The Virginia enterprise., 1904-12-30

back with the cantle!s The horn hew sup
and poked me. In the solar plexus,
hard! was slammed around like q
salt-shaker that won't work. FL
nally my feet came out Of the stirrupa
and sailed through the atmosphere
much the same graceful way q sack
of-potatoes does when you chuck II
out Of the mess-wagon. Then the
earth rose up sudden and put me out
OF business. Z. .s .z... .I... /
when I came to I was layin' In
the shade of some cotton-woods, some
thin wet droppin. on my face. / was
kind O. dazed at first. and then ]: re-
membered the bear. I looked up and
Tony was standin' over me, jigglin'
water out of a tin can on to my head.
There was a girl stardin' there, too
1ookin' at me sort Of anxious.
couldn't make it out at all. Il
Where in the blazes did she come
from?' thinks I.
''Then I says to Tony, who'd quit
sloppin' water on me when I opened
my eyes: Well, what about. it!
How'd you come out with that bear? :?
'The egirl giggled then, and Tony'a
face looked like you'd slapped tit
got SO red. -
II sat up then and looked around.
thought was dreamin'. Tony's horse
and couple of other cayuses-one Of
'em with side-saddle on-was standin'
near. A little piece away-not more
than SO feet-was our bear, sittin' con-
tentedly on his launches watchin' us:
little kid about ten years old
sprawled on the grass holdin' the end
of Tony's rope, which was still around
Brownies neck.
II began to ask questions then,
and there was explanations till further
orders. The girls folks had settled
on the lower end Of Sun-Dance that
spring. One day there comes Dago
down the river with a dancin' bear
and a hand-organ on a scow. He was
headed for North Dakota, but his
plans and his scow was both upset
when he struck Sun-Dance.
"The rapids was too much for him.
He and his bear got out, with the
assistance of the girls father and
brothers, but the scow and the hand
organ stayed in. Havin' lost part of
his stock in trade he sold the bear to
the girls father and went overland; he
didn't banker to keep his hand-organ
company. 80
''The bear was regular pet-just
like big over-grown dog. They used
to let him run around most of the
time, and once in while he'd ramble
of up the fiat huntin' roots and ber-
ries. It was him we'd been havin'
such a rip-roarin' time with; and
that's him you see now, sashayin'
around at the end of the house.
"Tony rounded up old Pop while I
was recoverin', and then we hit the
trail for camp. We told the Professor
a little tale of woe about not f1ndin'
any horses, and how my horse got
mean and fell with me-to account
for me bein, skinned up so. It went
all right at the time, but that little
brother Of her's-measly little cuss:-
gave the whole deal away to one of
the boys who strayed down that way
a few days after. Maybe you think
them horse-jinglers didn't guy us!
The roastin' we got was somethin' to
be remembered.
''Tony took his horses home when
the roundup was over, and then come
back and went to work for the Pro-
fessor. He like to rode good string
Of horses to death runnin' down to
Sun-Dance; but he got the girl: all
right, all right. She says she married
him out O. pure sympathy; he felt so
blamed mean about ropin' tame bear
"a bear that was called Cupid at
that!"
1T seems to me-" / ventured to
suggest, "that you deserved a little
sympathy yourself"
II did," Jack assented mournfully,
"but Tony-he beat me to it.''-San
Francisco ArpOnaut