The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-17
SHE SAVED HIS LIFE.

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society when they assemble for afternoon
tea under the osS,s of Burlingame.
Fort Whoop Up is not exactly what you
would call domestieated, 80 Mrs Jack con
tinues thoughtfully. eve arrived there a5
dusk-Aunt Pynoheon, Cousin Tom and
with tents, blankets and q small arsenal
of rifles and ammunition.
Ny aunt from the back seat Of the
blackboard surveyed the surroundings and
said decisively, Please to have some one
take me to my hotel
% Yes, dear, we VIII hail a passing cab
and go at once, I replied
"Just then q tall, lean man rose, ap-
parently from the adobe and sage of the
trail He wore frieze Of gray felt which
had once been a hat, held together by
rattlesnake band, and dado of cartridge
belt, hunting knife and pistols
IS I'm the runner for the Commercial
House, he announced, gathering his wreck
of q sombrero sl-illfully in one hand.
" You must have run a long way. I
said, sweeping the vacant horizon with luv
eye. But the English barracks occupied
the small valley not q quarter of a mile
distant, and as we neared ito the strains OF
Tommy Atkins dOated out upon the air
Supper had long been over ut the Com
mercial House. but tho proprietor found
no foolish frippery Of table cloth and nap
kins
The next day we set ont to find this
land with our guides and pack horses IL
was long climb from the river bottom 20
the zigzag trail winding through a forest
hot and spicy and silent as an eastcrn
grove sacred to the worship of some heather
god The years bear hard on this Company
of gnarlCd and shaggy trees, burned brown
by immeIloriai suns, dyvarfed and twisted
by hot winds from the south in summer
and cold blasts from The north in winter.
1t was a relief to get into the younger
world of the scrub oak which never grows
to man S estate, where we pitched our tents
for the first night.
The next day we had established what
we hoped would prove to be our perraa-elt
camp on the eastern slope of Mount Head
From there you can count II nolut----l
ranges, and you might have visitc, tlem
all without meeting any ono else on alike
pilgrimage
so it was O. surprise to us. when we re-
turned to camp one night, to lie win -al so
by q strange campfire h..lf way down $40
mountain. This did not please me li--l
gone there for sport ard solitude The
one argues the existence of the othcr Tho
fire had WinLCl from TIE same sl1l g Cd
week, when we moved Oh to regions i- ne
remote and savage. where bear tracks bone
eycoElbci the Lr0Uult and elk ;ppearl.l ,.-.ti
vanished throug.l lie aisIes Of Liue. tosz
their great antlers like the branches oI a-i
oak forest.
~ had been out OH day, and. odllv
ENOUGH, seen nothing bus a poreupir
which waddlel across my trcil, ie.-r s---t-
defiance luicrously compounded ia L-5
bristling quilts and hurried gals. Ile
sunsets in the neirhborhood OF Fort Whalp
Up are 1na~niacent. Every night tle la-s
burn over Crowfcot and Itil Creek. Moose
Hooker and Rack go from pink and GRIM
son into gray, but gray without hint GO
coldness-ashes Of roses, you might can 81
and then in an instant only the light
from the stars marks the spot where lats
the splendor shone
II declare that sounds like poetry,
Mrs. Jack interrupts herself TO ezclsill.
Except that it needs something to go be-
fore it.
''Tum ti-tuzn-ti tum ti-tu-u.
Where late the splondor shoue-
ut won't do in such shape. I5reminds
one of a militia company without a dru-l
major.
Never mind, " the circle around airs
Jack intsrposes ilnpatiently 1--WE are
anxious to hear the story.
81 never could write poetry" AIRS
Jack concludes after more mental fu.l-
bling for something to complete the comp
let well, 1 stood overlooking the valley
LUZ ~ as Ai -ANit-lAA A-t--
the tide comes up the sands, only noise
lessly. Nature has too much to do ont
there IN the great northwest to make a
fuss over gnvthing.
suddenly L heard a cracking in the
bushes below me. A mountain shccus
Perhaps q grizzly2 How my heart thump-
edl / was Oh my knees in an instant with
my rife at fun cock. Ny eyes met q c-l-
rious spectacle. Two bear cubs were ia the
act of climbing q small pine tree which
looked suspicioCsi . op heavy. Something
dark lay along the ,iee S topmost branch
a shape which resolved itself into the i.r1lTe
of a man dressed ia d gray norfolk jacket,
knickerbockers, golf stockings and canvas
shoes. The she bear sat at the foot of the
tree with the air Of one to whom time is
no object. One OF the cubs would climb
little way, and as the tree shook ominouslv
I was irresiseibly reminded of the story Of
the old hunter In a like predicament, who.
as the bear Ecared the slender branch upon
which he hung, cried; You idiot. don g
come out hcrel Youu break the branch
and Kill US both
~ am very wary Of attacking a bear
with cubs. Jack says my courage ON this
occasion amounted to foolhardincss for
without an instant's hesitation I aimed at
the foremost cub. Then 1 saw a rifle at
the foot OF the tree Having distracted the
mother and her little ones the owner OF
the rifle slipped down the tree and helped
me to fight / don't know how it would
have all ended il two Of my guides had not
joined us.
.sThey credited me with bringing the
old bear down If I did, Mrs. Jack com
ments naively, sit was o pretty shot OF
course jack mean the man ia the tree
insisted that I had finished the whole fam
lily, and equally of course BE had a great
deal to say about my having saved his lie
Later he assured me that it was a vain do
Hverance unless-unless' '-
Mrs Jack pauses, and dash Of Grim
son oyercOnles the russell OF her cheeks
ooh. Jack, you have comet she cries as