The herald., 1896-08-17
OLD bRU|N WAS GRATEFUL
And Repaid the Service Rend-
cred Him
HE SAVED THE MANS LIFE
Vino Removed q Thorn From His Lame
Foot
One Blow From That Recovered Paw Laid
Wildcat Dead. and Greatly Sur.
prissd the Hunter

breadth escapes and encounters with the
wild beasts of that mountainous section.
One of his favorite stories, which he used
to tell until the day of his death, was of a
most exciting visit to his cabin in the dead
of night of n hugo black bear which after
| ward saved his life. In his own words tho
story was as follows:
"AloDg in the forties I lived in a cabin
In tho mountains of central Pennsylvania
and followed hunting and trapping. In
those days bears still carried off the farm
| ers' pigs, deer pastured in the wheat, coons
| ate his corn and the wolves and foxes
helped themselves to his property. You
may we'll guess that those were tho days
when the hunter was in his glory.
In the late fall of 1S4S 1 had been fol-
lowing deer trail all day. 1t was rather
lato at night when l got to my cabin,
which had a small chimney or fireplace at
the farther end from the door, where l
kept good fire of big logs during the
night. My bed was just behind the door.
l was not long in getting bite Of supper
and going to bed, us l was very tired. As
l undressed l hung my clothes up at the
fire to dry, my rifle and hunting knife on
rack at tho side of the chimney
II was aroused about o'clock in the
morning by scratching at the door.
listened, and at the same time was trying
to remember whether l had pulled the
latchstring In before going to bed. How
ever, before l had settled the matter in my
mind the door swung open, and something
about as tall as a man came hobbling in.
My fire had burned very low. There
were only few large Goals that cast fee
BILE light through the room. l heard
low moan and a scratching on the floor.
Gold chills began to run up my back as
the thought struck me that my untimely
visitor looked in the uncertain light like a
bear. just then the Goals of fire fickered,
and in tho momentary light I saw the
largest bear of my life. Astonishedf
Well, yes, l should say SO.
II lay quiet, studying how I was to en-
tertain my unlimited guest, while every
minute it's moaning would grate on my
ears. Tho room seemed to become grGdu-
ally lighter. Then thought of the moon
being in its last quarter, and, just rising,
was casting it's feeble rays through the
open door.
''In q few minutes could see tho old
fellow pretty plainly and watch his actions.
He would draw himself together, then
t,raw ono of his hind feet to his nose and
| lick it with his tongue, then roll and moan
again, all the time keeping that foot raised
from the floor. My curiosity got the bet
ter of my fear, and l watched him with
increased interest. must have looked at
him moro than an hour, when said to
myself: Nat Smith, you are tarnal old
fool to let that gronning old critter keep
you In bed till broad daylight, when you
ought to be looking after your traps. Be-
sides that you must fight this fellow with
your hunting knife; the rife is not load
ed. Now that it was light in tho cabin
thought would look him over and then
chase him out or fight. saw a streak on
his forehead commencing just above the
nose and running at an angle up across
his face to the left car, about 2 inches wide
and bare as my hand. Then, as he held
up his foot l said, Great Scott, what
foot' 1t was swollen and about four OF
five times the size of the others. l slipped
out at the foot Of the bed and moved to-
ward the shelf where my knife lay, fearful
that he might start tho fight before was
ready. However, got tho knife. With
tight grip was about to plunge 1t into
his heart, when he stuck up that foot, &C
companied by such suffering and plead
ing look that l put my left hand ON his
foot and moved it all over the sole.
To my surprise, ho held still and seem.
ed to bo pleased As continued to rub l
felt what I took to bo the big end of
whito thorn. l took my knife, and with
a sudden jerk, l pulled it out. Jehosi-
phat! With a yell Of pain the bear scootcd
out tho door as fast as his lame foot would
let him.
There, said I, Smith, by your fool
ing with that thorn you lost bearskin
worth at least S5, not to say anything
about quantity OF fine juicy bear steaks.
well, somo six or eight weeks after that
we had fino tracking snow. started out
in the morning and not far from the cabin
l came across u bear track which fol
lowed until some time after noon. was
satisfied now that the tracks led to small
thickot numb ber of yards ahead which 1
knew to DO flno place for my game to
conceal itsot. l approached it with great
care, with my rifle to my shoulder while I
thought l saw tho bushes slightly move,
when something came down on my head
and shoulders that knocked me to tho
ground. As 1 fell my head struck some
hard substance and l knew no more. How
long lay do not know. AS 1 became
conscious felt air in my face it seemed
to mo like tho breath of some animal
With my right hand l carefully reached
for my knife and with ii firm grip of the
handle opened my eyes to deal O death
blow to what animal it might be. Imag
inc my anger and surprise when I looked
straight in tho face of my recent midnight
visitor. That scar on his forehead was as
plain as the nose on your face.
"Just as 1 was about to give him the
full length of my knife he backed off and
trotted down the mountain side. l jumped
up quickly to get my rifle before he got
out of range, when for the first time
noticed blood drop from my face. My cap
was gone, my coat torn to pieces and l
felt as though had been roughly handled.
l said, Smith, you must kill that bear if it
takes q year to do it, Thinking had had
sport enough for that day began to look
around for my riflo and cap, when found
a largo wildcat lying on the ground close
by dead. AS l examined it found that its
body was warm yet, its skull was broken,
with several long cuts through the skin on
his back and between his jaws was my
coonskin cap. That bear had struck the
wildcat powerful blow while was un-
conscious on the ground and, therefore,
saved my life.
II have killed many bears since then,
but never shot ono until was sure the
critter had no scnr in his forehead. -
Philadelphia Times.
Row to Treat Plaster Casts.