Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1899-09-21

Ing was not good, as game was scarce,
but we had no choice. My companion
on these trips was usually Lin Que, the
Americanized Chinese steward of the
steamer. One day we made the crest
Of low range of white sandstone hills,
took detour for the purpose of reach
ing higher ridge of the same kind OF
rick, and finally found ourselves in a
sort of cove entirely shut on by rocks,
except for the entrance we had made
use OF. While | was resting Lin went
out on a private prospecting trip.
was soon aroused by hearing him call:
Captain! Captain Come long
quick; heavy hole in rock'
Il found him peering into what
took to be the entrance to a bear den.
After clearing away some of the fresh
rock slide that almost blocked the en-
trance, and making an improvised
orch we entered the hole cautiously
With Lin in advance we crawled some
six feet and found ourselves i~ a sort
Of room 1t was about twenty feet
square, with high rock in the center
which had evidently been used as a
table. On the north side was a crude
sort of fireplace. Going further back
we noticed the entrance to a somewhat
larger chamber. We no sooner en-
tered this than I saw six balls of fire
glazing out of the darkness directly
ahead. Lin moved his light to one
side, and by its glare | saw monster
III
rush. The beast was almost upon me
before | remembered the Winchester.
raised the weapon, and with no aim
at all pulled the trigger. As luck would
have it l killed the bear. In the ex-
element I lost sight of Lin, who was
having a touch of excitement on his
own account He, too, had seen balls
IF fire approaching. He took one hur-
ried shot with his revolver, but fired
low, and hit the bear that was making
for him in the loin. He threw away
the gun, and, whipping out his long
cooking knife, prepared for hand to
hand struggle. His opponent. a half
grown bear, was on him in an instant.
The pair rolled over and over When
ever Lin was on top he plunged his
big knife in to the hilt. | could not
shoot, as the Chinaman and the bear
were too mixed up. The Chinaman
finally won out but not until the flesh
about his arms and limbs had Deen
badly torn. The other cub was easily
killed. We decided to return to the
boat that night and send after the meat
the next day. As soon as the Arctic
sky indicated a stretch of good weather
Lin and | started out to investigate
our discovery We found the cave with
little trouble. After carefully brush
ing off the wall with some hay that
we wore inside our Arctic socks, a care
fully drawn panorama, which l judged
to be the history of the people who
occupied the cave in former times, was
disclosed. The first scene, drawn In
red on the white sandstone. was very
plain. 1t showed three small boats.
with three people in each, putting out
on a stormy sea from a rugged coast.
About three feet further along was an
other drawing in which the same boats
figured The boats had evidently cross
ed the sea and were landing on a low
shore. Between the pictures were
drawings of whales, walrus and seals
The third drawing was four feet from
the second and showed the three boats
coming up a wide river. Further in
vestlgation showed other sketches, oil
the chase after buffalo, deer, bear and
moose. The hunters always appeared
with dogs and canoes. In none OF the
sketches were there any indication Of
eleds or snow This led me to won.
der if the Yukon country at that time
had the same terrib'1 winters it now
has. 1t seems strange that the ancient
historian would forget the cold winters
when he was so accurate in putting IN
other details.