The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-28


course the body OF the tree was too small
Tor her 10 climb
No doubt Lutes yelling kept her exas-
perated- for ever ana anon the huge beast
would rear up with her fore paws against
the tree. emitting "A sort OF gruutiug suarl
her neaVy body would sway the tree
Ganser oUs!y, but Lutte ciuns on with The
energy Of despair. Mat mad happened /
could not divine. for the bear appeared To
De uninJured- This greatly puzzled me.
Lutte was too good a shot 20 miss so big a
mark three times in succession
Inc tine consumed from the moment
heard The first shot until my arrival on
the scene hardly exceeded twenty minutes
IQr 4 mad made good run under the
nigh pressure Of excitement. Lutte watch
fully intent on every movement OF the
Dear below, was unaware Of my coming,
ana ne continued his signal roars with
out intermissi0n. Neither had the bear
scented me This gave me a moment s
tine TO recover breath. and consider what
was best 10 be done. Very naturally my
hrst idea was 10 crawl up under cover to
close range and shoot the bear through
the head OF heart. But the fierce appear
ance or the brute, as she snarled and
lasHed around the tree soon made me
pause The thought occurred that If the
nrst shot did not prove fatal ] too might
ne treed. if nothing worse happened.
II the expert bear hunter. Lutte, could
miss this bear, how was ] more certain
10 kip / thereupon cunningly and cow
ardly concluded to tree" beforehand. to
Iorestall all contingencies
Further 10 the right and seventv-fve
ydIus nearer Lutte, i perceived a bushy
sapllng available both as 10 distance and
1 . quick climbing. besides being down
Wlhd from the bear. Drawing carefully
BACK l ran along behind the brow of the
ildSe, until j was opposite the selected
tree. Here. with some stout cord al
ways carried for various purposes 1 safe
~ Topped The Winchester over my right
shoulder. Then, creeping carefully for
ward l had no difficulty I'm quietly as
cendlng the tree, ana firmly fixing myself
IN an eligible position for both OBSERVATION
and action, without much loss Of time
OF attracting the attention of either Lutte
or the bear.
Then 1 shouted over TO Lutte and asked
MN what the deuce all this hurrah was
aDouJ anyhow. In my new position he was
partially faced from me He came near
Ialilng on his perch. hearing my voice SO
suddenly from an unexpected quarter and
Irahtically screamed back, Look out for
t ans pear Leslie. Then perceiving my
petIectly safe position, he gave a quick
on OF relief, and asked me why 1 had
cllmDed tree. Pretending that upOn See
ING MN up tree / had concluded that TO
pe the only correct method Of hunting
pear, and as student of the art had fol-
lowed MS example, I asked him If he
tnouSht TINS bear would prove wild and
sIHlq ana make Off. Lutte was In no humor
Tor Joking; he merely SNAPPED out: "Stop
you Id fooling, and shoot quick I'm
laole TO break loose and fail square into
tne pear Jaws any minute. It's h-u nm
ms Tree with that bear down under
there. The bear paid no attention TO me
nul continued her journey round ana round
the tree. Then balancing myself i'm Inc
sapling as well as the awkward situation
Tor marksman would permit / aimed al
the moving animal and fired. but apparent
~ without effect. She did not stop nor
shot '''0
l fired again, and this time Lutte. who
W9s now feeling more cheerful hallooed:
another one"
But the shot was not effective. 1 found
II very difficult TO shoot with any ac-
cuFacy from the Sapling. which swayed
ana shook on my slightest movement
sun II was necessary to go on and
q4lcky nred two more shots; two of
Whlch appeared to take effect and one of
mem falrly staggered big Foot" Then
Tor the hrst time she seemed to realize
tnat another hand was taking part in
the a1alr; she stopped and finally ad-
Vanced in nay direction a few PAGES Lutte
lndlScretely shouted, You've got her
now, whereat she Immediately turned
rose up against the hemlock which she
tfled AGAIN TO mount broadside toward
me. instantlythree at the body, behind
une shoulders. At the shot her forepaws
slowly slid down the tree, and for d
moment she stood perfectly quiet her
head hanging down. Lutte saw the blood
now she was surely done for The next
Snot MT the bear in the windpipe and
l could plainly. hear the blood gurgle
struggled for breath. Her motions began
TO be slower; soon she staggered of
rev feet, then fell over on her side, and
atter few CONCLUSIVE Kicks lay still
had already climbed down and ran
over TO. within a dozen yards of the spot
as soon as | saw her weakening.
Lutte SID down from his rOOst and sit-
ting on the dead bear, gunless and hat
less, he told me his story. He had lost
the bear trail soon after we parted on
the river, and Warily pushed for high
ground and open timber back Of the alder
thicket half hour had passed when
as he crossed to a low ridge he saw
the two bears on the plateau about 200
yards away, apparently feeding on acorns
Presently the small bear IN a leisureiv
way walked toward him; the larger one
hind When the small bear had walked
up TO within thirty yards he had shot II
square in the breast through the heart
II set up one screen OF pain and fell
Old bear; she came on with a rush. Lutte
fired twice at her, but apparently win
shot had penetrated the heshy point
under the neck, passing above the shout
der and coming out on the side.
The wound and the sight of the dead
cub made the old bear furious; with only
a short pause to snuff at him as she
passed she charged straight a Lutte The
next time his gun snapped, and Lutte
was Mortified TO ind the magazine empty
Seeing a crisis at hand, he dropped the
useless gun and ran for dear life down
the gentle slope, desperately jumping for
lle IIol tree AlAdL presented Itself. Man
and bear arrived al the sapling about
the same instant The thick lower
branches We're all that saved Lutte for
they obstructed the bears movements
just long enough TO enable him to climb
into safety. He had not a moment TO
spare. When in her rage she attempted
to pull herself up her great weight only
split down and broke off these lower
branches All this had occurred before
my arrival, as previously recounted. In
explanation Of his furious shouting, he
said he feared the roaring of the rapids
would prevent my hearing him at once,
but by keeping IL up he hoped not only
that I would more quickly catch on
but that the bear might be frightened off
so that he could recover and recharge
his gun. Besides, he remarked there
was nothing else to do except hang on
and roar. His chief concern was that
when / came up ] would not see the IN
furiated beast until too late to retreat,
and receive mortal injury. He said when
the bear was charging at him she APP
peared TO be as big as a mule. How he
missed giving her a fatal wound he could
not explain, unless he was shaken by her
tremendous size.
we then went up and picked up his gun
and hat and examined the lesser bear,
which was quite large, weighing not less
that $50 pounds. / am confident j am with
IN bounds in the assertion that the big one
would have tipped the scale at 800 pounds
Lutte said she was by far the largest bear
" ever seen She ppOrOougIv