Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-03-04

sell ~ III really make tnem nappy 10
have the privilege
so one day my remarkable father
and some OF the hunters went out. Reu-
ben Pettibone looked the lay of the
land all over, and then said;
"'Come this way, boys. Wen strike
Slippery Abner's track beyond that
clump of trees yonder.'
"There was q four-inch fall of fresh
snow. My father led the rest over be.
yond the clump OF trees, and there,
fresh in the snow, leading away from
the trees, was the track of a bear, the
immense size of which left no doubt in
any mind that it was the footprints Of
Slippery Abner, They followed the
trail two miles, and just as it led into a
thicket one of the party looked back
and saw Samson Juff come out of the
thicket not so yards away. He hadn't
seen the bear nor its trail.
'Hullo!' he shouted, What have
you struck?'
"'Slippery Abner! one of the hunt.
ers shouted. 'And we've got the lead
on II tool
Samson grumbled out something
and disappeared in the woods. My re-
makable father led the chase an hour or
more, but they never got as much as n
sight of the bear The track kept on
going, and by and by 1t led into open
country toward Samson Juff's cabin.
This made the hunters uneasy, and
even Reuben Pettibone had misgivings
that he might be foiled, remarkable as
he was, and when the trail took them
within three feet of Samson's door, and
the bear tracks went no further, the
hunters kicked the snow until 1t few
about as II in the face of a gale, and
they howled and cursed and swore ven
geance against Samson Juff. The bear
tracks went no further than the cabin,
but from the cabin the footprints Of
two men, walking side by side, led away
toward the settlement, three miles
away.
"'That internal Samson Juff has
gobbled Slippery Abner! the hunters
howled. He went an cut back to his
cabin after seein' us, an the bear hap
penin' to come along this way, he's
pinged 1t, an him an his brother Joe
is luggin' him into the settlement! We
mowt jest as well quit!'
And every man of 'em swore he'd
shoot that miserable cur Samson Juff
the minute he set eyes on him. They
were still vowing loud and bloody ven.
geance, when who should come on the
scene but Samson himself. Instantly
half dozen guns were covering him,
and il my remarkable father hadn't
been there that would have been the
end of Samson Juff.
'Hold!' cried Reuben Pettibone,
Let the man speak!'
"But they wouldn't give him a chance
to speak.
"'You can't fool us, Samson Juff!r
they shouted. You've killed our bear,
an it'll be the last one you'll ever kill on
the Sinnemahone.'
"All this time Samson had been ex.
amining the tracks that led away from
his cabin, and then he suddenly made q
dash into the cabin and as suddenly
dashed out again.
both pair is gone, by the Great
Horn Spoon! he yelled. An they cost
me $10.'
"Then he started away on the trail Of
the two men,
"'Foller him. shouted the hunter.
Don't let him fool us an git awayl'
"Reuben Pettibone himself thought
Samson was acting trihe mysterious
and suspicious, and he led the way on
his trail. The trail the two men had
made circled round toward big swamp
that lay over on the right about two
miles, and Samson tore along it like
mad, with Reuben Pettibone, now GER.
tain Of Samson's guilt, and the hunters
dashing wildly after him. Just as the
procession reached the edge of the
swamp the report of a rifle came from
it, not far ahead, quickly followed by
another one. Then there rose the wild
est kind of shouts in the swamp, and as
the hunters went on in they saw two
other hunters dancing and yelling
around the carcass of an immense bear
that lay in the snow. The two hunters
discovered the others.
"We've got himl' they shouted
We've gathered in Slippery Abner at
last!'
"There they be!' Samson yelled.
I knowed it! There they be!'
with that Samson dropped down In
the snow by the side Of the bear and
made grab for one Of his feet.
"'Then,' Reuben Pettibone used to
say, we discovered that the bear had
boot on each one of his four feet!
What did it mean? Praxiteles, don't
mind telling you that Slippery Abner,
wise, sagacious, cunning brute that he
was, had discovered early in the day
that | was on his trail He knew that
now something out of the ordinary had
to be done by him If he escaped that
day, and he was equal to the occasion.
AS he passed along by Samson Juff's
cabin he saw the door was ajar. He
| iur ped inside. When he came outagain
he made bear tracks no more, for he had
put on Samson's two pairs of hunting
boots, and marching on, had left the
trails Of two hunters in the snow winstead
OF his own! That threw us clear off.
$50 that is why my remarkable father
could never have been induced to Judge
a man on circumstantial evidence,
even il he had lived hundred years
And that is why am shy Of circum-
stantial evidence myself. And be-
lieve, Mackinaw, that you would pause
after having heard this, and ponder
long before you would hang man on
circumstantial evidence. I don't be-
lieve, now, that you would even hang
me on it, Mackinaw."
"No, 6nnemahone," said the man in
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