The Worthington advance., 1900-10-05

A Fight in the. Forest
BY David Ker.
''DAD LUCK to that mischievous

JAD AOOA 10 Iudl uASCulcVOuo
D beast! He seems just bent up
on worrying my life out. Every day
hear of his doing fresh damage
somewhere; and yet when I 60 out to
look for him and bring him down I
can see no more Of him than of my
own ears"
1t was seldom enough that the gov
ernor of Alexandrovsk-a fat. jolly,
easy-going old Russian colonel-could
be put out by anything, although
he was evidently so just now.
When he lost a leg at Sebasto-
pol, his first remark was that it would
be clear saving of one stocking and
one shoe. When Schamyrs fierce Cir
cassians took him prisoner and threat
ened to hang him he replied only by
telling them to take care and do it
properly" and when he was sent of
to command an out-of-the-way post in
eastern Siberia, where most men
would have been utterly miserable,
Col. BibikOh was, as he himself jok-
ingly phrased it, ''as happy as the day
was short"
But the time for disturbing the
coloners composure had arrived at
last, and the particular trouble which
had power to drive him beyond the
limits of his accustomed GOODNESS as
sumed the somewhat uncommon form
of an enormous black bear.
Now, the appearance of bear, es-
pecially if he happened to be unusual
ly big and fierce, would in any ordi-
nary case have been rather welcome
than otherwise to the brave old
colonel, who, crippled though he was,
had by no means given up hunting,
and killed almost as much game from
the saddle of his sturdy little forest
pony as he had once done on foot.
But this particular bear was not an
ordinary one by any means. On the
contrary, If half the stories about
him were to be believed, a more ex-
traordinary, unaccountable, mysteri-
GUS and utterly Objectionable animal
never yet disturbed quiet neighbor-
hood
Wonderful were the tales related Of
bruins strength and size, and cum
ming and ferocity. He was said to be
as large as an OK, powerful enough to
beat in door with one blow of his
paw, and so crafty that he seemed to
guess every device employed against
him, however skillfully concealed.
His speed seemed to be as marvellous
as everything else about him. He
would kill horse or a bullock at mid
night in one village and then fall
upon a man before daybreak in an
other village miles away.
In fact, everything that went wrong
throughout the whole district, from
the stealing of ham to the pulling
down of house, was set down, right
ly or wrongly, to the credit of this
terrible bear.
1t must not be supposed, however,
that all this was allowed to go on
without anything being done to stop
it. There were plenty of bold hunters
in Alexandrovsk besides Col. Bibikoef,
and every man of them had done his
utmost to earn the glory of having
killed this fierce creature-a sufficient
attraction for them, even without the
reward of 200 roubles offered by the
colonel to any man who should bring
the monster down. :.
But the monster himself seemed in
no hurry to be brought down, and
contrived to make it very difficult
job for every man who tried.
If peasant were strolling home
carelessly about nightfall without a
weapon of any kind he was as certain
to fall in with the bear as the moon
was to rise that night; but let hunt
er go out with gun and knife on pur-
pose to find him, and he was equally
certain not to get so much as q
glimpse of the beasts short black tail.
And just so it Jared with all other
attempts to get rid of him. Traps
had been set for him, and he had
shifted the bait and passed on. Pit
falls had been dug, and he had walked
warily around them and then gone of.
Food of which the bear was known
to be fond had been poisoned and
laid around his accustomed haunts:
but bruin was far too cunning to
touch it. In fact, he seemed too old
bear to be caught with any kind of
chaff, however tempting.
In the end the peasants made up
their minds that it was useless to
hunt him any more, deciding that it
was not a bear at all, but one of
those wicked magicians who, as they
believed, had the power of changing
themselves into wolves, bears and
other wild beasts and taking venge-
ance in that form upon those who had
offended them.
So the colonel had some reason to
speak SO angrily, especially az he had
himself ridden many q mile through
the forest in the hope of meeting the
bear, but all to no purpose.
Suddenly deep voice said, close to
his elbow: T %a' r. " $fEG s$t &$% ESSs Fs4i
"Col. Bibikoff, will you let me try?"
"Try what?" asked the colonel, look
ing round with q start at a short,
thick-set, shaggy-haired figure that
might easily have been mistaken for
the very bear of which he4wasathinkc
ing. a bs s
But it was only his servant. Yurry. ~ ~
convict from southern Russia; for XII
was one of Col. Bibikon's queer ways
to choose all his household servants
from conyicts under his charge; and
to declare that he had never been bet
ter served in MS life. ~,1t4.ia@s
ITO kill the bear for you," replied
Yury. ,......'..,.
"Do you think yon can, do it2'' asled
the colonel, looking keenly at shims j
Il can. try said tie sRua.si4n.