Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1900-06-28

thing to do and that was to scare the
stuffin' out of him. They're just like
wild cattle on plain. If you run
from 'em they'll make a bulge on you
sure, but if you run at EN- and wave
your coat you stand a show of scarin'
'em off. There was only one thing to
do. and that was to ride him, for
swearin' at him didn't have no more
effect on him than it does on you when
YOU make rank miss on frst-rate
shot at deer.
''There was no time to Jay out any
fine plans, for the ants bit worse and
worse and came thicker and thicker.
So ran out on Q big limb and the
bear followed me out there and looked
up and showed his big white teeth
and seemed to say-ain't you got
some more lead tofeed me? I'm tired
of waitin' so long. gave him my hat
for change, and as it fell to the
ground he dropped his head and be-
gan to chaw on it. Before he had a
chance to show any disappointment,
because bears fayo-ite teethin's
ring-a mans skull wasn't inside of
it. just dropped square a-straddle of
his back.
"What are you lookin' so queer
about? You don't believe it, Ell?
Well, now, I amt a-tryin' to make out
that was particularly brave. It was
only a stroke of genius. There wasn't
any courage about it. 1t took more
bravery to stay with the ants. There
was millions of EN-, and l just had to
ride out of there. 1t was the ouly way
to beat the grave. Of course man
must be somethin' of bareback rider
and know how to keep his bearlns-no
joke intended-but when you get in
such scrape as that there's nothin'
else to do, especially for the bear. for
he had ridden so many hunters that l
thought change would be beneficial
to his constitution. You might not
have been as good rider as [ was
and probably would have got off at
the first pile of rocks we sailed
through But you'd have mounted
him Just the same as I did, because
YOU u Il lldu ".
''Did he snort? Not much. He had
no time for that. Did you ever watch
fly sittin' on an arrow when you let
go the string? That was about my
fix, only 1 didn't drop off. Fact is,
I didn't dare to, for he wasn't scared
enough yet. He started fast enough,
but when got good grip with each
hand into his wool, dug my heels into
his tanks and hollered Cit out o
here, you son of gun!' he shot out
like one of these rifle balls you hear
tell of that gather speed so fast that
when we went under the first tree
I didn't have time to unload him
and catch onto limb and swing up
again. as had meant to. That would
have been dandy trick to play him
for if he'd ever taken notion to come
back he'd never "a found the tree. A
shootin' star might as well try to find
the cloud it went through before it
busted. .
"In about half second somethin
green whisked past. 1t want in my
eye, for you never saw nothin' green
| in that when it come to question
of bear. I'm green on theosophy and
few other fine pints of religion. but
not on bear, thank you. 1t must a
been another tree, but l want very
particular about stopping to find out
so on journeyed. just as we cleared
that, somethin' gray went a-swimmin
around on all sides with thousand
quails a-whizzin', squealin and dartin
around my head, and the durndest
rattle you ever heard. 1t sounded as
if the lightnin' had struck the pantry