The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-01-05

full Of wrath; but there were Q great
many strange black bees about, that
must have come from bee-trees in the
woods. Against these we could do
nothing but wait for nightfali.
now demanded explanations of the
mishap, but to my surprise found
J that Lancaster could tell me but little
All he knew that on rising that morn
ing he had found the hives wrecked,
and had rushed on his bicycle to tele-
graph for help. He suspected that it
was the work of thieves. probably OF
some camping party of roughs from
town, for we had no neighbors within
four miles. @
We examined the wrecked hives
carefully. A great deal of the honey
and comb was missing. The boards Of
the hives seemed to have been
wrenched or split apart, and the thin
section-boxes looked as il they had
been chewed. already suspected the
identity Of the robber. and when I
found long claw-marks across the
boards l felt sure was right. There
i
that was capable of such feat-the
honey-loving bear.
Bears, as well as deer, were not I'M
common thereabouts, but we had never
tri.i TO find either. But now that
Bruin had found us, It was quite GER
tain that he would return to renew SO
sweet an acquaintance.
L oCfn hNl
shotgun in his tent, which think he
had never fired. took the bicycle,
rode four miles to the nearest. settlers
cabin and borrowed his rifle. with q
magazine full of cartridges. We de-
ctdcd 10 lay an ambush that night.
Daylight lasts late in that latitude
and season, and at nine o'clock it was
hardly twilight. Some Of the bees were
still flying about, not yet recovered
from their excitement. We selected a
screened nook on the hillside, where
I'VE could overlook the whole establish
ment, lay down in the middle of q
clump of weeds and waited for night.
Darkness seemed never coming.
Long before. dusk had fallen a. big
white moon rolled over the burned
woods, flooding the wilderness with
clear light. y go
This illumination kept The agitated
f;hees restlessss and weiscoul see them
hbvering thiekly about their { en-
frances, while the homeless ssones
cragled sand buzzed wretchedly cover
their ruined hives. s Il
did not expect the bear to return,
IL he came at all. before midnight
Lancaster and / were both tired, and
the night was warm. Soon / found
my eyelids dropping. Again and again
reused myself and punched Lancas-
ter with@my elbow, but I must have
dozed, after all, although never
seemed, to lose consciousness Of the
dark trees and vines and the white
hives In the moonlight.
But suddenly, with shock Of ex-
citement, became aware of a dark OBJ
ject moving among the hives. At
the first glimpse took It for large
hog. but as my vision and my brain
cleared, recognized the shuffling: gait
and the dark fur of our honey thief.
Lancaster was breathing heavily.
! put my hand over his mouth and
punched him, smothering his startled
ejaculation. The bear had made q
leisurely inspection. shifting at hive af-
ter hive, till he seemed to find one that
pleased him, when he reared up and
clawed off the three ssupers with an
easy GESTURE. IT, "A d
This sight must have wrung Ian
casters heart; for he Jumped up. and
let fly one barrel of his shotgun. The
range was about 50 yards. and it is
not likely that he did much damage;
but the bear made O. leap aside and
stood aglancing about uncertainty.
Fearing that he wonld get away, /
sighted 5at his neekHand fired. & &&
The bear reared up and fell cover
backward with q snort, upsettings an
ot1ershive. Wesbofh ran toward him;
and my companion, supposing him to
he done for, ran up almost to arm's
length and discharged his other bar
lsrel. He was SO near that he missed
lgcompletely, and blew out the side OF
tGsAAS AAS>>s NAvS, "ASAOupOA AO OS6NA ~
Ebelabor the struggling animal with
Ibis gun-butt. &
4 shrieked a warning. The bear,
with an aggrieved yelp, clutched tho
Egun-stock in his teeth. and I heard
Fit crunch like shaving. Lancaster
Erecoiled, astonished, and the bearsman
LACED to regain his feet, and made a
Ilunge which my partner barely es-
Hcaped. fired again and missed. and
Lancaster took to flight, with the enc
Emy in close. pursuit.
T I ran after them. The, bear liimped,
holding up one fore foot, but still dis
played such agility that my fellow
spairist had all he could do to main
tain his head. #f.+.s
Our cleared space was only about
SO yards square: Lancaster apparent
ly had his heart set on large black
ened pine, standing among the bushes.
He did not seem to know that black
bear climbs trees with about theIsame
1 facility as cat. ! He plunged into
the tangled weedss tripped immediate