Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-08-06
BOYS FIGHT WITH A GRIZZLY
Split Its Skull With One Clean Stroke
of an Az

Split Its Skull With One Clean Stroke
Of an Az
1t was in September and the Colo
ado sun had done it's duty and made
Phil MS brown Of face and stout Of
limb AS any Of MS that the geology
4 lass. consisting Of the professor and
Q pupils( made an excursion into the
range with the object of taking \
practical lesson among the limestone
beds ut the back of Lincoln peak
Away We went, feeling very hilari
Gus IT the idea of making an iudcpoud-
cut exhibition even with Winkcrs for
Il general s,ramhling over rocks and
fallen trees, chasing squirrels and
chipmunkS, throwing stones at birds
and rabbits. and behaving generally
just like what We were Il parcel Of
Hchoolhoys
! Presently we emerged from the
trees and came out upon another little
open park like stretch of ground. Half
way across il our attention was sudden
~ attracted by stir among some high
grass, and out jumped little, dark
colorcd, short legged animal, which
looked like n wooly pig If there be
any such thing in nature. Away II
scuttled, and away we all went, with
shout, in pursuit
Phil happened to be some distance
behind at The moment, being busily en-
gagged in digging tarantula's nest out
of the ground with his knife but rs
soon as he saw what we were doing, he
came racing after us, shouting; Look
out! Look out, It's " We did
not hear what we were making 80
much noise ourselves. But the little
animal whatever II was. was too quick
for us, and disappeared into some will
lows while we were still 90 yards be-
hind. The next moment the willows
waved and bent and out bounced
great she bear grizzly
; with yCll OF dismay we all turned
and. scattering like flock of sparrows
when eat jumps into the midst OF
them, fled for the nearest trees Blink
ers, quite forgetting that he was the
general Of the little cxpedtionary
force. made such use Of his long legs
that he was safely up tree before any
of the rest of us had reached one
As for me, | never reached one nj all.
In turning TO run tripped over the
AK, and though | was up again III an
instant. the check made me the last of
the fugtvcs
The chase was very soon over. In
six jumps, ms 1t seemed, the great
beast caught me, and. with one blow
of her paw on the middle OF my back,
sent me, face downward, to the ground,
with every atom Of breath driven out
Of my body
This last circumstance was a good
thing for me- | could not have moved
a muscle If | had wished to COnse-
quently the bear supposed that was
dead, and instead Of tearing me up into
small pieces, as expected she began
smiling me all over and turning me
about with her claws Suddenly, how
ever, she ceafed and began to growl.
and heard Blinkers up in his tree call
out. GO back. You can't do any good.
Youll only get yourself killed, too"
From which ! concluded that Blinkcrs
and the bean had one thought in com
mon: They both supposed me to be
dead.
was beginning TO recover my breath
a little by this time and in my anxiety
TO see what was going forward ! made
slight movement with one arm, and
in an instant the bear had that arm
between her teeth II hurt me 20 hor-
ribly that tainted. and all that hap
pened afterward ! gathered from the
other boys.
Phil when he saw me knocked down,
instead OF climbing up tree IKE the
rest, ran back TO where had dropped
the AK, and picking It up advanced to
my rc5cue II was mad thing 10 do,
there is no doubt about that but Phil
did itand without thought OF his
own danger II was in vain that Blink
crs called 10 him TO 20 back he did not
seem to near but kept coming on
slowly, with his eyes fixed on the bear
and the ak held In readiness TO strike.
The bear dropped my arm and ad-
vanced step, standing across my
body, growing and turning up her
lips until all her great white teeth
were exposed but still Phil came on
AT six feet distance he stopped The
bear took step forward and then an
other, and then, with all the strength