Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-06-18

lake Jnat 1or your 1mpudence!'
hollers, an ! turned the OF gun
loose on him with such belchine
q buckshot as never slid out of any
gun before nor since. Down went
the bear, an down went me, moren't
ten foot back'ards, into corn shock,
the hckin' o. the old gun was so
hefty. The bear got up before I did,
an went limpin' an howlin' away,
follered by a bullet from Charles
borrowed rife.
"If the front end o. this old gun
was as all-pervading as its hind end,
Charles, I says, rubin my shout.
der, that bear won't be alive more'n
few minutes to be uncomfortable
in says.
Looks to me as if you mowt be
right, Sizer,' says Charles, AN con-
slider that we kin stack our arms,
now, an go gethcrin' up the corn,
says he, an he won't bother us no
more says Charles.
"The bear had gone on into the
woods an out o sight. Charles, he
took his gun an walked over amongst
the corn shocks to look the ground
over, an I got up an sot on pile
o corn investigator my shoulder.
II guess it was mcbbe ten minutes
fore I looked up. an when looked
up ] come as nigh faintin' as could
be an not do it. As soon as I got
my wind and tongue, I began to yell
to Charles.
"'Charles" I hollcrs. Come here
with your gun. The bears back!
He's back, worse than ever.'
"'Cause there he stood, not 90 foot
away, leerin' at me round a shock o.
corn! Charles started as soon as he
heerd me hollcr. I riz up to try an
load my old gun, an when the bear
heerd Charles comm amongst the
shocks. he got skeert, an he made a
dash to get away.
"As Charles was comm up in the rear
% the bear, the bear thought it'd be
safer to come my way than to 90
t'other way, ar he run right on TO me,
bowled me over as if | was a tenpin
an he was a ball, an walked right over
me from one end o. me to t'other, an
put in his best ticks for the woods. Just
then Charles came in sight of him.
Icy still, Sizer.' he hollers. Lay
still, an i'll bore him like tappin a ma
pie tree! Lay Silly! Charles boilers.
81 laid still, Simeon. an | couldn't
"a done nothin' else If I'd a wanted to,
the bear had stamped me so deep down
in the dust. So I laid still, an Charles
was as good as his word.
HE banged away an bored the bear
from end to end, an the bear didn't
take more han dozen steps further
He fell dead among the shocks.
but great Hickory jackson,
Charles!' says I. Who'd "a thunk that
beard a come back so quick arter that
dose o buckshot give him?' saysI.
Nobody says Charles.
can who would "a thunk it, Simeon .
said Sizer.
Lord almighty, sizer!" exclaimed
Sim Bowers; nobody would"
"'Of course they wouldn't. " jocks"
said Sizer Slocum. "Of course nobody
d "a thunk the bear would "a come
back like that! An he didn't neither!"
"Sizer Slocum!" said Storekeeper
Bowers, Indignantly, II got somethin'
else to do than sittin' here an, listenin'
to your trifin' yarns."
simeon" said Sizer, folks would "a
had good reason not to think that the
bear would "a come back like that, an
they'd "a ben right. for the next day
arter Charles bored the bear, Joe
Gould's boy was goin' through the
woods, half mile from that field Of
our'n. an he comes onto a dead bear
layin' in there. so riddled wit h bucksh OF
that it was most ready for mncemeat;
so it was plain enough that there
want no ground at all for any one
a-thinkin' that the bear would a
come back. Simeon"
"You don't mean to say, Sizer Slocum,
that"
81 mean to say, Simeon. that the bear
Charles bored from end to end was an
other bear-an' it's tremendous queer
thing that nothin' about it hain't got
down here fore this! An he was such
a big Teller, too!"-N. Y. Sun.