The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-17

shoot! For Gods sake shoot. amt go,
no time TO load
You bet somebody shot / shot for a
live oak up the hillside about a hundred
yards. the only one in sight that anyone
could climb. while the man she was after
whipped through an opening in a pile OF
rocks that lodged her for a minute. This
minute was just enough to let her catch
sight of me. and up she came a-pacin' al
pace in harness.
LAS / reached the edge of the tree l
heard her close behind. and ! couldn't help
tUrnin' my head bit around. l was green
on bear then, but such an education as
got in that one glance you can't imagine.
1t was like a storm at seen by a flash
of lightnin'. The lowest big limb was about
seven feet from the ground i grabbed it
With jump. swung myself up and had
both feet on the limb and was just goin
20 swing over it, when there was a sudden
jerk in the slack of my buckskins that felt
us If a ton of lead had suddenly dropped
into EN-.
But / was mighty strong in those days
and my hand-hold stayed. But my feet
gave way just as the top button of the
britches broke, and the rest followed like
a row of bricks. AS my legs swung down
l did some lively kickin', and off come the
pants. BY the way, you never want to wear
suspenders when bear is after you. If I'd
a-been putin on city style I'd a-been
. called in sure. Before the old hellion could
ger her claws free from the buckskins 1
had whirled over the limb and in sec
ond was on the next one.
She tore bark off the tree a while.
tryin' to get up. but couldn't make it.
Then she flew at the britches and chawed
them bit. and then flew at the tree. and
bit at that until the splinters sounded as
If the whole business was a-comin' down.
Then she took another turn at the pants.
l could see she was bleedin'. though it was
getttn' dark, but she made strings out of
the buckskfns just about as fast as if
nothin' was the matter.
AS it got dark she began to quiet down
some, but could still see her outline and
she vibrated between the trunk of the tree
and the pants for while. Then she sat
down and tried to sit me out, as / sup
posed, for 1t got dark so fast couldn't see
well through the thick leaves. 1t was late
in the season and mighty cold and for a
while there was quite furry of snow, and
then 1t cleared some ard began to get
awful cold. and by that time 1t was so
dark couldn't see the bear except in the
dimmest outline, and she looked as il she
was lynn down for an all-n.ght's job of
herdin' me.
ut got colder by the minute, and there
was no use of goin' upstairs. while down.
stairs it was entirely too hot for comfort
and had TO spend the night there watchin'
the great bear in the sky and the big bear
under the tree without gittin any comfort
out of either. You'd a-kept warm swearil',
but was p:cus brought up and can't swear
no more than 1 can lie. decided though,
that there was big mistake made In the
buildin' OF hell. Perch rich sinner on a
night as cold as that was UP tree with
out his Tants or supper and he'd soon
sQueal for Lazarus to bring him red-ho
birthstone cocktail.
"Mornin' come about the end OF GEN.
fury and just as / had rubbed about the
last bit of hide off my shins tryin' to keep |
warm by polishin' 'em on the bark OF the |
tree. There was the bear, stone dead, with |
skein Of buckskin strings big enough to |
keep camp in moccasin strings for 4 |
season. And, by gum, sir, would you be- |
!ieve it. the snow that was on her and |
around her from that little furry OF snow |
showed she was dead then. and I'd been |
settin' up garnet all night toastin' my !
shins by the oak bar stove for nothin'."