The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-07-30
a,lyildrS soluu(D(I

come high grass, and out jumped a
| little, dark -colored, short-legged ami
NAL, which looked like woody pig
| if thi re be any such thing in nature.
Away it scuttled, and away we all
went, with shout, in pursuit.
Phil happened to be some distance
behind at the moment, being busily
engaged in digging tarantula's nest
out of the ground with his knife; but
as soon as he saw what we were doing,
he came racing after US, shouting,
'Iook outl Look out! It's a !"
We did not hear what, we were
making so much noise curse Ives.
But the little animal, whatever it
was, was too quick for us and disap-
peared into some willows while we
were still twenty yards behind. The
next moment the willows waved and
bent and out bounced great She
bear-a grizzly!
With yell of dismay we all turned
and, scattering like flock of sparrows
when cat jumps into the midst of
them, fed for the nearest trees.
Blinkers, quite forgetting that he was
the general of the little expeditionary
force, made such use of his long legs
that he was safely up tree before
any one of the rest of us had reached
one.
al As for me- I never reached one at
In turning to r, tripped over the
ak, and though was up again in an
instant, the check made me the last of
the fugitives.
The chase was very soon over. In
six jumps, as it seemed, the great
beast caught me, and, with one blow
of her paw on the middle of my back,
sent me, face downward, to the ground,
of my b{ vs.
This 50 Stance was good
thing fd 8,not have moved
a mus ed to. ~0Gonse-
queH ,sed that l was
dead, ring me mp in
to smalfa, ected, she be-
gan shifting md turning
me about with fe
Suddenly, howevef, she ceased and
began to growl, and l heard Blinkers
up in his tree call out. "Go back
You can't do any good. You'll only
get yourself killed, too" From
which | concluded that Blinkars and
the bear had one thought in common;
they both supposed me to be dead.
was beginning to recover my
breath by this time, and in my anxiety
to see what WAS going forward l made
in an instant the bear had that arm
between his teeth. 1t hurt me so hor-
ribly that tainted, and all that hap
pened afterwards 1 gathered from the
other boys.
Phil, when he saw me knocked
down, instead of climbing up tree
like the rest, ran back to where had
dropped the ak, and picking it up, ad-
vanced to my rescue.
1t was mad thing to do, there is no
doubt about that ;but Phil did it-and
without thought of his own danger.
1t was in vain that Blinkers called
to him to go back; he did not seem to
hear, but kept coming on slowly, with
his eyes fixed on the bear, and the
ak held in readiness to strike.
The bear dropped my arm and ad.
vanced a step, standing across my
body, growing and turning up her
lips until all her great white teeth
were exposed; but still Phil came on.
At six feet distance he stopped. The
bear took step forward, and then
another, and then, with all the strength |
of his body, doubled by the intense
excitement of the moment, Phil struck |
at her with such force and precision |
that he split her skull clean in two.
But. even in dying, the bear sue
ceeded in doing some mischief.
With last convulsive effort she
struck out, and, with her great claws,
tore away the front OF Phils coat.
vest and shirt, and made three deep
cuts all across his chest from the left
shoulder diagonally downward. An
other inch and Phil must certainly
have been killed. AS it was, he stood