The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-02-06
A YARN FOR HUNTERS.


and his little bottles of powders and
liquids, usually made the Hoback
basin region once a month. When
he approached the shack of the Arch
ers on a November day he felt some
misgivings, for everything seemed Sc
still and quiet. Mrs. Archer opened
the door to him and answered his
| query Of greeting in a sorrowful
voice.
st don't understand why he should
not have quite recovered by this
time" said the doctor. Ibid you
give him the drops regularity"
Eyes; but a bear come"
"a bear1 What"
First day after you left, LAS
was lyin' there what you call speech
less, an un-un-"
Unconscious. Yes, he was pref
| ty low down, but still
HE was lyin' there, when Ben
Giddings come in an told about see
in bear up near the timber line.
Next l knowed Lias has his gun
down an was streakin' up the noun
tain half dressed. Said no bear was
goin' to take advantage of his bein'
sick an come foolin' round the house
that sassy. He got the bear, but
three men had to hold him in bed on
account of bis craziness for FIVE days. :"
Naturally, with such exposure"
He'd just about come to his
sense, when Ashcroft, who come down
to set up with him, told me about
seein' elk tracks by the crick. Ash
croft spoke soft an low an didn't
mean no harm, but Lias heard him in
his sleep and riz up an throwed bed
clothes all over the house knocked
Ashcroft down an pushed me away
as easy as though I was some kind
of thing on hinges. Then he got
that gun an went out on run. Had
just his shirt on
"Good land Why, that was
enough to kill him, with snow eight
inches deep"
"At least a foot deep. Ashcroft
an three men hunted him all that
day an night. He'd followed that
elk over nigh the Tetons. He was
plump dead when they brung him
back, but the elk was dead, too"
What Lias dead? Thought"
HE was dead then, but he come
to next day an went out of his head
ag'in an then stretched out, an we
all thought he was really gone. The
boys come to watch with him an
plan his funeral, an whilst they was
talkin' Ed Groby said Harvey Wade
had told some one who had told him
that seven mountain sheep had been
noticed up nigh the tip of the Thump,
sixteen miles away. They amt been
no mountain sheep nigh these parts
for ten years. A hunter like Las is
Ia man SO set heart an soul-would
foller mountain sheep for hundreds of
raiieu.
"I know. They are great game. "
"They are, sure. Well, doctor,
when Ed Groby said them words
there come kind of culver of LAS
body an he opened his eyes an look
ed around. I knowed what was
comm an run for the rifle. But he
was too quick. Woman I he yelled
at me, don't set yerself ag'in me
with a chanst at mountain sheep.
He had the rife an was outside an
a mile away, I guess, afore them
scared men knowed what was up. He
was gone three days. They brung
him home yistiddy. There he is in
there"
The doctor went into the other
room Of the shack and looked at the
thin, wasted form before him. He
looked at the most notable of all the
Teton and Hoback hunters. He
looked at the man whose fame extend
ed from the Wind River mountains
to Pocatello. He looked, however, at
man who was dying.
'Lias, can you hear me?" he in
quired, gently.
The patient smiled back weak
recognition.
"Why on earth did you act so fool
ish? I thought you'd be well by this
time. If you hadn't exposed your
self So"
A film seemed to gather over the
eyes of the mountain man. Then
came his last strength. He rose in
bed and gasped:
'Doc, them mountain sheep horns
measured twenty-five inches. Amt
another pair like 'em ever been took
in these parts. l hit him right
above"
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