The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-02-03
that Lancaster could tell me but little.

was the work OF thieves. probably Of
some camping party of roughs from
town, for we had no nelehbors 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-bo looked as II they ha0
been chewed. | already suspected the
identity Of the robber, and when !
found long claw-marks across thD
boards | felt sure | was right. There
was only one animal, wild or tame
that was capable Of such q feat-thc
hOney-lCVing bear.
Bears, as well as deer. were not I'M
common thereabouts, but we had never
trinl TO find either. But now thai;
Bruin had found us, It was quite GER
tain that he would return to renew so
sweet an acquaintance.
Lancaster had -barrcllcd
shotgun in his tent, which | think ha
had never fred | took the bicycle,
rode four miles to the nearest sCttlcr'e
cabin and borrowed his rife. with n
magazine full of cartridges. We de-
cided to lay an ambush that night
Daylight lasts late in that latitude
and season, and at nine O'Clock It waa
hardly twilight. Some OF the bees were
still flying about, not yet recovered
from ,heir excitement. We selected a
screened nook on the hillside, where
we could overlook the whole establish,
ment. lay down in the middle of a
clump of weeds and waited for night
Darkness seemed never coming
Long before dusk had fallen n bis
white moon rolled up over the burned
woods, flooding the wilderness with
clear light
This illumination kept the agitated
bees restless. and We could see them
lowering thichy about their en-,
frances while the homeless once
crawled and bazz"d wretchedly over
their ruined hives.
| did not expect the bear to return
If he came at AL 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 | must have
do2ed, after all. although | never
seemed to lose consciousness Of the
dark trees and vines and the whit,
hives in the moonlight.
But suddenly, with shock of cx.
element, became aware OF dark OBJ.
ject moving among the hives. Al
the first glimpse | took II for a large
hog, but as my vision and my brain
cleared. recognized the shutting gail
and the dark fur OF our honey thief.
Lancaster was breathing heavily
| put my hand over his mouth and
punched him, smothcring his startlef
ejaculation. The bear had made a
leIsurcly inspection, shifting nj hive al
ter hive, till he seemed to find one that
pleased him. when he reared up and
clawed on the three supcrs with an
easy GESTURE.
This sight must have wrung Ian.
casters heart, for he jumped up ant
let fly one barrel Of his shotgun. Tho
range was about 80 yards. and it is
not likely that he did much damage;
but the bear made leap aside and
stood glancing about uncertainty
Fearing that he would got away,
sighted at his neck and fired
The bear reared up and fell over
backward with q snort. upsetting an.
other hive. We both ran toward him,
and my companion, supposing him tt
he done for ran up almost to arm,
length and discharged his other bar.
rel He was so near that no missed
completely. and blew out the side Oi
the next hive, whereupon he began tC
belabor the struggling animal With
his gun-butt
| shrioked a warning. The bear
with an aggrleyed yelp. clutched the
gun-stOCk in his teeth, and heard
II crunch like a shaving. Lancaster
recoiled, astonished, and the bear man.
aged to regain his feet, and made a
lunge which my partner barely es
capped. fired again and missed. and
Lancaster took to flight. with the enc
my in close pursuit.
! ran after them. The bear llmped
holding up one fore foot, but still dis.
played such agility that my fellow
apairist had all he could do to main
tain his head.
Our cleared space was only about
30 yards square. Lancaster apparent
ly had his heart set on a large black
ened pine. standing among the bushes.
He did not seem to know that black
bear climbs trees with about the same
facility as cat. He plunged into
the tangled weeds, tripped immediate
ly, and went down out OF sight with
a terrified howl.
| fired again and shouted to dis
tract the bears attention. think
| missed. but | turned him. lie
wheeled about and charged straight at
me. obviously mad clear through"
| tried to aim coolly at the white
mark on his chest, but the shot went
wide. But for the bears wound
never could have escaped. AS it was.
! Just lodged his rush, and In my
turn | made for the tree where Ian.
caster was already perched.
1t was full Of stubby dead branches,
and as easy to climb as a ladder.
was stung on the cheek as clam.
cred up, and | saw Lancaster wildly
tanning the air with his hands. but for
the moment ! was concerned TO get
my legs up out OF danger. was
obliged to drop the rife, but got safe
ly into the tree, and only realized
the folly OF my act when saw the bear
rise up against the trunk 10 climb.
The bear tried hard to scram BILE
up, but TO our unspeakable relief. be
could not quite make IT, His damaged
fore leg crippled him. and the tree
was covered with the crust of char
coal, which gave him no clawhold