Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-07-13

to fall down upon me-. Mebbe it was
half an hour later when l opened my
eyes and found myself on my back.
and it seemed as If one side Of my
head had bin caved in. l found my
rifle with the stock broken, and l
could smell bar all around. 1t didn't
take me long to ngger out that n bar
had follered me into the cave and
fetched me a whack 'lOngside. the head.
In a mint heard him enitIin and
in around outside the cave, and rs
crawlcd along | found him on guard.
He was lyin down fair III the way, and
l was his prisoner. If my rifle had bin
all right, l could hey got rid of him in
short order. but it couldn't be fired.
CAS- the bar heard me movin up he
showed his teeth and growled in a way
to make my h'ar stand up. lie didn't
como in after Inc, but It was plain
'nuff that he wasn't goin to let me out.
l thought it was best to keep still fur
awhile and see if he wouldn't go away,
and, d'No' know, sub. to the best of my
belief that critter went right to sleep.
l couldn't git out without stcppin over
AllA4As slNl o. was wv ll~hN ~ III liz
I kept quiet fur two hours, ana ne new
or moved. Then 1 flung a stone at
him, ana he woke W and groWled till
l had a chill.
"Mcbbe yoll say l orter hev taken
comfort in that cave. hut when | found
the afternoon Wcarin away and the
bar Aangiu on l was mighty miserable
over it. The bars Of Tennessee owed
me a powerful grudge fur the way l
had slaughtered them. and who was
t. tell what tAis critter proposed to dof
lie could finish me off any time he
wanted to, lut he 'pcared 10 be playin
another game. BiuIcby it come dark,
Tut lie didn't move. | was hungry and
thirsty, and | knOWel the old woman
would he worryin, q though she
vas mad. The bar didn't move off,
however. and at last | softly crept as
fur away as l could and went to sleep.
| don't reckon he come nigh me durin
the night, but lie might hev slipped
away fur food or drink. lie was thar
all right when daylight broke, and
then | was so mad and hungry that l
got desperate. With the rifle bar'l in
my hands | advanced to the mouth of
the cave and yelled fur him to come in
and hev it out with me. He wouldn't
do it. lie groWled and roared and
clawcd, but he wouldn't come in. 1t
was ndIrcl llIcc 10 XII Out anu ne
i'tu an inc uu,"i""Se' !'lIo' anu
NHooPcu anu HuHS stohcS uHu c"lle'i
LII ntHies' put ne let Inc 'Fe aHl SUI
OUT Noon COME ana III Was sun 'nai,
l nHu announcer row WIN nlIl' anu Il
neu pih Il proper az lie" HcN coIie
III anu sHo"eu nlS sIl'' put nc s'"'u
OUTSIDE ana groWleu,
l looheu LUZ tne olu Woman an ,I"t
%ultelhooh' Out She uluH coHle' l nau
an old shotgun III the mousse ana L
kuoWeu that IL she come she ioau IT
WIN puckshot anu prlhs 1t "loHs' IL
'He ar "d4'eu LUZ hcI' ne was d gun
er, NlSht come along az H. ana was
nm over WIN madhess ana ready 10
eat mans from munger Inc OH! tAlhS
l could 10 was 10 sleep uut II was Il
nightmare all throuSh the iohg DARK
ours KIN tell 20 was mighty
gao TO see the dayIight az H. went
~ "
salue olu place ana as cheerlul as ever.
we had a Jaw but he wouldn't hght
ihade up my mlhd TO wait about TWO
hours ana then XII or De Killed out l
was u OF the cave before that tilhe'
The old woman had come huntln tur
me, II she got cius up TO that bar
and hred a handful OF buckshot into
MN befo' he knowed what was up AS
craWled out OF the cave she looked at
me fur a mint and then keerlessly said:
Fears to me I've seen yo pefo''