The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-02-24


belabor the struggling animal over tho
head with his gun-butt
shrieked a warning. The bear,
with an aggrieved yelp, clutched the
gun-stock in his teeth, and heard it
crunch like a shaving Lancaster re-
coiled, 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 fight with the enc
my in close pursuit.
| ran after them. The bear ilmped,
| holding up one forefoot but still dis
played such agility that my fellow
apiarist had all he could do to main
tain his lead.
Our cleared space was only about
fifty yards square Lancaster appar-
emily had set his heart on reaching
a large blackened pine standing
among the bushes. He did not seem
to know that a black bear climbs
trees with about the same facility as
a cat He plunged into the tangled
weeds, tripped Immediately, and went
down out of sight with terrified
howl.
l fired again and shouted to distract
the bears attention. ] think | missed
but Y turned him. He wheeled about
and charged straight at me, obviously
mad clear through"
l 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 l made for the tree where Ian
caster was already perched.
1t was full of stubby dead branches,
and as easy to climb as ladder.
was stung on the cheek as l
clambered up, and | saw Lancaster
wildly tanning the air with his hands,
but for the moment l was concerned
only to get my legs up and out of
danger, l was obliged to drop the
rifle, but | got safely into the tree,
and only realized the folly of my act
when I saw the bear rise UP against
the trunk to climb.
The bear tried hard to scramble up,
but, to our unspeakable relief, he could
not quite make it. His damaged fore
leg crippled him. and the tree was COW
cred with crust of charcoal, which
gave him no clawhold. He persevered
for long time, and it was only after
a score of futile experiments that he
gave it up and lay down in the bush
aI+ oh hic
glancing resentfully at us up above
him.
Meanwhile the bees that has 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 singing at every opportunity
Lancaster suffered worse than l did,
for, unlike most bee-keepers, he had
never become harnened 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 crea-
lures seemed to discover the smallest
loophole, and | had a dozen crawling
about under my clothing. | was in
mortal terror of being stung in the
eyes, but l contrived to protect them
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 | expected to see him in
stantly mangled.
The bear rose stiff1y but alertly. In
stead of making for his enemy, he
stood quite still, trembling violently,
it seemed to me, and shaking his head
with sort of moan. Lancaster right
ed 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 | ven
tured near enough to regain my rifle,
and fired 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 have often
suffered from far fewer Stings.
was obliged to stay in the woods
for a week before | again became pre-
sentable for civilized society.
When we came to examine the !
stiffened corpse cf the bear, we found !
him lying in a great pool of coagulat-