The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-10-12

meat The mere sight of a party OF
sportSmen will set him stormin.
against the practice of hunting lust
to kill One evening. as we sat watch
ing our cheerful fire in camp III the
high SierraS, he tod the following
story:
Summer before last" he began. 81
met on the trail crowd of Frisco
sports who were hurrying one OF their
crowd down the mountain. He had
hurt himself, they said. in getting
away from Dig she grizzly that had
charged them in defense of her two
half-grown cubs that they We're pump
ing lead into with their Krag-Jorgen-
sens.
"'She got away from us. after ALL
they concluded, but she's wounded,
and she'll die, anyway
The next morning sighted 4 COL
umn of smoke among the wild ridges,
where the head waters of the San
Joaquin rise. Late that evening, after
covering forty of tie toughest miles Of
trail on record. I rode up the meadow
on which the Frisco sportsmen had
camped, and found it circled with fire.
They had neglected to cover their bed
of live Goals.
"I was dead tired. but there was
nothing to do but get the crawling
flames under control before the wind
of the next morning should spread it
over the whole country. So. after a
hasty meal, I took my shovel and be-
gan.
Fighting fire is hot, thirsty work,
and about midnight my throat became
so parched that ! could hardly swal-
low. From below me, in dark. heav-
lily wooded canon, there came the en-
ticing sound Of mountain stream. 1
dropped my shovel and started for it.
''It was pitch dark as soon as I
passed out of the light of the fire line.
Progress was. at the best, slow; but
with the usual risk Of bad falls and Of
landing upon rattlesnakes that one al
ways takes il travelling the mountains
at night, I blurdered on down the
rough. timbered slope, finally nearing
the water without calamity.
Gas I was feeling my way along
about 200 feet from the creek, I was
startled By low, fierce growl from
the darkness below. followed immedi-
ately by the terrific crashing Of
heavy beast thrashing its way toward
me through the brush.
Scared out of my wits, turned to-
run, but tripped and fell, sprawling. be-
fore going a dozen steps. The sound
close behind of huge body lumber
ing over the logs brought me with cat
like agility to my feet. Then I ran
squarely against a tree, and without
seconds pause, went up it like a
squirrel The beast was under the
tree before I was out Of reach, and
heard the swish of huge paw as it
made desperate pass at my legs.
1.-The thing had come upon me so
suddenly that perched for some time
among the topmost branches before I
collected my wits: then I gathered my
self together and tried to get line on
the situation.
"It was very plain that was freed
by bear, for the menacing growls Of
the beast came up from below, and
through the branches I could see its
eyes cleaning like two balls of fire.
1T was evident that was in bad
box. There wasn't a thing to do but
sit in the dark and think. Long before
the end of that night / had concluded
that I had stumbled upon the ferocious
she bear thatthe city men had crippled.
This made it look pretty bad. for 1
knew that she was still lively on her
feet, and yet feared that she would
be too sick to travel and ugly enough
to camp under the tree until I fell out.
''Then there was the thought that
! might not have a chance to stay in
the tree very long. for there was the
fire cracking away up on the ridge.
The canon would probably burn out
when the day wind came up, end then
where should I be? Would the bear
pull out when the fire approached, or
would she hang on and growl until it
was too late for either of us to get
away?
There was no way Of settling the
question. so sat in my treetop, look
ing down at the two glowing balls of
fire at the base of my refuge, and fig
ured on the proposition until my poor
old brain ached.
"At last daylight came, finding me
stiff with the night chill, very tired and
hungry, but desperate enough to do
anything. descended the tree as far
as I dared, and examined my enemy.
It proved to be the biggest, leanest.
fiercest-looking old she grizzly I had
ever seen. She had a couple Of bullet
wounds; but she wasn't broken down
anywhere, and although somewhat
lame. showed signs when pelted her
with pine-cones of being pretty active
on her feet.
although, as 7 said before, I was
desperate enough to do anything,
crawled back into the top boughs of the
tree. where the sun was now shining