, hunters began to straggle in, and b,
fore half an hour had elapsed tn
! whole fifteen we're on the grount
J Then, while the dog was still franti,
ally digging, Jack told his story, col
cluding by saying: THE old pig.kille
: has his den in here, certain. All we'v
/ got to do is to let daylight into it an
: I'LL him full of lead"
.'Sho, boy! the hounds only scratch