Ellsworth American., 1903-09-02
THE THREE BEARS
ON CRANE ISLAND.
sY D. A. 7.


Il
river. abou; three miles from the Atlantic
coast. I had eagerly locked forward 60
this August trip ever since the nrst Of the
previous Decenher when my amt had
/ proposed Il to nc, while visiting us ia Cur
western home.
yes. be can &C 70 be iikes.n mot her
bad said TO my aunt; eff you viii see that
be does not go out In boat unless his
Uncle Henry or some one who can man
age boat zell, is vita him.
20, yes. se'il see to that" was tee
reply.
/ 80 it was settled that was going By my
self TO pay them a visit some time during
the coming August. And to my delight
the tenth sunrise OF that August, 1s9-.
found me q guest At the old farm house.
sSow have a. good q time as you can.
wil," said my host sod hostess. sThere
IL old Joe; take him whenever you want
TO 60 on ride, and we'll have party aud
invite the young folks, 70 you can get
scouainfed with them. Besides, you can
60 Cunning, sail bosts, and the Wavelet
shall be launched tor yea.
ssBut we hope you viii do as your
mother ~ishes-nos go out In boat unless
wHh some one who can handle IT,"
OF course said / would not do any
thing contrary to their or mothers de-
sife-, and the subject ~ss dropped
| During the first and second days occu-
pied my time by go ng about the farm
with my uncle, AID on the third day we
/ rode to a little town about ten mites away.
| Uncle had business to attend to there. so
| it was near O'Clock in the evening when
we again entered the farmhouse.
had eaten my supper, and was running
about the kitchen With piece Of chocolate
candy bed out to Carlo, The dog, when
heard sound like that OF some one giggl-
ing. Fastening to the pasior / was sur
prised to find there nearly every boy and
girl in the neighborhood.
Uncle Henry brought In the box, the
contents OF which ne had refused to
diyug ge on our homswsrd ride. Sow
learned that It contained candy, lemons,
oranges and pears. A merry evening
followed. Dominoes, checkers and other
games were played.
AT IL the party went away, but not un-
til bad asked Jake Wilson on he quiet to
be at the beach at 9 next day to sail boats
Jake and had become fast friends, and
we were together the greater part OF the
time during my visit. One morning he
came hurriedly into the house and ex-
claimed:
"Jasper Jenkins saw a bear and two
cubs swimming off to one Of the islands
last night. What do you think of that?''
"Pshaw," said my aunt, "Jasper's al
ways seeing something no one else doesl"
My uncle smiled, hut said nothing
Jake and / went to the shore that FORE
noon to sail our boats. At noon as / en-
tered the woodsbed / heard my aunt say:
~Then you really did see bears-tracks, and
two OF your sheep are gone, Henry?'
did not wait TO hear my uncle's reply,
but, putting my boat down, / FASTENED to
the kitchen where they-were sitting.
"Yes, your uncle saw bear's tracks
week ago, and last night two of his sheep
were killed by some ANIMAL" replied my
aunt to my eager questions.
"You boys'n have to look about you,
when you go out evenings after this, said
my uncle, as he gave me a teasing glance.
"No, they won't; the bears won't come
50 near the houses as that" my aunt re-
piled for me.
But Jake and thought ii better to re-
main In doors a few evenings, and we did
so, amusing ourselves by playing games
or making toy boats.
Five mornings from the one on which
Jake had reported to us that Jasper had
seen the three bears he came hastily up to
the barn door where / was trying to milk
and said: 'Jasper's going down river this
morning to haul his eel traps, and says be
is willing you and should go, Will; take
lunch and come oni'
1 After some hesitation my aunt filled a
tin pail with bread, meat and cookies;
and with: "You look out not to fall over
board, boys" ringing in our ears. Jake
and hurried off toward Jasper jenkins
hut.
| Presently we came in sight OF Jasper
! putting his traps into his dory.
"Win can go, JAS" said Jake, as we
came up to him.
"All right" replied the hermit and he
| gave me broad smile which ended by the
winking OF his left eye.
"Rurry up and pile in, for I'm in a
hurry"
Soon the dory was moving swiftly
| toward Bear back Point, the last point
of land on the western side of the river.
"nere we arei" shouted Jake as our
craft began to dip into the ocean swells.
which of the islands did the bears
/ swim tori / asked.
"Thst one," and Jasper pointed to a
long body of land which l afterward
learned was called "Crane island'.
81 should like to see the bears, wouldn't
you, Jake?u / remarked.
'You bet should, }" was the answer.
Jasper began to haul his well-filled eel
traps, and to replace them with empty
ones, and after this task was done we all
! went ashore to eat our dinners.
( uSow hies % said Jasner after the dim