The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-01-06


up, but, TO our unspeakable relief n
could not quite make it. His damdsou
fore leg crippled him, and the lioo
was covered with the crust OF chai
coal. which gave him no clawholu.
He persevered for long time, anu II
was only after a score OF futile ca
neriments that he gave it up and lay
down in the bushes, alternately ilch
ing his wound and glancing resent
fully at us up above him.
Meanwhile the bees that nau
companied us in our flight 1orceu
themselves upon our notice. Botn OIL
us had lost our hats. and the Insects
had settled on our heads and races
and necks, crawling about inquisitlVe-
w and singing at every opportunlIy'
Lancaster suffered worse than olu,
for unlike most bee-keepers, ne nau
never become hardened to stlngs.
We could see the swarms on the
bear. too, but he was armored III HUI
and hair. We tried to wrap our coatS
about our heads, but 1t was noI SUI
cessful. The venomous little creatures
seemed to discover the SMALLEST loop-
hole, and l had a dozen craving
about under my clothing. was III
mortal terror of being stung In the
eyes, but I contrived to protect theln'
The pain became agonizing; 1t was
almost uncomfortable. l smarteo al
over from the sores of tiny poisoned
punctures, and the effect upon us Oh
the incessant attack was mauuenlns'
and really beyond any possible ue-
scription. We could not move. we
were standing on short dead branches
and holding on to the charred trunk,
and il seemed that it could hardly
be worse to be clawed by the bear.
There was really certain danger
that we might be stung to death, and
I began to feel rising dizziness and
nausea from the amount of poison
had taken. I had to hold hard to
avoid falling.
81 can't stand this!" exclaimed Ian
caster. "I'd rather fight the bear!"
But l did not think that he really
meant it.
There was no use fighting the bees.
We could only cover and wait for the
stings.
81 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 stif1yi but alertly.
Instead of making for his enemy, he
stood quite. still, trembling :. violently,
it seemed to me, and shaking his
head with a sort of moan. Lancaster
righted 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. . .rsg
L I ventured to jump as Lancaster
| had DONE The animal paid no atten-
ton. With some trepidation l 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 1 have
often suffered from far fewer stings.
l was obliged to stay in the woods
for week before again became pre-
sentable for civilized society.
When we came to examine the
stiffened corpse of the bear, we found
him lying in a great pool of coagulated
blood. My first bullet appeared to
have cut large vein or artery in his
shoulder, so that he had been slowly
bleeding to death as he kept guard
upon us under the tree. He was in
poor fur, and his skin was so smeared
with blood that it was not worth TAX
ing off. From sense Of poetic JUS
tice we ate few slices from his hams,
but the meat was tough. In fact, we
got little return from his carcass for
the hundred dollars worth of bees and
honey he had destroyed. But the
apiary remained undisturbed for the
rest of that season.-Youths Compan-
ion.