Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-02-22


when they saw the bear making his
rush, but that spoils man for being
bear hunter. Remember 1 says,
and don't shoot until you can see the
whites of his eyes, and when he's tramp
ling and clawing and chewing you,
then get in your little work with your
AK and your knife. Understand?
'Gillson kind O. suffered out that
he understood, and the sweat poured
out of him so, and he looked so much
as if he wished he was home, that I
-elt sorry for him, but / went off into
d thicket and rolled in the snow for five
minutes, and stuffed my hat in my
mouth to keep from hollering right
out, and then went back to wait for
Dave to go in and stir up the bear. l
stood right where l could see ellison
and a maple tree that stood not more
than 20 feet to one side of him.
"I'll have to burst when he throws
his gun and goes fer that tree! l says.
And if he is too scared to climb it,
know 1 shall diet
Dave went into the patch to rout up
the bear.
"'Shalle the laurels up lively I says
to him, and holler and howl like thun-
der!'
II guess Dave had been in the swamp
three minutes or more before the dis
turbance began. When the laurels be-
gan to snap and crack and shake, /
looked up at ellison. He stood with
Lis feet braced and his teeth clinched,
and his gun ready. l hadn't any idea
naCa 0O1116 lya c11ob n aOTDnoO-
ton among such stubborn growth
rs laurels, and when the growing and
snarling tuned up [ just laid lack and
wondered. ellison stood to his post
Ike q soldier.
"'Ain't that darn fool going 20 cut
and run after alp saysI.
"Just then the laurels shook and
snapped rs if a cyclone was working
among them. There came from the
midst of the disturbance such a combi-
nation CT yells and bowls and snorts
and growls that I'd taken fright my
self and rUn if l hadn't known that is
was only Dave. And ellison stood still
and waited. Then | heard a shot in the
swamp, and another yell, followed by
a startling creaking and swaying of
leading straight toward me.
"'Gillson.' l hollered, he's terrorn
81 don't know what ellison replied,
for the next second out of that laurel
patch, not 20 feet from me, crashed
bear so big, and with such fury in his
eyes, that it's a wonder I didn't drop
i'll my tracks. I didn't have time to
think. The bear was coming head-on
for me, with his jaws swapping like
thrashing machine. / turned and /
saw the maple tree that l had in my
mind reserved for ellison and my fun.
I flew for it. [ don't know how many
feet l covered at a jump, but, although
L knew the bear wasn't many jumps
behind me, I had time to think:
Lord! If ellison goes for that tree
now he'll Lead me off, and I'm a goner."
For fear he would. hollered to him
in my desperation:
There tree just below you, yon-
der Cut Tor that one!'
''But he didn't. He started for the
maple. [ put on more steam and got
there first. l grabbed the tree, re-
member hearing two shots. The next
I remember was that / was sitting in
the snow, with my arms and legs clasp
ing the trunk of the maple tree. That
was as far as / had climbed. / looked
around. There stood ellison, little
pale, but with grin on his face that
made me feel sheepish. Near by lay
the bear with the top of his head half
blown off. ellison had put both of his
buckshot charges into it, with the gun
almost against it. Sitting on log,
few feet to the right, was Dave. What
clothes he had on him were hanging
from him in tatters, and his face and
hands were streaked with blood.
Funny, amt it, Doc?' says he. It's
SO funny that I've got to git in the open
country where L can find room to
Taught
with that Dave got up and hmped
away home, ard he hasn't spoken to
me since.
1.-THE bear broke out in the wrong
place, didn't he, Doc?' says ellison.
But it was deuced clever in you to run
him over here so could get shot at
him
81 didn't say a word, but got up and
helped ellison drag the dear bear home,
only a matter of five miles, and a
prouder man never walked than was
that little greenhorn hunter"
1t is supposed the bear was one that
had been driven by hunters from tie
Sinnemahoning country, the chase be-
ing so lorg that they had given it up,
and that it had come into the laurel
patch before the snow, unknown to
anybody, and settled there for the
winter When Dave Ramsy went into
the laurels to make the mock disturb
ance with bear to carry out Doc
Preble's joke, he stumbled unexpected
~ upon this ugly customer. and found
himself in rough-and-tumble wrestle
with him before he knew it. The bear
weighed 375 pounds.-N- Y. Sun.
Not Afraid of Burglars.
A short time ago a gentleman, whose
p in