El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-02

for me. But of course business com
peIs people to leave places sometimes
when they would prefer to remain.
On the morning on which this incl
dent occurred. / started out at break
of dav for ride over the hills to the
north of the village. with the inten-
ton of ascending a certain lofty peak
NV sun rise in order to get sunrise
scene with my kodak. which az cOu sc
I had with me- After getting the
coveted picture | decided to go on far
Their to a wide. high mesa. from which
one can look away to- the northward
and see the beautiful country as far
as the eve can reach. | had figured
that from this place | would be able to
get some pictures of live animals and
was not disappointed. in fact | was
surprised at the promptness with
which the opportunity was afforded
and the kind and size of the animal l
was to get a snapshot OF.
lust as | came out of a deep arroyo
onto the mesa. | espied about thirty
PAGES distant and to the windward.
"a large mother bear and three OF her
children As yet they were not aware
of my presence and | thought | could
get a picture of the picturesque group
and get away without being discovered
But in that ! was mistaken. for the
clicking of the shutter of the kodak
drew the attention of Old Lady Bruin
and she at once gave q savage growl
and started towards me followed by
the three cubs. Having no business
to transact with her. I whipped up my
pony and rode back in the direction
from which / came. Looking back over
my shoulder I saw that the old bear
had decided not to be beat off nice
breakfast for herself and children
without making an effort to prevent it.
and she was coming after us with long
and rapid strides. | was so frightened
at the sight of her showing such grit
that she looked to me as big as COW
and it appeared that she was coming
with the speed of a locomotive. 1t
seemed the pony. though evidently do
ing his best. was going at miserably
slow gait and it seemed certain that
we would be overtaken. | was slashing
my poor pony with the keen riding
whip until the blood oozed out of his
sides and was holding on to my kodak
with the other hand. valuing the pic
ture il co niatnelad shrdlumfwyukp
ture il contained almost as highly as
my own life. We passed through dense
growths of mesquite and my clothing
was torn and my legs lacerated but
still we went lickety-split. the bear
gaining until | could hear her snorts
close to the horses heels. | won
dered where the cubs were and look
ing back 4 saw that they were just
beginning to fall out OF the race 4
thought struck me. If | could just
manage to keep ahead few minutes
longer the cubs would give out and the
old bear would stop to attend to them.
Soon one of the cubs was so far be-
hind that he began to whine for fear
he would not be in at the finish and
would miss his share of the nice break
fast would make. The old bear turn
ed back to see if some new enemy had
attacked her baby and | took advan-
tage of her stop To turn to the side.
ride down sloping place and disap-
pear into the woods.
Il took out my watch and saw that
the race had lasted only about fifteen
minutes. but that was long enough for
me and my pony. He was as wet with
sweat as if he had been swimming a
river and / guess the strain on my
system must have decreased my weight
five pounds. But the good feed | re-
ceived at the colony soon replaced that.
But to finish telling about the picture
of the bear family.
In coming around a clump of ce-
dars | frightened deer that had been
taking a rest in the shade and as il
gaiioped off it made afine appearance.
OF course I wanted a picture of him
and was not long in taking it. After
doing this decided that I would make
my way back to the village. as
thought had done pretty well for
one half day and was pretty nervous
yet from my Wild race for life. Such
pictures as those I had taken that
morning We're not to be found in every
mans collection and | congratulated
myself upon getting them. even If
had risked my life in getting one of
them. After the race was all over I
was rather glad that I had the ex-
perience any way. as il would be
good story to tell when | returned to
my folks.
After agood rest and a better din
4 -