The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-30

that he would have the bear in five or six
days at the outside.
The prospectors spent the days in the
mountains or along the foothills looking for
mineral, without any great success it must
be confessed. As soon they got home and
the smoke of their cap fire rose in the even
ing air. La Fargo always came over to report
the progress he was making in capturing the
bear, and, incidentally, to eat supper with
them. Five or six hundred yards from camp
Just within the green edge of the forest and
close to the bank of the little stream, he was
building log pen with sliding door. When
completed he would kill a deer or big horn
and drag it to the trap and place it in the
further corner, attaching the door string to
1t in such manner that when the bear en-
tered and disturbed the bait down the door
would come, securely imprisoning the animal
This seemed very simple plan to the pros
pectCrs, but one entailing much useless labor
They ventured to suggest that it would be
quite as sure and much easier to kill deer
or sheep, drag it to some likely place, and
as soon as it found that the bear was
feeding on it, watch until the animal came
to make its next meal and shoot it. La Fargo
shrugged his shoulders. "Mas,'' he said
"You'm not much hunt him bear Varre
strong, bear. Shoot him t'ro' heart, t'ro'
lungs; shoot him full holes, he no stop; hit
you with one paw, biff. You keeled sure
THE SQUEEZE.
The fourth evening after La Farge's arrival
he reported that the pen completed. The
fifth evening he said he had climbed to the
top of the Butte and killed two bighorns but
was so tired he lad brought down only a
little of the meat for the family. The next
night he would drag down one of the car
cases and bait the trap 1t was almost sun
down the next night when the prospectors
got to camp, very tired after their long days
scramble on the rocks. They threw down
their picks and began listlessly to build a
ire and prepare the evening meal. when
suddenly from the great timber came the
loud scream of man, and then hoarse bel
lowing sound, something like that of an en-
ragged bull. With one accord they grasped
their rifles and ran UP the slope toward the
timber. They were not tired now, and made
almost as good time a deer could have
dcne. When half way up the roaring bel
lowing sound ceased. They kept on, however,
and had difficulty in finding the pen:
that is to say, what was left of it, for one
corner was broken out and the roof was
slanting at a steep angle toward the open
ing. In the far corner they saw the carcass
of blghorn, and behind that, between it
and the wall, they made out the form of La
Farge, stretched out full length, face down.
ward. The prospectors felt sure he was dead
and, entering the pen, carefully, for the roof
looked as if it about to fall one of them
took hold of the sleeve Of the PROSTATE man
and began to raise him. AS he did so La
Fargo gave piercing scream and raised the
most terror-stricken face they had ever seen.
AS one of them said afterwards, His eyes
were bullying out you could have brushed
them off with a stick" The poor fellows
teeth chartered, he trembled and continually
rolled his eyes about as if looking for some
thing to appear. The prospectors stood him
up, and, while one of them held him to keep
him from collapsing, the other rubbed him
down and examined him thoroughly He
hadn't a scratch. After a while they started
down the hill toward camp. La FARCE wasn't
much inclined to talk, but by much question
ing, they learned that he had dragged the
bigkorn down the mountain and into the
pen, and was just finishing tying the door
string to one of its legs when he heard a
slight noise and looking over his shoulder
saw the chief grizzly standing half within the
doorway. In his fright he let go of the
string the heavy gates fell on the bear caus-
ing 1t to leap clear in and that was the last
he remem bered. The prospectors knew the
rest; evidently the pen had given way at the
first assault of the angry and frightened bear.
La Fargo did not eat supper with the pros
pectors that night, and when they got up be-
times the next morning they saw him and
his outfit just passing out of sight around
the bend of a distant hill
Still another evening while the prosnectors
were eating their supper. they saw Chief
Grizzly noslng and paving about the de-
serted Gaming place of the half-breed TAX
ing their rifles and cautiously approaching
the spot, they succeeded in getting within
sixty or seventy yards of him. AS the almost
simultaneous reports of their guns rang out
the old fellow slowly sank to the ground. his
muscles tWitched little and all was over
He was, indeed, large bear, but there are
many as large or larger roaming the fast
nesses of the Rockies today-Brooklvn
Times.