Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-09-02

a fine stone peeping out OF It's bed in
the rock. He instantly got out ham
mer and chisel and began to dig that
stone out. He worked hard and had
the Jewel loose when he noticed small
pieces of stone and quantities of dust
were descending on his head.
He was not much of a woodman, but
he knew that some cause must have
produced that dusty rain. He paused
in his work and cast an upward glance
of mingled apprehension and reproach
and was astonished to see the tawny
hide and glittering eyes of huge cata-
mount crouched above him on another
shelf not more than twenty-five feet
from where he sat He was no coward,
yet he had never held a private inter
view with a catamount and expert
enced no desire to come to close quar-
ters. It was evident the cat was pre-
pairing to leap and Howard did some
hard thinking. Finally he crouched'
close to the cliff and signaled the cat
to come. The cat did SO.
With snarl and showing of its fear
full teeth that cat launched itself down.
ward like yellow cloud. 1t missed the
shelf because 1t was too narrow to af-
ford much of chance in such leap,
but its claws clutched the edge and the
animal was In the act of making a
desperate and probably successful eff
fort to scramble up to where the young
lieutenant was f1attened against the
cliff. Howard redeemed himself In this
juncture by giving the cat swift kick
In the whiskers. This dislodged the
angry beast, and, with howl Of rage,
1t partly twisted itself about and
sprang wildly out into space. 1t clear
ed the intervening rocks and fell like
n wet blanket on the roof of a huge
cinnamon bear, which had been sleep
Ing the hot hours away in a clump of
bushes Mt the base of the cliff.
Then the fun commenced. That Gin
namon let go his right and that cat
was sent sprawling twenty feet. The
cat was fighter and resented the in
suit by declaring war on the spot. He
not only declared, but he prepared to
mix with the bear. He sprang at
bruins throat, but the bear ducked
sklllfully and clawed handful Of wool
from the cats back. The cat made an
other rush and succeeded this time In
fastening his fangs In the bears Shout
ders. The bear Immediately took a
chancery hold and began his famous
representation of now to squeeze fell
low to death.
The cat was game, nearly as large
as the bear and full of fight, and with
desperate effort he tore himself loose
and also made several ragged holes in
the bears fur and hide with the claws
with which his hind feet were en-
dowed. Again they came together and
Howard, who had been standing in a
trance watching the fierce combat, re-
gained his senses long enough to take
aim at the battling brutes with his good
rifle. He stepped near the edge of the
cliff and was about to turn loose with
his gun when the sharp report of
rifle above him caused him to lose
his balance and he tumbled headlong
to Join bear and cat.
"Injun" on the Scene.
For a time he thought he had been
shot, but as he felt none the worse
after the tumble, having dropped into
some heavily foliaged bushes, he jump
ed to his feet and opened fire on the
fighters. AS he did so the cat sprang
into the air and fell with widely sprawl
ing legs at quite a distance, and then
lay still after clawing up all the bushes
near 1t, while the bear spun around and
around as If chasing its own tail. How
ard knelt and sent In another shot. as
there was an echo from up the cliff.
This time the bear slowly Strengthened
and with several bullets in his body
yielded up the ghost. Howard started
to examine the quarries when he was
astounded to see an Indian In Il mon
grel costume of cavalry trousers leath-
err shirt and war bonnet of eagle fcath-
ers rapidly rush down the cliff and
claim everything In sight.
"Injun KILL" said the brave, with n
sweep of his arm.
'Injun did nothing of the sort" was
the retort as Howard pushed lot of
cartridges into the magazine of his
rifle. Soldier kill and soldier will Just
boss the job, If It's all the same to you,
my buck"
The ''lnjun" showed n desire to mix
war medicine, and 1t is doubtful what
the result would have been but for the
timely arrival of Captain Morris and a
squad of troopers on the run. The cap
tain took in the situation at n glance
and ordered the Indian arrested for
shooting off of the reservation, loaded
the bear and cat on the men and lead
the way back to camp. He also called
in the scouts and gave them q good
rawhidlng. AS a conclusion to his
mQpologue he remarked: IF 1t had
not been for the recklessness of this
young fellow l would not have known
that there was Ute in Colorado, ex-
cepting by consulting the war maps
and geography. Get away with you
and see If you can redeem yourselves.
Gentlemen, hereafter orders not to