The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-06-02
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There's too many rabbits In the
swamp. anyhow. but that want no ex.
cuse for Bill goin' out after some at
that time O. year. But he went and the
worst OF II was he had the best rabbit
dog in the whole Knob and Pocono
country with him. Where Is he now?
Nobody knows. He started in the di-
rection o. the settin' sun, and the last
anybody sec. Of him he was headed that
way yit. Bill had gethered in lot o.
rabbits and sot down on log to eat
bite and have smoke. While he was
eatin' and smokin' along come Jabe.
Jabe had been chopin out some tam
arack and was goin' home.
"'Set down. says Bill, and have Q
smoke s.,
"Jabe sot down, and they was enjoy
- theirselves considerable, when all
of suddent the rabbit dog riz up and
begun to growl and brussel. Bill and
Jabe they looked up, and there they
see q bear settin' on knoll not more
than 80 PAGES away, takin' in the scene,
lookin' pleasant and showin' no sign
but what he was glad to see Bill and
Jabe enjoyin' themselves, and actin us
If he might jne in with 'em il they
asked him. The dog was the only thing
that seemed to poster the bear and
threaten to raise his dander. Jabe, he
knows bears considerable, and he says
to Bill:
"'Bill.' he says, that bear seems to be
sociable and setch, but rs you amt
loaded for bear you better call your
dog and 60 along with me- he says.
"But Bill he felt huffy that the bear
should come a-nosln' round where he
wasn't wanted and intrudin' on their
picnic, and he was for emptyin' his gun
into Bruin.
"'He's nigh enough for me to wing
him, even il my shot are SMALL says
Bill. He'll run, anyhow, rs soon as
he hears the gun. Bears is awful
towards. was readin' a book about
'em only yesterday says Bill.
"'Bill,' says Jabe, you come along
with me, no matter what the book says
"But Bill he knowed, and he says:
"'Jest you hold on, Jabe!' he says.
I'll give him fine load Of shot in his
nose and then jest watch him run!'
"The bear he jest KEEP on settin' there,
lookin' pleasant at Bill and Jabe, bat
givin' the snappin' and snarlin' dog q
glare now and then. Bill he hauled up
and aimed at the bear. Jabe he walked
pretty fast to q tree that stood jest back
Of him and got ready to shin upit.
"'Now watch him run!' says Bill. and
he banged away at the bears nose.
1.-THE bear did run. sure enough. But
somehow he didn't run the way Bill had
calcIated on. He run straight for
Bill and the pleasant look wasn't on
his face no more. He snorted and
howled. Bill dropped his gun and
tore up the highest tree. Jabe he was
half way up his tree. Bill got to the
branches O. his'n jest as the bear got to
the bottom of 1t, and as he grabbed a
branch it broke and down he come ker-
flummix. lie struck square straddle .
the bears back. That sprised the bear
so that 1t sort O. discumfuddled him
and he give two or three crazy whirS
around and then away he went like a
race horse straight for the thickest part
| o. the swamp, Bill a hangin' on to him
like grim death cause he was afeard
to git off. The dog was so skeert at the
first rush o. the bear that he dropped
his tail betwixt his legs, so Jabe says,
| and struck bee line to'ards the west,
with his eyes hangin' most on his nose,
| and he hain't never been seen nor heerd
on sence.
"Soon as Jabe see the bear prancin'
away into the swamp with Bill he elm
down outen his tree. For somethin'
| like ten minutes he heerd the laurels
snappin' an crackin' Off in the
| swamp.
"'If Bill is huggin' onto that bear all
this time says Jabe, he can't be much
less than tore to shoe strings the way
them gnarly laurels must grab into
| him and snatch him.
"By and by Jabe heerd some one give
yoop from some'res out in the swamp.
and he had an idee IL was Bill and he
whooped back.
"'Hello, Bill he yooped. rs the bear
a runnin' yit?'
But Bill didn't say, and by and by
he come creepin' and crawlln' outen the
laurels to the openin' where himand the
bear had started from. All the clothes
he had on him wouldn't hardly make n
patchwork block for bedquilt, and he
was stripped like a zebra from head to
foot where the sharp brush had dug
! into him and the bear skun along with
him through the swamp.
"'Did the bear throw you, BillP' says
Jabe.
"'No,' says Bill. He scraped me Oft.
lie slid into a holler log and scraped
me off, consarn him.
"'But you made him run all right,
says Jabe. you said you would and
you did,
"Bill didn't say nothin', but when
they got as nigh home as the edge o. the
clearin' Jabe he went in and borrowed
Sans other suit SO rs Bill could get the
| rest o. the way home, and that's the suit