The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-25

beaten HAT and the ground troddcn
into blood-moistened dust
Peter dry eyed, but piteously moan.
ing. was lying 10y the senseless body.
tenderly clasping it in his arms. aud
ON seeing us, exclaimed: my poor
father has been killed by a grizzly
bear; and. so help me Heaven. III
never taste food till I've DESTROYED
the brute Life is no use to me now"
why. Pete, my boy" said Dr.
Lewis, who had knelt by the old mans
side. your father is not dead. Hen
regain consciousness directly. Mean
timc, you run to the camp for my in
strument case and tell our friends there
to hurry along with the spring wagon.
Il rev blankets and other such articles
as they know will be necessary"
Actually hugging the doctor in his
joyous revulsion of feeling, and softly
kissing his fathers unhurt hand. Peter
sprang TO his feet and was off like
shot. Going and returning he must
cover nearly mile, hut in less than
ten minutes he was back again with
the little box of surgical instruments
and some clean clothing for the
wounded man, now sitting up and in
full possession of his senses. On see
ing this, the affectionate son dropped
TO MS knees in an ecstacy of thanks
giving and fairly wept aloud for Joy.
Two minutes later the wagon thun.
dered up to the edge of the grove with
our comrades, who had thoughtfully
brought splints, sponges, bandages.
and. most needful of all, two covered
buckets full of warm water
Then, assisted by his pupil. Fred
Reid, the doctor cleansed and stitched
in place the pendant scalp, dressed the
breast and shoulder wounds, set and
bound up the broken arm and made his
patient as comfortable as possible But
the tough old fellow would not ride
back to camp. Accompanied by DR.
Lewis and Reid he actually walked,
coolly telling the wagon men to be
sure, when ready to return. not to for.
get the grasshoppers And 1 may as
well say right here that in less than
two months he was as sound as ever.
though around the edges of the re.
placed scalp appeared n semi-circular
streak of snow white hair.
1t seems that on going for some
purpose into the grove he almost
tumbled over, not a grizzly, but an
enormous cinnamon bear ut which he
rashly fired. Then ensued n terrific
fight, ending IN apparent victory for
the savage brute. which, though
wounded by six revolver bullets and a
number of knife thrusts, somehow
managed to get away, only, however
to die; for as soon as Joe had left
for camp, Peter, Tom Cooper and l
took up the blood-stained trail and
found the monsters carcass before we
had gone n mile
"Ha! haw jubilantly shouted Pete,
my brave old father won the fight,
after all, and he's killed the biggest
cinnamon ever seen in these noun
tains, I'll betr'
The dead bear, male, lay in a clump
of aspen scrub. All three of us had
leaned our rifles against n rock about
twenty feet away, and, STOPPING down.
were beginning to remove the pelt
when suddenly, with open mouth, blaz-
ing eyes and a hOarse shrek Of rage
the surrounding brush, and before we
could draw our revolvers, sent Cooper
and myself spinning, heels over head,
to the ground, where for few sec
onds we lay stunned and helpless.
Fortunately the furious beast, seem
ing at the moment intent only upon
examining the body OF her mate. had
merely whirled us aside by her own
momentum without striking at US at
all, and neither Of us was seriously
hurt. But the instant that she found
that her cOnsort was really dead, and
while we still lay dazed, she turned
upon us for vengeance
SO great had been the force of the
creatures first rush against and be
tween us that we were hurled fully
fifteen feet away, but. luckily. within
five feet Of the stacked arms. Yet this
fact would not have saved us from
being slain as we lay had not Peter
who never, under any circumstances.
got ratified, bounded forward at the
first glimpse Of the bear and secured
his gun-and not the fraction Of sec
ond too soon.
Too confused and dizzy TO even rec
lcct that we had rcvOlyers. we were
vainly trying to rise The old she
frOthing at the mouth with fury. was
within three feet of our temporarily
pIralyzed bodies Next moment those
terrible paws would have crushed our
skulls like egg shells, or those cleaning
teeth have been buried iu our Threats