The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-12-15

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"'Mebbe I'd better s:Isot the critterI'
"'Mebbe go hadn't. This amt any
Of yo'r fout. an yo' just mind yo'r own
bizncss When feel too tired to VOL
lop a bar I'll send fur yo'.'"
But didn't the bear take notice Of
you'll asked.
Not a bit. Reckon he heard me, Of
eo'se, but he was bound to down the
ole woman fust. She fout harder arter
she knowed | vas thar. Mebbe she
sorter depended on me, an mebbe 1t
made her all the madden. Whichever
way II was. she sailed in fur all she
was wuth, an the way she dubbed
that bar astonished me. I'd never
stood to fight him that way a mint.
AFTER awhile he got in another cuf
which sent her spinnin', an / said to
her:
Nancy, shan't | put a bullet into
the varmint an enc this fussT
"tNot today, thankee.' she said as
she got up like a cat.
while they was hevin' another tus-
| sic | looked at that b'ar powerful clus,"
said Zeb. AN he didn't seem to be a
natural critter. Deed. but he remind
ed me Of a dead an gone critter nam
| ed Joe Robinson. Yes, sab. any man as
| had ever knOwed Joe Robinson would
say bis speerit had passed into that
bar. 1t was most the same as a pho
tograph. Fe had a wink to n eye a
grin on his face, an his lower lip hung
down. an it was jest like SEEM Joe
Robinson hisself once mo-"
And SO you lit out?"
"No. sab, | didn't. l wanted to, but
the mint l riz up that b'a knowed
what / wanted an waltZed up to me
an took hold fur a wrassle. | used to
wrassle with Joe an down him every
time, but he was different now as a
bar. He laid me plumb on my back in
no time. I got up an tried it again, but
it was dead easy fur him. Why, l was
jest a %plaything for him. He throwed
me down so easy that I got mad and
yelled at him:
"tJoe Robinson, I'm KNOWN who yO'
are ever if yo' are a bar. l used to
Quite. outjump an outrun yo' every
day in the week, an I kin do it now
That's what l said" remarked the
old man, but | was made to wish l
hadn't. The b'ar held up his paws an
begun TO dance around, an purity soon
he Gin me Il whack on the ear which
knocked rue ten feet. I got up an went
fur him, but he knocked me jest as far
the other way. Then | got whippin'
mad an sailed in. They used to say
that l was good fur any Two men
around yerc, but lickin' Il bar an lick
in tWO men is different a heap. At
least it was so with that bar. l never
got in on him tall. He jest cnffed me
this way an that. an bimeby be fetch.
ed me Il whack which Dol all the fife
outer me an left me as limp as a rag.
l was u licked man, an [ knOwed il
an was ready to give up, but that bar
wasn't Willin'. He remembered the
whoppin' | gin him as Joe Robinson,
an he kept on cuffin' me till tainted
away. When | cum to my senses he
had gone"
land didn't you ever see the bear
again?"
Never, sab. He was Il speerit bar
an he jist disappeared an was never
seen ag'in. I crawled home an was il
bed fur two weeks, an, though I'm still
huntin' fur that bar, l don't reckon
I'll ever find him. 1t was Joe Robin
sons speerit in him, yO' see. Whe1
Joe got ever fur that whoppin' l gil
him he was satisfied to lie in his grave
furevermo', an SO the b'ar vanished of
the airth-yes, sab, vanished off thu
, airth-an' 1 was a licked man"
!. NJ. QUAD.