The morning times., 1896-05-17
SlaShcd
With
His Knife
RY A. Z. PHILLIPS.

Grandfather Cover lived about thirty
five miles from our nome, and his visits,
which occurred but seldom, were looked
upon as amongst the happicst events that
occurred in my bOyhood's days.
The last visit that he made at our house
was a memorable one to me, because of
the interesting stories he told of his life
and adventures III the great forest where
he built his home. was eight years od
at the time. 1t was late in the afternoon
of a chilly, rainy day III -ovcmbcr Ia.
mother looked out of the window iutenty
for some time al someone in the distance
coming down the road. AT last she SAID
with much animation: Il do believe that
is fathers old white horse coming yOn-
DER
| was almost beside myself with JOY
and my buyIsh welcome was demonstrativ"
almost to the point OF rudcness. That
evening | CudGled Gown III grahdfaln,i
lap and begged hard for "a story. Il al
wa Us like To icar you tell Of the big woods
and the wild animals | ADDED eagerly.
when your grandmother and | moved
into the forest grandfather began, II
took the contract with Il cooper VINO lived
at the little town OF Chagrn Falls Of
furnishing number of thousand shocks"
Here grandfather stopped an instant.
suppose to await the question that came
Itpib my ll'S. " nav dlS SbOOhCr
fathcr?'
MARCOS SUSPICIOUS.
Near the place where / got out most
| OF the shocks | noticed an enormous
old forest basswood tree. II was a very
| giant among the trees around it. 1t was
| hollow at the base, as nearly all large
| bass woods are, and | also noticed a
| large opening i'll the side of the body away
up among the huge limbs. My old hunting
dog, Marco, always went with me 10 my
work i'll the woods unless told 10 stay
at tile cabin with grandmother. ] had seen
him go many times out 10 the Old bass
wood and smell around the roots and then
look inteutly up the tree.
II had paid but little attention to him.
but kept busy at my work and thought
no more about the matter until in the
1all when ] went TO get my first load of
shocks and deliver them at the little vii
lage, which was fifteen miles away.
"On the morning that | was To haul
this first load l was up and away Il loug
time before sunrise. / could just see TO
pick my way through the forest. There
had been a heavy storm, accompanied
by Il terrific wind blow a few da VS. before,
and many large trees were down.
WHEN | came near where the piles of
shocks were / found that the huge old
| bass wood was blown down across my
Todu way IL Hhu nbI quite idIitD 10 tbe
| earth, but was caught and held by a
| tangled mass of torn trees and broken
| limbs that ii had crashed into on its down
ward course. II lay up few feet from
| the earth so that a person could walk
| underneath it; but / could not drive my
| team Of oxen aud heavy wagon under it.
| ! stopped the oxen in front and began
| looking about to find a good pathway
| around it.
while ] was searching for one Marco
| went into the tangled mass of broken
| limbs near the top and was soon barking
savagely at the large hole in the top that
| ] had noticed while the tree was standing.
! left the oxen standing quietly wmie
| j went TO see what Marco had found
! AS soon as ] came near him he plunged
| into the hole and was instantly engaged
| in n terrific battle with something, ]
| could not tell what. The barking. growl-
| ing snarlng, and yelping OF both old
| Marco and the animal he was fighting
was terrible. / peered into the hole and
shouted sic i'm, Marco, sic i'm; take hold
| of him. and various words to encourage
! him in the fight.
'.As soon as Marco had backed near
enough the opening ] reached in and
seized him by the hind legs and began
| pulling. In my excitement l shouted:
+ Seize i'm, Marco, have i'm out and
! pulled away rs hard as ! could. In this
| way. Will HIS bdthluS anu NY IuIiIE,
| he came out of the opening bringing bis
| game with linn, nd fell among the
| tangled mass of brush and limbs. locked
in deadly embrace with Il half-grown
| cub bear.
A MOTHER TO THE RESCUE.
THE cub was large enough to be for
! midable foe for any dog, and had torn
| and laccrated brave Old Marcos sides
fearfully. He had death grip on the
! cubs throat and was getting the best of
| him in the fight. | ran quickly TO the
| wagon aud fetched my axe, intending to
Kill the cub ana so help the brave dog IN
| the fight. | had just got back to the COM
| batants and was endeayOring to get in Il
| heavy blow on the cub without hitting the
| dog, when | heard the oxen give Il snort
ami frCighteued below.
| Il looked up just in time TO see them
turn squarey around, ovcrturn the wagon,
| break loose from it and in widest terror
! run toward home. l was not long IN
| discovering what had heightened them,
| for, crashing through the underbuSh, up
| from a nearby raviue, came the nfuriatad
! mother bear-the most savage and danger
Gus of beasts to encouter when fighting
to protect her young.
''She came in n.ad, bounding leaps, with
mouth open and eyes glaring in beastly
| rage, straight for the scene of conflict.
| | was almost paralyzed with fear at this
sudden and dangerous turn of affairs.
l did the only thing possible. Throwing m V
axe at her as she came towards US, !
turned quickly and climbed small rough.
barked tree that was near by. The tree
was about the size of big telegraph pole
but considerably taller l made as rapid
work Of getting as near the top as l could.
When looked down from my perch l sa w
with horror and freight a short but deadly
struggle. Poor, old Marco!
She soon spied me-smelled me, sup
pose-and then her rage seemed to in
crease as she rushed to the tree and be
gan to climb.
THE tree was small, the bark was
hard and rough, and the bear was heavy
An of these things, except the rougf
bark, seemed against her being able tC
reach me. / soon saw, however, thai
she could climb the tree. Her powerful
claws sunk deep into the bark and he
huge bulk came slowly upward. | saw
no way OF escaping her fury. / coulC
not jump down, as the leap would GER
tafnly kill me. l had no weapon to de
fend myself with except my large clasI
knife. The blade luckily having beer
forged by a blacksmith, and was mucl