The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-03

]. w. Shuts. NJ. D.. of this city writ
ing in Outdoor Life, says:
never had but one chance to kill a
bear, and if you wiz keep quiet and never
breathe it to any one, I viii conflde it to
you.
In the middle seventies I, as one of a
part of five, started from Virginia City.
Nevada, on a prospecting tour, expecting
to end up in the fail at or near the Nee
dies, in southern California. While riding
leisurely along the tortuous trail that
winds its way through the tangled chap
parel which covers great stretches .of
western Arizona, each member struck his
own gait. which caused us to be stretched
out, possibly half mile apart. The day
was pleasant, the trail was narrow, the
pony was hungry, and I was melancholy,
thinking Of the Girl 1 Left Behind Me-"
In this frame of mind L pulled from my
pocket 4 few dirty letters that I had re-
ceived several months before, but which
were still interesting for lack of one of
more recent date. Through the chapparel
were little openings Of clear ground from
a few feet in diameter to one or more
acres, and the ground was sometimes COW
cred with grass. AS my pony walked leis-
urely along 1 was all absorbed in the
CHEEKY words Of my best girl. away back
in civilization; my pony turned from
the narrow path of rectitude and had
just stepped inside of one of these little
parks when he stopped so suddenly I al
most went over his head. He stood there
under me, trembling like an aspen leaf
his feet forward, his body swaying back.
his nostrils dilated. The poor brute ut
tered shrek that sounded TO me like
the scream of a frightened woman who
was being murdered.
Then 1 looked forward, and only fifty
feet away I saw a sight that is just as
vivid in my mind today as it was twenty
six years ago. There stood erect a great
silver-tip bear. ] had read of the rapid
growth of certain breeds of cattle and
hogs, but then and there L would have
taken an oath (and acted as both affiant
and notary public that that bear grew at
the rate of a hundred pounds a second.
He stood head and shoulders higher than
a horse and rider, and I would have
sworn that his head was bigger than q
bushel basket and that his body alone
would have weighed more than ton. AS
he uttered a hoarse hiss he opened his
great mouth, which seemed to be filed
with teeth as long as the tusks of wild
boar. Now, right here, you are going to
expect me 10 lie about how brave 1 was.
Well, l wasn't brave at all.
Was 1 frightened? Well, should smile
but l didn't do it just then, l didn't
pray, either; l didn't know how, for 1
could not have thought of prayer just
then. and if I had been able to it would
not have been said in Il grammatical man
ner. 1t will suffice TO say l was scared
Did 1 shake like a pony? No; / shook
worse-more like an aspen leaf. Did my
hat fall off while | was sitting in the
saddle? No, because it was fastened I'M
der my chin. Did my knees knock to-
gether? No; the yony was between them;
but they knocked all the same-even my
jaws ratified convulsively. Ny capteen
Jared against my cartridge belt and
made as much noise as a wooden-legged
man having a spasm on a tin roof. 1t
seemed to me that a second was eternity.
as we stood riveted to our positions,
while 1 was in my mind suppncating
earnestly that the Great Ruler would rivet
the bear more securely than the rest of