The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-09
that sort OF sllenl Iaushter which makes one's

lnhb bohb VI ShFHb AuknlfF NV hoAN
sit was somewhere ABOUT . COCA a. -.
afternoon when we say ,h unt oeIes niv About one
hundred ard tfty yards, When thcy etIuVn
the opening the men suddenly halted, anu l
could see them handling their guns, az II getlirs
ready 10 shoot. They were looking lntentIy
downward and in front, and II suddenly stIuIHs
me that they were suspicious oil the lThI, VneUt
the men got down on hs knees IN the iran anu
examined. then he got up and laughed. lhey
were all woOdsmen and II didn't lthe ON ~
them long to ascertain that the iran OF tIa.h
had been made 10y bears and not by men iIt7-
emily they came on, examining every IoOt OF ne
way, but as we had been. careful IN covering
up our trail they saw nothing 10 alarm them.
Directly one OF the men uttered an ejaculation
and pointed toward the. drunken, bear when
had DROPPED In the path below his compare
belong TO Melton's gang. " Melton was not one
of them himself. cooked their guns. but dldI I
shoot One Of them. the tallest. and a nne-io1k,
ing fellow he was. walked up WITHIN q coupie
OF yards Of the sleeping bear .ad
well, III be damned, II that cuss isn't deah
drunk. beard bin e5Tclaim,; ,no o,,srs Never
he got his licker2'
that's Just what puzzles me. But 1t looks TO
NE like the cuss had got into our cave somehow
Come along, boys, and well. see Tor ourselves
there's no danger Of anybody being about
-'Whatn we do with the bear? inquired one
let him alone for the present, we don't
Ilffil uHN ll'1A ghnN - hilh w N'A E's 49,
fellow any time we want, him. now that hes
got a taste Of liquor. Thunder and Mar, a
here isn't another drunken bear eHGlaime1
Bacchus. let EN- alone. boys, and let get
into the cave and see how things look. Then
to %e Mi III hat fSt t order ia " from mn1 cu inISg Gap.
$50 they left the bears lying where thfy
found them. and crept out OF sight under ne
smell Of smoke, but We couldn't discover the
spot from which II issued until Tom. happen
Ing TO look upward, saw a thin spiral OF smoke
issuing from the top Of a tall, hollow tree. close
to which we were lying. No wonder old LENS
stills were never discovered through smoke
Nothing could have been shrewder than max
fifty feet above ground. That explained why
the smokePipe vas run into the hollow tree
which had been inserted IN the crevice and the
latter filed up all garound.
The next thinS nov was the CAPTURE c0 on me
tqtion we agreed To- DO nothing, before l or 2
o'clock In the morning. AT which time we be-,
lievei Melton and his men, or two Of the crowd
at least would be asleep; so while Tom stood
guard Sam and | slept a couple Of hours. then
Sam took a turn, and after him | stood guard.
About half-past 1 o'clock ] awoke Tom and sam
and down TO the little shelf below. We saw
nothing Of the bears. which had probably gone
on I'm search Of something TO eat. We crept
M to the bunch OF brush in front of the cavern
with our reviewers In our hands ready to shoot
If necessary. No sound issued from the cavern
a. we stood at its entrnce. but before we
NINNNA hNNNAf ANNAA AAN Ia ~ NA' ~ AAhA'A ~
proach We could hear the loud SHORES of tired
and sleeping men. Quietly We stole up to the
door. which was open, and looked in. All
three OF the sinners were sound asleep. while
almost within their reach their guns leant
against the wall. Sam stole In his stockinged
feet across the cavern and removed the guns
without n sound, then Tom and | silently APP
preached. After covering the men with our
pistols ! gave one Of them a Kick and shouted:
" Surrender. you fellows, or down you GO
"One of the men-it was old Lem himself
reached for his gun.
" Not another move or I'll shoot said /.
covering the fellows head. 'Springstone.
handcuT these fellows. and II one of them makes
a movement | will put a bullet through him,
The men saw that resistance was hopeless
and they quietly surrendered, but If they could
have got hold Of their guns there would have
been trouble. After we had handcufcd the
moonshiners we broke open all their kegs and
barrels and let the whiskey run. then. we
smashed their mashtubs and broke up their
big s'Hl and all its appurtenances leaving MOTH
ing but n worthless wreck of what had been
the finest Illicit still outfit ] ever saw,
"On our way back 10 Wise Courthouse |
told old Lem how we had discovered his still
through the drunken bears. and he swore that
inter he got out he would kill every bear in
the mountains. We took Lem and his two men
10 Richmond. whore they got long sentences
in the pen. That's the story of my funniest
experience since ! have been a moonshine
hunter.