Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-11-27

ana IL i I'd' ktl d"iN ~ Itl lllc ical
go on by me ii he wanted to, | stepped
into a hole in the rock, the gun went
off, my beloved watch chain went
whizzing out into the blue cmpyrean
of the Rocky Mountain heavens, and
the bear winkcd and growlcd and came
right at me. The next shot he got at
short range, and collar and cuff buttons
were hanging in the hair, willie
diamonds glistened like the mountain
dew as | tumbled off the edge OF the
rock and lit on Il ledge about six feet
below Here | was safe for L minute
or two, at least, and stopped to think
Thinking ut such a time is a thing 4
man ought never neglect to do. The
bear. weighing about a ton, exclusive
OF the loads | had put into him, was
on top OF the rock, chewing and
splitting like the Mayor of New York
and tearing around in blinded rage
for the man with the gun and jewelry
samples, while l was hanging on to
the side OF that boulder with gun in
my hands and nothing to load it with
except powder, unless could think of
something else. Under these circum-
stances / thought of what the last
charge was, and once more / went
through myself. This time 1 got the
uncut diamond, marked down from
81 800; the diamond stud going be-
low cost, and an assortment of small
articles, such as scarf pins, studs, sus-
pender clasps, necktie pinches, and
variety of things that wouldn't go into
a gun barrel without squeezing. These
l rammed down and waited, for /
knew the beast would be coming as
soon as it got its wits together.
"And it did. l guess it must have
scented me, for with roar and
bound it came over the side and lit on
the rock beyond and Immediately pro-
ceeded to join me on my territory.
Now, l knew was goner if didn't do
something with the loads in that gun,
and as Mr.. Bear came on the gun went
off, and there was howl went up that
was terrifying. thought had blown
the bear clean into kingdom come, but
1 hadn't; l had merely blown his face
full of bric-a-brac and small jewelry.
and my hope was that enough of it
had gone into his eyes to blind him
and give me a chance to get away. He
was paving his face and pulling at
himself in great shape as l left the
rock, and 1 hoped wouldn't be called
on to risk my life further, but bears
are animals of no sort of courtesy and
kindness, and before l got any dis
lance he had cleared up his line of
vision and was after me again.
Fortunately for me, rocks and trees
were plenty, for after had poured in
my first load l was much more agile
than he and could by extra effort keep
out Of his way, though if he could
have got me in the open wouldn't
have had the chance of humming
bird in hades. AS l covered myself
behind the next point of rocks !
thought again of loading my gun and
wondered what there was in stool, to
load it with. went through my
pockets and found only bunch of
keys and a pocket knife, both too big
to go in the gun, as was the silver dol
lar and other change. Neither could
/ find bit of stone small enough and
l began to think of climbing a tree
and waiting for storm to come and
blow me to town or something like
that, for l didn't see much chance in
any other direction, when / bethough
myself Of a heavy gold pencil studded
with jewels that my best girl had given
me, and must have cost a hundred and
a half, if it cost cent. 1t was in my
inside vest pocket and / went after it
with rush. rammed it down, and as
pulled out the ramrod it occurred to
me that that would be of no further
use to me now, and / might as we'll
bang it into the bear, too, so l showed
it into the other barrel and waited for
my enemy. He was as game as you
ever saw, and though he was
badly disfgured he was still in the
ring. But he was groggy and I'M
certain on his pins and l felt sure
that one more good one would fix him
SO could 60 home where had been
wanting to go ever since l had met the
COMPOUNDED beast. Well, l steadied
myself better than at any time since
the scrap began as he came at me, and
when he had got as close as had the
nerve to let him get without making
some sort of a demonstration, banged
away with both barrels and the jar
knocked me off the rock, rafting the
gun down after me. I only fell two
or three feet, and as / jumped to my
feet caught up the gun and stood
with it dubbed, ready for the last and
greatest effort of my life. for there
wasn't anything to ram with even if 1
had plenty to ram. But the bear
didn't show up, or down, rather, and
after minute or two / slipped around
to see what was expected to do next
To my infinite relief I discovered that
I could 60 home or do anything else
I wished, so far as that bear was con-
cerned, for he was kicking his last
kick and going along the road to bear
heaven as fast as he could 60. l sat