The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-10-20


at The fool buggist was bendin' over
the trail, and reckon he would have
run plumb into t'other's mouth and dis
appeared forevermore If hadn't iletched
him by the part that was handiest and
yanked him back There's your blame
chipmunk,' says |. Amt he just lovely;
Magnificent The Ursus horriblus
in his native wild. What a pietur to
show DR.. Dodo down east.' says the
perfesser. He uncinched his camery and
commenced TO sneak up closer. sayin'
soothin' like. so bear. good bear as he
preceded Pretty quick cid Eph skinned
his lip and commenced to cuss and rum
HE down in his insides. and ! let out a
holler: Better take yorr fotygraf and
back water strong. cause there's goiii'
to be strange doin's almost immediate.
mister | sings; and hadn't got the
words out of my mouth before he gives
'woof' an ! comes for us like a steam
rhine | had been espectin' the same
all along and the good Lord had caused
me to stop under a limb that I could
Just jump up and grab handy: so up
goes. and no sooner had | got on the
grandstand than the percession passed
along.
First came the perfesser. and Il was
ama1in' TO gaze upon the way that stub
legged dude could stampede when he
once got interested Under the limb he
went so fast that could hear him whiz.
his legs goin' like the drive wheels of a
locomotive on slippery track. And as
he went he was sayin' to himself, Run,
YOU little fool Now you've done it,
amt you. dang you' like he was sort OF
indin' fault with himself for somethin'
81 yanked out my a. army as the bear
came snortin' by and let him have a
couple in the shoulder, He went heels
over appertite, but was up in a second
and fairly Dustin his suspenders to MAKE
up for lost time Not havin' anything
perticklcr to do, dropped down and
trailed along after them, thinkin' if
could grab the bear by the tail mebby
could hold him back couple of min
utes. by which time / hggered the PEI
fesser would be back in Boston. But
though ! straddled along uncommon ac
tive. seein' as how ! have got SPAWN
and couple of ringbones. soon seen
was like mud turtle a-chasn' rab
bit Then I remembered when ! was a
kid at school heard the teacher say
that the hypothermoose Of something
was the shortest distance between two
p'nts, and, bearin' that in mind, cut
acros. lots, fgurin' on headin them off
"Well, I made it and arrovc first in
clus finish The little man was still goin
as fast as former, puffin' and BLOWN
most TREMENDOUS When he seen ME a
look of genooine JOY percfed on his fea
tures, and he changed his course and
come a-sailin' by within two feet, disap
pearin with a whistln' sound But n,
the same time the grizzly side-stepped.
too, and come straight for me, ears laid
back, mouth open, breathin' fire.
"Some fellers would have got right
down on their bcnders and prayed, but
only girded up my loins. and sayin
deliver us from evil right earnest.
hopped over a tree trunk and skedad
died down the hill somethin' wonderful.
Next mint l hears somethin' go pop
and takes a peep over my shoulder, and
what do you suppose seen? Nothin
but old Eph stretched out deader'n a
herrin' and the little runt OF perfesser
settin' a-straddle OF him and examinin
his jaws. 'Genooine silver-tp grizzly.
he says, when | come tip. 'Pufek speci
men Then he looks up at me and says,
Where was you goin'
"'Nowhere much,' says /; Just trav-
elm around and admirin' the scenery
"'Must have seen lot. considerin' the
time you was travelin,' he answers, with
funny grin.
"Yes, quite a chunk How did you
do it?' l asks, full Of wonder.
"'Oh, / just got behind a tree and
shot him In the eye with my weppin
as he come along. See!' He pinted at
the bears eye with his bean shooter, and
you can skin me and hang my pelt OH
the cabin wall if he hadn't done it slick
and clean: sornethin' no nortil man ever
done before or since with such wep-
pin and a bear goin' at full jump. I
couldn't say a word, couldn't even cuss
-showin' how bad felt. ! just set
down on log and weeped,
"But that wasn't the worst OF it. That
night he developed his pictur and the
next day showed it to me. 1t was the
most hair-raisin' fotygraf of grizzly
a-comin' head on that was ever took by
a human beit,'. That will tickle Dr.
Dodo most to DEATH says the little bear
killer.
"'Pardner.' says I. holdin' out my
hand, I hired out to you as guide, but
| can't earn the money. Hereafter l
will cook for you and wash your feet,
but you are the guide, bearhghter,
bronco-buster and roarin' bully of this
outfit. When l 90 back to town | am
roin' to quit guidin' and learn fancy
sewin'"
Hank stirred up the pot with a pine
stick. "Pi1ll TN YOUR rockin' cheers, fel-