Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-15

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wcl-grown badger now, but altogether too familiar
with his captor, and rather young also to offer
serious fight yet he k-yed, squealcd and struggled
stoutly as l bore him away from his nest.
After time, however. my cub wearied OF his
fight ate a biscuit which crammed into his mouth
and fell asleep in my | would not tie him
exercise more force than necessary. Some
miles the foothills to the westward | knew
there was ranch in the valley of the Snake, ard
toward that goal l trudged, thoroughly pleased
with my success and sure that Sairy would not leave
her other cubs to pursue me.
Yet l soon met with an adventure in which
was nearer to ending my career than | had been in
my most intimate encounter with Sary. |
descending a stony scarp, sweaty and tired and
almost within sight of the Snake River, when l came
face to face with she grizzly big and powerful
as Sairy She came out of pine thicket and doomed
within fifty feet, shifting at me-
Elijah was awake and recognized his kind on the
instant. Whether he thought the stranger his dam
l cannot say but the rascal let piteous squeal
that brought old madam to the rescue with a rush
She too dam with cubs, and for the moment
she supposed that OF her had fallen into my
clutches and she came for with than the
ferocity of tiger. There nothing for it but to
drop Elijah and leap behind the nearest tree to avoid
her onset. l barely in time to reach this poor
shelter when Mrs. Ephraim plowed up" to thrust
her into the wool of Elijah The cub had
thrown himself upon his back and lay curled
up like porcupne, frightened at the stranger
roar.
Instantly the old she's wrath was transferred to
my poor innocent cub an interloper upon her
domain, and she fetched him cuff that would have
broken bones had he been a heavier animal but
which lifted him, like stricken puf-ball ard flung
him into the branches of pine-shrub down the
scarp. Even this not enough-she meant to kill
and hearing Elijah whimpering again, she rushed
for him savagely she had como for me. Elijah
cub as he was, realized his danger and made haste
to scramble into the top of the saping among whose
tangled branches he had lodged He was barely
high enough to be out of reach of her claws when
madam seized the small pine in her forear1ns and
began threshing it to and fro in that would
have brought him to the ground.
This was more than could endure, and caught
up stone and pine grub and ran to Ehjahs rescue
The old grizzly was so fercely intent upon her pur-
pose that | was upon her before she could turn her
face, and | delivered a full-arm swing with my
stone directly upon the end of her snout
1t is safe to say that the blow would have felled
bull and the pain of it must have been something
terrific for the bear sank in heap upon her launches
and closed her eyes Her head waved to and fro
and she squealed like stuck pig | welded my
grub and again struck her hard whack the
nose With another wild squeal she turned lack
somersaut, clapped her paws upon her wounded
and tunlbled into the gulch below. That
was the last | saw of her. l did not realize how
really frightened had been until after the was
over. l was then compelled to lie at full length
for haf-hour more to steady my shaken nerves.
had to climb little to get my cub down from his
perch and rejoiced to find him rib-whole and
uninjured.
And that is how came by Elijah. And if you
shall pass my gate some day and discover under
pine upon my lawn, two small children with their
heads pllowed in the wool of a snoring grizzly do