The Southern herald., 1898-04-01
WHE l was a boy Of l6, Fred

| y V L
! MHEN was boy Of l6, Fred
| w Brace, Charley Robbins and nv
self, all chums, and all about the same
age, lived in a little back-countrv town
IN the northeastern part Of New Hamp-
shlre, We were farmers bows, and.
like most boys and men Of backwoods
communities, enjoyed going hunting
occasionally, when farm work and
school permitted, Game, both large
and small, was plentiful, and it was
no unusual thing to find a deer, a bear,
or wildcat, hung up in front of the
Village store as a proof Of the skill or
bravery Of some local Nimrod.
There was considerable rivalry
among the boys Of the village, to see
who would be the first 10 WIN distluc-
tion by killing a bear, Only one Young
fellow had succeeded in doing this be-
fore our day, and though he was now
married and had family Of very small
boys of his own, the glory of the deed
still clung TO him, and he was even then
accorded certain measure Of honor bv
his fellow-citizeus, as "the man who
| killed bear when he was IS"
1t is hardly necessary TO say that
Fred, Charley and were wild to emu
late the deed of Mr.. Byron Potter, as
Lis name was, and so share with him |
the distinction Of having been "the !
champion boy hunter of the country"
MIR. Potter, being no longer boy, his |
mantle, Of course, ought TO fall upon
somebody who was. And the glory Of |
il seemed ample enough for three Of us. |
So when Charley Robbins came run
ming breathicssly orc winter morning.
to tell me that one Of his fathers sheen |
had been carried of in the night by a |
bear, and that Bruins tracks could he |
plainly seen crossing the pasture in the |
| direction ofthe woods, the first thought !
that occurred to both Of MS. after |
nlngling all our exclamations Of excite |
ment and delight, was TO go and tell |
Fred, and get him TO join us in an all |
days hunt for the marauder Before
either of us had tasted bite Of break !
fast, we hurried to Fred's house, and |
coniided the glorious news TO him.
The opportunity had come for us to
distinguish ourselves. We agreed that |
we would have that bear, or perish in
the attempt.
As soon as we could get our break
fasts, we were off with our shotguns, |
heavily loaded with buckshot, over our |
shoulders. Fred took his toboggan, as |
be said "to bring the bear home on;" |
and as things turned out it was very |
lucky that he did. We also had Mr.. !
Braces big deerhound Dan. who was
an excellent bear dog. Dan went |
numbering on ahead through the snow,
and it wasn't long after he struck the
bears trail, back Of Charley's house,
before the o,d fellow was baying On |
the scent with an eagerncss that made |
the blood race in our veins.
The snow was over foot deep, and |
we had no trouble in following Bruins
well-marhed pathway through the
woods. The dragging carcass of the
sheep made quite wide furrow,
splotched over now and then with
blood.
Right over the top Of Little Sad
deback" went the bear, and down into
tie valley beyond, Here, through
deep rayire, flowed Stony brook
dear to the hearts Of trout-loying boys.
By the time we reached the brook
old Dan was barking so madly, quar-
ter Of mile below US, and high up on
the opposite bank, that we rightly
Judged he must have either brought
Druiu to bay or found the animals
den. Hurrying down the bed Of the
brook as fast as we could 60 we came
in a few minutes to place where there
had been a landslide. The locsened
Garth had started near the base of
small cliff. some 300 feet above the
brook. and slid down into the water
which it had turned, for a short dis
tGnce, into new channel At the
base Of the cliff was large opening
that looked like n cave. il front of
this. on a projecting shelf, or thresh-
old of rock, stood old Dan, barking
Justify.
"Hurrah!" cried Fred. That's
where the bears gone! Old Dan says
les in there. But it's a hard place to
get at the rascal, isn't it?"
It certainly did seem so. The bank
was steep and entirely bare of trees. IT
was covered with a glistening sheet OF
snow: and we all wondered how the
bear could have climbed up to his den,
carving o sheep in his mouth.
We stood watching the cave for half
an hour or more. Old Dan got tired
barking at last, and a whistle from Fred
brought him down to us. Still the bear
did not see fit to show himself, and
anxious Though we were TO get shot
at him. none of us felt like climbing
the bank to toll the old fellow out
Finally brilliant idea seemed TO
strike Fred, and he began all Of a sud-
den to bleat like a lamb. Fred was an
excellent mimic, and the bleating was
wonderfully true TO life, plaintiye, and
with that indescribable quayer in the
long-drawn ma-a-a that is character
istic of a young, unweaned lamb. In
less than two minutes out came Bruin
on his shelf of rock and began to sniff
the air, moving his head from side to
side. in curious wagging manner.
But he did not offer to come down the
bank.
"Oh. if we only had rifles instead Of
shotguns," exclaimed Charley, "how
we could riddle him! But even with
buckshot our guns won't carry that dis
tance to kill"
After shifting the air for few mo-
merts. and seeing nothing of the tender
lamb which he expected TO find right