Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-07


Won n Magnificent Victory.
They had been telling all sorts Of
hunting stosies. some almost too mirac-
ulous to be believed, except by hunters
who had had experiences and knew
what strage things sometimes occur far
away amid the forest wilds when there
are no witnesses. The last man had told
of deer hunting in the water, and a
squat, heavy set man sitting In the cor
ner seemed particularly interested in
the tale.
'"That reminds me- he said, when
he had a chance to come in, "of an ex-
perience / once had up in the lake re-
gion of Canada. A party of us were in
camp there, along in the fall, and were
having great sport with the rod and
gun. We had secured specimens of all
the game and fish for which the section
was noted except a bear, and of that
tracks had been reported not far from
camp, and we were to try for bruin as
soon as we had made proper prepara-
tions. The day before we were to start
out ON the bear hunt l had gone off up
the shore of the lake in light canoe
we had to fish for a couple of hours
with me in the canoe except my fishing
outfit and no sort of a weapon unless
Che canoe paddle might be called one.
But a man didn't need a weapon to
catch fish with, so 1 gave no thought to
it. had found nice cave mp the cove
about a mile from camp, and there
stopped the canoe about 90 feet from
shore in deep water and threw out my
line. Luck was good, and had pulled
in five or six fine fellows and was hav-
ing more fun than anybody, except the
fisherman, when / was startled by
splash from the thicket lining the shore,
and the next minute whopping big
bear was making for me lickety split.
To say that 1 was scared doesn't half
express it. 1 was paralyzed. L didn't
even have sense enough left to grab my
paddle and try TO get away. 1 simply
caught it up and held it in my hand as
/ would a club and waited. But the
bear didn't wait. he was very evident
~ hungry, or he never would have at
tackled me out there in the boat, and he
was coming straight for me. 1 waited
for him to get close enough to bat him
one, and then gave it to him with the
canoe paddle square between the eyes.
1t dazed him little, but it was far moro
disastrous to the paddle, and when L
Strengthened up from delivering the
blow L had only about two feet of the
paddle left in my hand. The rest of it,
splintered, was floating in the wake of
the bear. He gave himself a shake after
hit him, and the next minute he had
caught the side of the canoe with one of
his big paws and was manifesting a
a fr, oh
AS he weighed about 400 pounds and
was as powerful as horse it did not
require very strong haul to settle that
part of the proceeding early, and instead
of his coming aboard with me the canoe
was upset, and went into the water
with him.
by this time a portion of my wits
had returned, and 1 had sense enough,
as the boat went toward the bear. to get
off into the water with the boat between
the bear and me. 1 was good swim
mer and had q faint idea if / got head
ed toward the shore could outswim my
enemy and get away, so 1 turned, as
soon as 1 got Strengthened out in the
lake, and put back the other way. The
bear in the meantime had started
around the end of the boat, coming my
way. don't know what it was, wheth-
er inspiration or fear or. bravery, but
certainly it was something out of the
ordinary, for as 1 went around one end
of the boat and the bear was at the 9TH
er or quite near it was struck with an
idea, and instead of trying speed with
the bear for the shore 1 concluded to
try wits with him right where we were.
So / swung on to the end of the canoe,
which was bottom side up, and as the
bear came toward me, i tilted the other
end up, and with a sudden jerk, dropped
the inverted boat over the bears head.
The next minute / was on top of the
boat with the bear under me. / guess
he didn't know what had happened to
him, for he didn't seem to do anything
under there except to bump his head
against the bottom and growl. Thought
at first he might have sense enough to
dive and come out ON the other side;
but, like turkeys that walk into pen
through hole heading from the outside
into it, and, never once looking down
for the hole to get out at, run around in
a crazy kind of a way till they are
caught, that bear staid under the boat
with me ON top of it, humping his head
and growing. By this time was feel
ing good deal like Napoleon crossing
the Alps, or like some other great hero,
and felt still more like il as 1 noticed
the humping and the growing growing
less every minute until finally they
ceased altogether. didn't understand
that quite and began to wonder if the |
bear wasn't catching ON to himself and
thinking of the easiest way to get at his |
dinner, when over in the clear water Of |
the lake. dozen feet or so from the |
boat, saw something big and dark |
slowly going toward the bottom and
drifting away. Another look convinced /
me it was my bear. and another minute |
found me swimming for the shore at 40 |
miles an hour. more or less. Half an |
hour later was ON the spot again with |
three men in big canoe, and still half |