The Virginia enterprise., 1905-01-13
The bear tried hard I'd

The bear tried hard to scramble
up, but, to our unspeakable relief, no
could not quite make it. His damageA
fore leg crippled him, and the tres
was covered with the crust of char
coal, which, gave him no clawhold.
He perseyered for long time, and It
was only after a score of futile sex-
periments that he gave it up and lay
down in the bushes, alternately lick
ing his wound and glancing resent
fully at us up above him.
Meanwhile the bees that had ac-
companied US in our flight forced
themselves upon our notice. Both Of
us had lost our hats. and the insects
had settled on our heads and faces
and necks, crawling about inquisitive-
ly and stinging. at. every opportunity.
Lancaster suffered worse than did,
for, unlike most bee-keepers, he had
never become hardened to stings.
We could see the swarms on the
bear, too, but he was armored in hide
and hair. We tried to wrap our coats
about our heads, but it was not sue
cessful. The venomous little creatures
seemed to discover the smallest loop
hole, and I had a dozen crawling
about under my clothing. I was. in
mortal terror Of being stung in the
eyes, but contrived to protect them.
The pain became agonizing; it was
almost uncomfortable. smarted all
over from the sores of tiny poisoned
punctures, and the effect upon us Of
the incessant attack was maddening,
and really beyond any possible de-
scription. We could not move. We
were standing on short dead branches
and holding On to the charred trunk,
and it seemed that it could hardly
be worse to be clawed by the bear.
There was really certain danger
that we might be stung to death, and
/ began to feel rising dizziness and
nausea from the amount of poison
had taken. I had to hold hard to
avoid falling.
Il can't stand this!" exclaimed Lam
caster. ''I'd rather fight the bear!"
But I did not think that he really
meant it.
There was no use fighting The bees.
We could only cover and wait for the
stings.
II simply can't stand this!" walled
poor Lancaster, five minutes later:
and the next moment he slid past me
and jumped, wisely choosing the side
most remote from the bear. AS he
struck the ground he stumbled and
fell, and I expected to see him in
stantly mangled.
The bear rose stifly but alertly.
Instead Of making for his enemy, he
stood quite still, trembling violently,
it seemed to me, and shaking his
head with sort of moan. Lancaster
righted himself and rushed off through
the bushes toward the tent. But there
seemed no longer any danger The
bear began to sway as he stood, and
slowly slipped to his knees, and then
over upon his side.
| ventured to jump as Lancaster
had done. The animal paid no atten-
ton. With some trepidation l. ven-
tured near enough to regain my rifle,
and fred heavy bullet into his skull
at close range. But he did not stir,
and was no doubt already dead.
We spent the night chiefly in apply
ing hot water to our wounds. In spite
of these efforts we were pair of ter
rible objects the next morning, but the
subsequent pain was not nearly so
great, for some reason, as l have
often suffered from far fewer stings.
was obliged to stay in the woods
for week before again became pre-
sentable for civilized society.
When we came to examine the
stiffened corpse of the bear, we found
him lying in great pool of coagulated
blood. My first bullet appeared to
have cut large vein or artery in his
shoulder, so that he had been slowly
bleeding to death as he kept guard
upon us under the tree. He was in
poor fur, and his skin was so smeared
with blood that it was not worth talk
ing off. From a sense of poetic JUS
tice we ate few slices from his hams,
but the meat was tough. In fact, we
got little return from his carcass fo1
the hundred dollars worth Of bees and
honey he had destroyed. But the
apiary remained undisturbed for tho
rest of that season.-Youth's Compan-
ion.