The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1905-09-28
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A VICTIM
OF SPORT
By Herbert F. Coolidge.
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0PottSHen VIII set him StOrming
against the practice Of hunting 'just
TO kill" One evening, as we sat watch
ing our cheerful fire in a camp in the
nigh Sierras, he told 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 big she grizzly that had
charged them in defense of her two
half-grown cubs that they were 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 1 sighted n col
umn OF smoke among the wild ridges,
where the head waters of the San
Joaquin rise. Late that evening, after
covering forty Of the toughest miles Of
trail on record, I rode up the meadow
OH which the Frisco spOrtsmen had
camped, and found it circled with fire
They had neglected to cover their bed
of live Goals
Il 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 n
hasty meal, 1 took my shovel and be-
gan.
Fighting fire il 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 a mountain stream.
dropped my shovel and started for it.
1T was pitch dark as soon as
passed out Of the light of the fire limo.
Progress was. at the best. slow: hut
with the usual risk of bad falls and of
landing upon rattleSnakes that one al
ways takes in travelling the mountains
ut night, l blundered on down the
rough, timbered slope, finally nearing
the water without calamity
"As / was feeling my way along
about 800 feet from the creek, / was
startled by a low, fierce growl from
the darkness below, followed immedi-
ately by the terrific crashing OF a
heavy beast thrashing its way toward
me through the brush.
Scared put Of my wits, turned to
run. but Tipped ana fell, sprawllng. be-
fore goin dozen steps. The sound
close bel ld of huge body lumber
ing over ne logs brought me with cat
like agility 10 my feet. Then I ran
squarely against tree, and without
n second4s pause, went up it like
squirrel. The beast was under the
tree before | was out OF reach, and
heard the swish of n huge paw rs it
made desperate pass at my legs.
The thing had come upon mo so
suddenly that perched for some time
among the topmost branches before
collected my wits: then gathered my
self together and tried to get a line on
the situation.
''It was very plain that I was treed
by bear, for the menacing grs,wls of
the beast came up from below. and
through the branches I could see it's
eyes cleaning like two balls of fire.
ut was evident that I 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 l had stumbled upon the ferocious
| she bear thatthe city men had crippled
| This made it look pretty bad, for
knew that she was still lively on her
feet, and yet 1 feared that she would
be too sick to travel and ugly enough
to camp under the tree until fell out.
Then there was the thought that
1 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, and then
where should 1 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 I sat in my treetop, look
ing down at the two glowing balls of
fire at toe 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 / dared, and examined my enemy.
1t 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
oil her feet.
although, as / said before, I was
desperate enough to do anything. |
craw!ed back into the top boughs of the
tree, where the sun was now shining
this was the only thing a sane man
could do.
II sat there without a hope or the
sign OF a hope, unless, indeed, it was
that the fire, which had by this time