The St. Johns herald., 1900-12-15
mv cabin or nar for it-,

A.-~- Sl'1 W --D lA ID tl4c DHLA ds9S dlu. l d.dE't prop the door this time, but wished Iha5 afterward. My hands hurt ne SC bad that I couldn't sleep and l turned and twisted for an hour.
 Al at once l heard something. My blood all turned to ice and my hair br.Sii=d ike a shoe brush. It was a soft out beavy tread and loud. hoarse brsathin' jest outside the cabin close to my head. And then ! smelt something Ike a piggy. I knew well enough what it was There was only the thickness of q split Cupboard between me and a big grizzly bearl
 q began to think like chain lightning. The shotgun-'twa'n't loaded, and if it had been charged 70 the muzzle 'twould only sting him and make him as mad as a hornet. might climb upon the cross beams. Pshaw! They want seven feet from the ground and one scoop of his paw would bring me down like ripe plum.
 Not thinkin' of anything sensible to do, l didn't do nothin', but kep' as still as l ever kep' in my life. I fairly shrunk up like a withered potato.
 ''The bear walked slowly around the cabin, breathin' as if he had the asth- ma. Pretty soon I saw him through the sapln's, and knew he could brush 'em away like smoke. He liftedi up his big head and looked toward me, and I'll take my solemn oath that he was big ger than any bull that ever paved the earth. He stuck out his nose and sniffed with dreadful noise. I tried to think of the Lords Prayer.
 "But pretty soon he moved on and I heard him chompin' the bacon rinds outside. He walked around the cabin four times and every time he stopped and sniffed closer to the saplin's. Twas only the smell of the fire that kep' him from comin' in, that's sure. Then he moved of, for I didn't smell him any more.
 'All of sudden made one jump to the door, cussin' myself for 6arned coward. There I'd been thinkin' bout myself all the time when the other fel- Ter was sleepin' in the open, and the bear would be sure to visit him after fnishin' with me! And he'd been kind enough to save nae from burnin' up, too. run out hollerin' to him:
 " Look out, pardner, there's grizzly around!'
 "'Ten me some news, will you?' came a grouty voice, out of the air, it seemed to me. looked up and saw something dark up the oak tree, about as high as man could well go.
 "'You're roostin' high says. Did he take after you?'
 "T seen i'm a-comin' and I didn't stop for lunch says he. Me blanketsis ribbons, and he's eat everything but the ax and fryin' pam
 Well, slide down and make break for the cabin. He ain't in sight now
 "'Thank ye, I'm comfortable says he.
 However, talked him into comin' down, and he made pretty run for the cabin. I couldn't have beat it myself, and was pretty spry in those days. We slipped in and propped the door, and he began to cuss a fool who would come away and forgit his ammunition.
 Daylight was an awful long time a-comin', but it showed up at last. We built fire and made some coffee, but we didn't fry no bacon.
 ''The other feller seemed kinder blue. felt sorry for him, so says:
 My friend, you can have this ranch. don't like to interfere with anybody's plans, and my business in, town is press in anyway. You can have my blan- kets and what grub is left, and I'll bid you good-by.'
 "'No, you don't he hollered, jump in up. This ere ranch is yourn. Twas only jokin' last night. The climate ere don't agree wi me. I must be off,
 "T couldn't think of it. saysI. You can make a nice home out of it. Good luck to you
 "T means what says he growls, real huffy. This ere ranch is yourn, and don't try to insult me by insinivat- ing that I'm tryin to git it away from you
 "Wel, the upshot of it was that we had bigger quarrel than we had the night before"
 Ezra Tucker laughed and slapped his knee,
 But how did it come out?p asked the deputy assessor.
 ''Oh, the other feller is Rose, my part ner. We got over our scare and we both stayed. There's Rose comin' now, and 1 guess dinners ready."-St. Louis Globe-Democrat