The suburban citizen., 1902-01-04

or poor Joe. The scalp was stripped
from the front part of the head and
hung down over his eyes. His left
side was badly lacerSted, and the arm
on that side badly mangled, and broken
In two places; the clothing was torn
from the upper part Of his body, and
on his naked breast gaped four ragged
burrows, evidently plowed by single
stroke from the claws Of some giant
wild beast. Whatever the enemy, it
was obvious that the old hunter had
made a desperate fight, for all the
chambers OF his revolver were empty,
and his knife encrusted with gore,
while the underbrush around was
beaten fat and the ground trodden
into blood-moistened dust,
Peter, dry but plteously moan
ing, was lying by the senseless body,
tenderly clasping it in his arms, and
on seeing us, exclaimed; MY poor
father has been killed by a grizzly
bear; and, so help me Heaven, I'll
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. He'll
regain consciousness directly. Mean
time, you run to the camp for my In
strument case and tell our friends there
to hurry along with the spring wagon,
a few 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 a
shot. Going and returning. he must
! cover nearly mile, but 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 his 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 splnts, 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 l 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, at which he
rashly fired. Then ensued a 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 a mile.
"Ha! hap jubilantly shouted Pete,
my brave old father won the fight,
after all, and he's killed the biggest
cinnamon ever seen in these noun
| tsins, I'll bet"'
The dead bear, a male, lay in clump
of aspen scrub All three Of us had
leaned our rifles against rock about
twenty feet away, and, STOPPING down,
| were beginning to remove the pelt,
when suddenly, with open mouth, blaz-
ing eyes and hoarse shrek Of rage,
a huge she cinnamon crashed through
the surrounding brush, and before we
could draw our revolvers, sent Cooper
| ana nybtlL hp4hhlhSs ASNip WA ASe'Ni
to the ground, where for a 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 al
all, and neither Of us was seriously
hurt. But the instant thar 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 We're hurled fully
fifteen feet away, but luci;ily, within
five feet Of the stacked arms Yet this
fact would not have saved us from
being slain as We lay had rot Peter
who never, under any circumstances
got ratified. bounded forward at th'
first glimpse OF the bear and secured
his gun-and not the fraction Of sec
Ond too soon.
Tco confused and dizzy to even rec
llect that we had reyoiyers We wer'
I ep,stt,,r Fp pfga Tho old she