The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-06-02

OF tumbleweed, Iengthen1ng the us
lance between us at a rapid rate.
''Foolishly INDUCED myself in
shot at him, striking his shoulder. He
turned upon me with roar Of pain At
that instant l needed all my nerve. This
time chose a tree for cover and await
ed. He came ON without halt, straight
toward me. fired again, missing him.
was just about 10 try third shot
when the test came, of which / have
spoken.
"The test?'' murmurs the society
breathlessly.
"The test Of my courage to which /
had always felt should be unequal
the thing / had dreaded in my forest
wanderings with Jack.
"Whatp' the society demands, with
one voice.
81 had raised my rife, when felt
something fiuttering in my hair. fan
cied leader had slipped from my hat
rim. Oh, horrori 1t was a spiderl And
as / shook my head violently to dislodge
it, it struggled into my ear.
81 have never been conscious Of hav
ing fired that third shot. Somehow the
rife was discharged, and by the same
chance the bullet laid the bear low.
~ tainted, and when / came to my
self l was lying across the bears body.
with six strange men standing around
me-
''Ten thousand boiler factories were
at work in my brain. Hear the noisesp
cried. Will no one stop them?
"And now comes the strangest part
Of my story.
1.-THE engineer Of Jacks yacht once
got mosquito in his ear. 1t drove him
quite mad before we could find doc
tor. He hung over the yachts side, held
by six of the crew, begging for death
When the doctor arrived upon the scene,
he applied a handkerchief wet With
ether to the mans ear, quoting the
mosquitoes struggles and restoring the
man to sanity.
81 believed myself in the mans
plight-stark, staring mad-when, upon
this peak of Darien, 500 miles from an
ambulance and surgeon, / heard one
of the men to whom had SO wildly ap-
pealed reply quietly, Have no fear,
| madam. You are in safe hands, for we
are all doctors
''They deluged my ear with water
from a nearby stream. which they
brought in u tin cup. Finding the spi-
der still unsubdued. one Of the doctors
asked for hypodermic syringe Five
were instantly proffered. An icy arrow
penetrated seemingly to the seat of the
gray matter-still, without effect upon
| the spider, whose pernicious activity
caused me Undesirable agony
Either cheerfully returned the doc
| tor who was attending to me. Why, Of
| course. Brown, fetch out your ether
bottle. And if Brown did not produce
| from the depths of his waistcoat pocket
small bottle of ether may be in.
stantly retired from the presidency Of
our society. 1t transpired later that
Brown was a physician with an alier
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS carried ether
with him everywhere to an@sthetize
his spec linens.
I'm an instant relief came-such
blessed relief as only one who has pass.
| ed through an eAperieHcS ilhe uLue ceii
appreciate.
1.-THE rest of the story is soon told.
When l had gathered myself together,
the six doctors presented themselves to
me with due formality. They dined that
night at our camp on my elk.
Jack was thoroughly ashamed OF
me. What did the elk and the beal
matter with the memory Of the spider
fresh in our minds?
mo, decidedly" Mrs. Jack repeats
as the maid fetches her a second cup Of
tea, 81 shall never dare to look tige,
in the face after my Waterloo on the
Big Muddy. Itwould have been pleas
ing legend for my tombstone, this:
"One
To whom the forests were an open book,
Who joined to Diana's daring the skill OF he
| spear.
Lies here,
Slain by bug in her ear"
Mary Wakeman Botsford in Sal
Francisco Argonaut.