Middletown transcript., 1898-06-04

GQ61E IOu61y VI p6IbuIUSu OAA4uAOA' IL
seemed to her that nature was never
the same on the great plains where men
and cities always loomed into such ri
diculous proportions when the great
mother raised herself to comfort them
with smiling hillsides or encompassed
them and drew them close in the loving
arms of mountains. The long white
canada stretched before her in purity
that did not seem of the earth; the vague
bulk of the mountains rose on either
side Of her in mystery that was not OF
this life. Yet it was not oppressive,
neither were its restfulness and quiet
suggestive Of obliviousness and slum-
ber. On the contrary, the highly rare
fed air seemed to give additional keen
ness to her senses; her hearing had be-
come singularly acute; her eyesight
pierced the uttermost extremity of the
gorge, lit by the full moon that occa-
sionally shone through slowly drifting
clouds. Her nerves thrilled with de-
licious sense of freedom and strange
desire to run or climb 1t seemed to
her, in her exalted fancy, that these
solitudes should be peopled only by a
kingly race, and not by such gross and
material churls as this mountaineer who
helped them. And, grieVe to say
writing of sentimentalist that was
and heroine that is to be-she was
getting outrageously hungry.
There were a few biscuits in her
travelling bag, and she remembered that
she had been presented with small
jar of California honey at San Jose.
This she took out and opened on the
seat before her, and spreading the hon
ey on the biscuits ate them with keen
schoolgirl relish and pleasant sug-
gestion of a sylvan picnic in spite Of
the cold. tt was all very strange, quite
an experience for her to speak Of after
ward. People would hardly believe that
she had spent an hour or two all alone
in deserted wagon in mountain snow
pass. Tt was an adventure such as one
reads of in the magazines. Only some
thing was lacking which the magazines
always supplied-something heroic
something done by somebody.
eff that awful looking mountaineer,
that man with the long hair and mus
tache and that horrible gold ring-why
such ring-was only differentl But he
was probably gorging beefsteak or ven
ison with her father and Mr.. Water
house-men were always such selfish
creatures-and had quite forgotten all
about her. It would only have been de-
cent for them to have brought her down
something hot. Biscuits and honey were
certainly cloying and somehow didn't
agree with the temperature. She was
really half starved, and much they
caredl It would just serve them right If
something did happen to her or seem to
happen to her, if only to frighten them.
And the pretty face that was turned up
in the moonlight wore charming but
decided pout.
Good gracious, what was that? The
horses were either struggling or fight
ing in their snow shelters. Then one
with frightened neigh broke from its
halter and dashed into the road, only to
be plunged, snorting and helpless, into
the drifts. Then the other followed.
How sillyl Something had frightened
them, perhaps only rabbit or mole
horses were such absurdly nervous crea-
turesl However, it was just as well.
Somebody would see them or hear them
that neigh was really quite human
and awful-and they would hurry down
to see what was the matter. She could
not be expected to get out and look aft
er the horses in the snow-anyhow she
wouldn't. She was good deal safer
where she was. It might have been rats
or mice about that frightened them.
Goodnessl
She was still watching with curious
wonder the continued fright of the ami
mails when suddenly she felt the wagon
half bumped, half lifted from behind.
1t was such a lazy, deliberate move
ment that for moment she thought it
came from the party who had returned
noiseIessly with the runners. She
scrambled over to the back seat, unbut-
toned the leather curtain, lifted it, but
nothing was to be seen. Consequently,
with feminine quickness, she said, "I
see you perfectly, Mr.. Waterhouse;
don't be silly" But at this moment
there was another shock to the wagon,
and from beneath it arose what at first
seemed to her to be an uplifting Of the
drift itself, but as the snow was shaken
away from its heavy bulk proved to be
the enormous head and shoulders of
bear.
Yet even then she was not wholly
frightened, for the snout that confront
ed her had feeble inoffensiveness the
small eyes were bright with an eager,
almost childish curiosity rather than a
savage ardor, and the whole attitude Of
the creature lifted upon his hind legs
was circuslike and ludicrous rather than
aggressive. She was enabled to say
with some dignity, "Go away-shoo"
and to wave her luncheon basket at it
with exemplary firmness. But here the
creature laid one paw on the back seat
as if to steady itself, with the singular
effect Of collapsing the whole side Of
the wagon, and then opened its mouth
as IL ll eOluO sOIb VI
But the revelation of its red tongue, its
glistening teeth and above all the hot,
carnivorous fume of its breath brought
the first scream from the lips Of Miss
Amy. It was real and convincing; the
horses Joined in it; the three screamed
together.
The bear hesitated for an instant.
Then, catching sight of the honey pot
on the front seat, which the shrinking
back of the young girl had disclosed, he
slowly reached forward his other paw
and attempted to grasp it. This exceed
ingly simple movement, however, at
once doubled up the front seat, sent the
honey pot dozen feet into the air and |
dropped Miss Amy upon her knees in
the bed Of the wagon. The combined
mental and physical shock was too
much for her. She instantly and sin
cerely tainted, the last thing In her ears
amid this wreck of matter being the
whirp of bullet and the sharp crack of
rife.
She recovered her consciousness in
the Pickering light Of fire of bark that