The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-07-13

and was moving and Srunting. Even
in his misery that child was remark
able and found time for merry quips,
".SInelt her old man cooking. / sup
pose said he, and then he turned over
and went to sleep. When Reuben Petit
bone awoke again he woke with start.
and saw the other bear standing over
him, her eyes garing.
"'The general expression OF her
countenanee, Reuben used to say, gave
me the impression that she was con-
siderably het up. From what l could
gather from the appearance of things,
| should imagine that she had walked
UP and took in the whole situation
and concluded not to wait until spring
to chaw me- begun to reach for my
knife. when wolves begun to howl with
a hair-raising fierceness, right at the
opening of the cave. The bear turned
and sprang at the opening, and out of
the cave she went. Such yooping and
Yelling and bowling and snarlihg and
munching and crunching as followed
her exit never heard before nor since
I crept to the opening and peeked out.
! The old bear stood with her back
against the ledge, and the whole pack
of gaunt and hungry wolves was hurl-
ing itself upon her, trying to force her
down. She had scattered wolves to the
right and to the left, and the open
space in front of the cave was strewn
with their carcasses. grabbed my
gun and went out to the aid of the
bear. Between the two of us, we soon
had every one of the pack dead Then
the bear bethought herself OF her
! grudge against me, and turned on me
with her fierceness at the boiling point.
| was obliged to put load of buckshot
through her head, and she tumbled
dead among the wolves
"Then Reuben wiped out his gun and
looked around on the battlefield. He
counted 30 dead wolves. Like flash
| he figured it up that with the bounty
on wolves at eight dollars scalp he
hay lying at his feet just $232-the
| amount of the mortgage on the Petit
bone clearing and $32 to spare! More
| than that, there were the two bears,
and their hides We're worth $40 more!
Little Reuben just jumped and yelled
with joy, because now he could lift his
father out of the all-pervading dumps
and save his childhood's home. And
while he was jumping and yelling he
heard a noise behind him, and looking
| round, what should he see tumbling out
! of the opening in the cave but two
/ bear cubs that he hadn't known any
/ thing about.
"'Twenty-nine wolves' Reuben Pet
tibone was fond of telling me he shout
| ed. "Thirtytwo dollars more than
enough. besides two dead bears and two
live bears that hadn't seen. No more
all-pervading dumps for pap!'
And there wasn't either. and l sup
pose that when that long-lost boy got
home with all those skins there was
the"
"Sinnemahone," said the lnan in thc
red, blue, purple, yellow, green and
pink Mackinaw jacket, breaking in ON
the narrative; land that tremendous
snowbank that shet this amazin young
ster from gettin' home? Did the heat
O. that battle melt il off the face O the
mountain or did the dyin' kicks o them
wolves dig it up and scatter it like
chaff before the roarin' hurricane? Or
was that sloshin' 12-year-old father O
your n SO burnin' with thirst arter the
battle that he jest fell to and gobbled
all that snow before he could cool that
ragin' and consumin' fever down."
The expression on the face of the
man with the variegated jacket was ag-
gravating, and for a moment the man
from over Sinnemahoning way looked
as if he had left something at home and
was inclined to go right away after it;
but only for moment. Then he seemed
to remember that he could get along
just as well without it, and said, bland
ly, but with reproach in his tone:
II had hoped. Mackinaw, to be
spared the recital, because the way that
the child Reuben got home with the
skins, and the scene when he got there,
always touches me, and is tender How
ever, since you seem to yearn for it,
| will tell you how it was. While Reuben
and the old bear were fighting the boy
discovered something If he hadn't
made that discovery there would have
been no point in his jumping and shout
ing with JOY. The discovery he made
was that the surface of the great snow
| bank that stretched away between him
and the home of his childhood had
taken on a crust that was almost one
| glare of ice. SO. before the bear had
given her dying kick, Reuben had Laid
his plan, and as soon as he got through
gun to carry it out. lie tied the two
dead bears together with strips he cut
| from his moccasins and tied the wolves
to the bears with thongs he cut from