News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1902-11-19
THE REPORTER
AND THE BEAR
Copyright, 1902, by Everett Mcneil
Ivy EVERETT MCNEIL

the ola hunter as he
pOked a fresh bOwIful of
tobacco down into bis
Al pipe with his finger and
resumed his smoking and
his story telling. "In them days these
mountains an valleys was covered
with a heavy growth of timber an full
of bears an wolves an wildcats an
such like critters with long claws an
sharp teeth. l lived over on Dog
mountain, just across Sass'f ras valley
from here, in as snug little log cabin
as you would want to see an used to
earn more'n enough to keep me in to-
baccO an powder an balls guidin' tie
hunters who come up from New York
an Boston to kill bears an deer. But
they wasn't no real hunters leastwtse
not many of them, an If they got a
bear or deer it was usually my old
rifle what killed it, But | suspect they
didn't tell it that way when they got
back to the city, an as they always
paid me well l kept mum. But that
amt my story.
zone day as I set on Log in front
Of the door Of my house Shawn the
fat off a bearskin l heard some one
yellin' down in the woods.
"'Hello, therer the yell said.
"'Hello yourself" l shouted back.
"Come down to the road. I've got
a guest for your hotel An then l
knowed it was old Dave Utter, who
sometimes drove the hunters up to my
place from Catseye Mills, nine miles
down the valley. He couldn't come no
nearer to the house because of the
trees an the rocks, so he yelled.
Il went down to the road to see
what Dave had brought me.
"'Here's a Teller that's after bears.
Can you take him| Dave shouted the
moment he caught sight of me.
81 reckon. Let him jump out with
his val'ables.
THE man was tall, thin specimen
of a city chap, with an uncommon
large mouth an long, thin nose
a-loomin' up between two high cheek
bones He wasn't Old, not more'n
twenty-five at the most.
y
err? he asked, lookin' at me.
""That's my name answered, AN
l hunt bears
"'Can you find a bear for me to llill|
81 reckon
"'All right Help me with my traps
up to your place.
He had a great handbag that
81, ,+n;v ,',,i
ton enough to kill all the bears in the
state of Pennsylvania, an the first
magazine rife | ever saw. A big horse
pistol an a long knife was stuck in a
broad belt around his middle. Sure,
an he was loaded for bears.
within ten minutes he had told me
confdentially that he was a reporter
on a big New York daily an had. run
up just to kill a bear, so as to tell his
readers exactly how it was done. |
soon discovered that he knOwed more
about bears in one mint than | had
learned in all my trampin' up an down
the woods; leastwise he thought he
did, an l didn't care for it give him a
whole lot of satisfaction an | knOwed
that tomorrow was a-cOmin', an | had
in mind the identical old she bear |
would turn him loose on.
"That night af,er turnin' in he cleaned
his rife at least a dozen times, an ev-
cry time he told me just how he was
agoin' to kill the bear an cautioned
me under no circumstances to do any
shootin' myself. Find the bear, an
I'll do the rest he said.
THE next mornin' the doggoned idiot
woke me up at o'clock an told me to
get move on me, as bears was Un
common early risers an would be
a-nosin' round for their breakfast long
before sunrise, an he wanted to kill
his bear an be back in New York in
time to get his story in the paper that
night. | never saw a Teller so all fired
hot for bears as he was.
well, we had our eat an was ready
to start by O'Clock.
"'You might leave your gun here.
he said as h4 saw me pick up my
rifle. I'm to Go all the shootin', you
know
"'Well. I won't l replied shortly
Where l goes in these woods my gun
goes.
"'Oh' he said, you needn't be afraid.
could pump a bear as full of holes as
a sieve with this here gun of mine
afore he could touch you. The maya
zine holds sixteen shots An he
smiled.
'Goldarn your old pump l saws
back. When 1 shoots bears, l shoots
them with balls. I don't pump holes
into them l was considerable riled, |
but l didn't say more because had in
mind that old she bear, an | knowed
enough about bear nature an man ma
ture to know there'd be trouble when
them two collided.
1T was a beautiful mornin'. The
air smelt sweet an fresh, with just
touch of pine in it, an the sky was as
clear as a whistle. l felt sure l could
walk right on to the old bear nestlin'
down under the roots of a great tree
which the wind had blown down an
where she had been keepin' house for
the last month. AS we went deeper
into the woods an the rocks an the !
trees an all begun to look more wild |
like l could see Mr.. Reporter was be-
ginnin' to get nervous, an the way he !
kept fingerin' the trigger Of his gun |