Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-04-23
d

/ never do. / took deliberate aim. The
elk came toward the bullet and dropped
dead with~it strrggle Blazing the
trail as I retr,Uec it toward camp for
the pack animals ] saw that there were
new bear tracks. ! was not out that
day for bear, and | did not care to come
upon one alone. although 1 had no
thought Of Sinking the encounter were
it forced upcn me.
"a bear in a bear pit is clumsy
creature. II the woods be challenges
your admiration by his clever fashion
of covering the ground without apparent
effort. The one l soon deserted ahead of
me was numbering along like bunch
Of tumbleweed, lengthening the dis
| tance between us at a rapid rate
''Foolishly l INDUCED myself in a
shot at him, striking his shoulder He
turned upon me with roar of pain. At
that instant | nee ded all my nerve This
| time | chose tree for cover and await
ed. He came on without a halt, straight
toward me. | fired again, missing him
was just about to try a third shot
when the test came of which have
spoken.
THE test?" murlnurs the society
breathlessly
The test of my courage to which 1
had always felt I should be unequal
the thing l had dreaded in my forest
wanderings with Jack =
What" the society demands, with
one voice.
Il had raised my rife when l felt
something fiuttfring in my hair. fan
cied a leader had slipped from my hat
rim. On hororl 1t was a spider And
as shook my head violently to dislodge
it, it struggled into my ear.
81 have never been conscious of hay
ing fired that third shot Somehow the
rife was discharged, and by the same
chance the ballet laid the bear low
II tainted, and when came to my
self was lying across the bears body,
with six strange men standing around
me.
"Ten thousand boiler factories were
at work in my brain Hear the noisesr
/ cried viii no one stop them?'
''And now comes the strangest part
of my story.
The engineer Of Jacks yacht once
got mesquite in his ear 1t drove him
quite mad before we could find doc
tor. He hung over the yachts side, held
by six Of the crew, begging for death
When the doctor arrived upon the scene,
he applied handkerchief wet with
ether to the mans ear, quieting the
mosquitoes struggles and restoring tie
man to sanity.
II believed myself in the mans
plight-stark, staring mad-when, upon
this peak Of Darien, 500 miles from an
ambulance and surgeon, / heard one
Of the men to whom | had 50 wildly ap-
pealed reply quietly, Have no fear,
madam. You are i'll safe hands, for we
are all doctors.
They deluged my ear with water
from nearly stream, which they
brought in a tin cup. Finding the spi-
der still unsubducd, one Of the doctors
asked for hypodermic syringe Five
were instantly proffered An icy arrow
penetrated seemingly to the seat Of the
gray matter-still without effect upon
the spider, whose pernicious activity
caused me indescribable agony.
'Ether?' cheerfully returned the doc
tor who was attending to me Why, Of
course. Brown, fetch out your ether
bottle. And if Brown did not produce
from the depths Of his waistcoat pocket
a small bottle Of ether may be in
stantly retired from the presidency Of
our society. It transpired later that
Brown was physician with AN alien
hobby-entomology carried ether
with him everywhere to anasthetize
his specimens.
I'm an instant relief camc-such
blessed relief as only one who has pass
ed through an experience ike mine can
appreciate.
THE rest Of the story is soon told.
When | had gathered myself together,
the six doctors presented themselves to
me with due formality. They dincd that
night at our camp OIL my elk.
Jack was thoroughly ashamed of
me- What did the elk and the bear
matter with the memory cf the spider
fresh in our minds?
mo, decidedly" Mrs Jack repeats
as the maid fetches her a second cup Of
tea, Il shall never dare 20 lcok tiger
i'll the face after my Waterloo on the
Big Muddy. 1t would Lave been pleas
ing legend for my tombstone, this:
Zone
To whom the forests were an open book
Who joined to Diana's daring the skill of her
spear.
Lies here,
Slain by bug in hcr ear
Mary Wakeman BotsfCrd in San
Francisco Argonaut