The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-05-26

anu see tndC tAt upSHOr OF III WOViu De
that I'd have to be lendin' Bill mt dog
and my fishin' tackle for the ne4t six
months or more, felt Consumed Sorry,
cause he had to spend that monty for
clothes, and l couldn't help sayin' Ag'in:
dash it all, Bill, why didn't YOU let
me know that you had an idee q goin'
out an dom it? I'd "a give y9f some
p'ints and shet you off, says.
There's too many rabbits In the
swamp, anyhow, but that wa'n'tno ex-
cuse for Bill goin' out after some at
that time O. year. But he went, and the
worst of it was he had the bestrabbit
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 th@ last
anybody see of him he was headed thar
way yit. Bill had gethered in a lot O.
rabbits and sot down on log toeat a
bite and have smoke. While heAwas
eatin' and smokin' along come Jabe.
Jabe had been chopin out some tam
arack and was goin' home.
"'Set down. says Bill, and haze q
smoke
"Jabe sot down, and they was eajey
in themselves considerable, when all
of a student the rabbit dog riz up and
begun to growl and brussel Bill ana
Jabe they looked up, and there they
see bear settin' on knoll not more
than 80 PAGES away, takin' in the scene.
loollin' pleasant and shown no sign
but what he was glad to see 90. nd
Jabe enjoyin' themselves, and astn' las
if he might jine in with 'em if 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 he
sociable and setch, but as you ain't
loaded for bear you better call youl
dog and go along with me-, he says.
But Bill he felt huffy that the bean
should come a-nosin' round where he
wasn't wanted and intrudin' on their
picnic, and he was for emptyin' his gun
into Bruin.
Hes nigh enough for me to wing
him, even if my shot are SMALL says
Bill. He'll run, anyhow, as SOON as
he hears the gun. Bears is awful
towards. l was readin' 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 a fine load of shot in his
nose and then jest watch him run!'
The bear he jest KEEP on settin' there
iookin' pleasant at Bill and Jabe, but
givin' the snappin' and snarlin' dog .
glare now and then. Bill he hauled W
and aimed at the bear. Jabe he walked
pretty fast to a tree that stood Jest back
of him and got ready to shin up it.
"'Now watch him run!' says Bill, and
he banged away at the bears nose.
"The bear did run, sure enough. But
somehow he didn't run the way Bill had
Gale lated on. He run straight fol
Bill and the pleasant look wasn't or
his face no more. He snorted and
howled. Bill dropped his gun and
tOlC up lliC lSSl llGC. OdOC nc vas
half way up his tree. Bill got to the
branches O. his'n jest as the bear got to
the bottom of it, and as he grabbed a
branch it broke and down he come ker.
tlummiX. lie struck square straddle 0
the bears back. That s'prised the bea1
so that it sort o. discumfuddled him
and he give two or three crazy whirls
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 a 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.
eff 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 JADE heerd some one give
yoop from some'res out in the sw amp.
and he had an idee it was Bill, and he
whooped back.
"'Hello, Bill he yooped. IS the bear
a runnin' yit?'
But Bill didn't say, and by and by
he come creepin' and crawlin' outen the
laurels to the openin' where him and the
bear had started from. All the clothes
he had on him wouldn't hardly make
patchwork block for bedquilt, and he
was stripped like 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, Bill?' says
| Jabe.
mo says Bill. He scraped me off.
He 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
| ND;l ,J;Jr'+