Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1903-01-07
MRS. JACKS
BEAR STORY


Whoop Up at dusk-Aunt Pyncheon,
Cousin Tom and with tents, blan-
kets and small arsenal of rifles and
ammunition.
my aunt from the back seat Of the
blackboard surveyed the surroundings
and said decisively, please to have
some one take me to my hotel
ayes, dear; we will hail passing
cab and go at once l replied.
"Just then tall, lean man rose, ap-
parently from the adobe and sage Of
the trail He wore frieze Of gray felt
which had once been a hat, held to-
gether by q rattlesnake band, and da-
do of cartridge belt, hunting knife and
pistols.
"Tm the runner for the Commercial
House. he announced, gathering his
wreck Of sombrero skillfully in one
hand.
"'You must have run long way I
said, sweeping the vacant horizon with
my eye. But the military barracks &C.
cupied the small valley not a quarter
Of mile distant, and as we neared it
the strains Of a military band floated
out upon the air.
1.-THE next day we had established
what we hoped would prove to be our
permanent camp on the eastern slope
Of Mount Head. Prom there you can
count seventeen mountain ranges, and
you might have visited them all with
out meeting any one else on like pill
grimage.
$50 it was surprise to us, when we
returned to camp one night, to be wink
ed at by a strange campfire half way
down the mountain. This did not please
me. had gone there for sport and soil
tude. The one argues the existence Of
the other. The fire had winked from
the same spot for a week, when we
moved on to regions more remote and
savage, where bear tracks honeycomb-
vanished through the aisles Of pine,
tossing their great antlers like the
branches of an oak forest.
81 had been out all day, and, oddly
enough, seen nothing but porcupine,
which waddled across my trail, fear
and defiance ludicrously compounded
in his bristling quilts and hurried gait.
The sunsets in the neighborhood OF
Fort Whoop Up are magnificent. Every
night the fires burn over Crowfoot and
Tail Creek, Moose Jaw and Flathead.
The peaks of Brown, Hooker and Rack
60 from pink and crimson into gray,
but gray without a hint Of coldness--
ashes Of roses, you might call it-and
then in an instant only the light from
the stars marks the spot where late the
splendor shone.
81 declare, that sounds like poetry"
Mrs. Jack interrupts herself to exclaim,
except that it needs something to go
before it:
"Tum ti-tumti tum ti-tum,
Where late the splendor shone.
at won't do in such shape. 1t re-
minds one of militia; company with
out drum major"
Never mind" the circle around Mrs.
Jack interposes impatiently. "We are
anxious to hear the story"
81 never could write poetry" Mrs.
Jack concludes after more mental FUN
bling for something to complete the
couplet. "Well, stood overlooking the
valley. Darkness was creeping up
Mount Head as the tide comes up the
sands, only noiselessly. Nature has too
much to do out there in the great north
west to make fuss over anything.
Suddenly heard cracking in the
bushes below me. A mountain sheep?
Perhaps a grizzly! How my heart
thumped! l was on my knees in an In
slant, with my rifle at full cock. My
eyes met curious spectacle. Two bear
cubs were in the act Of climbing
small pine tree which looked suspi-
ciously top heavy. Something dark lay
along the trees topmost branch - a
shape which resolved itself into the fig
ure Of man dressed in a gray Norfolk
jacket, knickerbockers, golf stockings
and canvas shoes. The she bear sat at
the IOOt Oh TIE tTet Will TIE uiI VI ohC
to whom time Is no object. One OF the
cubs would climb little way, and as
the tree shook ominously l was ire
sistibly reminded Of the story Of the
old hunter in like predicament, who,
as the bear neared the slender branch
upon which he hung, cried: You idiot,
don't come out here! You'll break the
branch and kill us bothv
81 am very wary Of attacking bear
with cubs. Jack says my courage on
this occasion amounted to foolhardi-
ness, for without an instant's hesita-
ton aimed at the foremost cub. Then
l saw a rifle at the foot of the tree.
Having distracted the mother and her
little ones, the owner of the rifle slip
ped down the tree and helped me to
fight. / don't know how 1t would have
oil ended If two Of my guides had not
Joined us.
'They credited me with bringing the
old bear down. If l did" Mrs. Jack
comments naively, "it vas pretty
shot. OF course Jack-I mean the man
in the tree-insisted that had finished