Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-01-13
"'waal, keep a-lookin' an YOU see

WAL, keep a-lookin' an yo'll see
It,
"'Mebbe I'd better shoot the critterT
"'Mebbe yo' hadn't. This amt any
of yo'r fout. an yo' just mind yo'r own
bizness. When l feel too tired to VOL
lop bar I'll send fur yo''
"But didn't the bear take notice of
your" asked
mot a bit. Reckon he heard me, of
co'se, but he was bound to down tho
ole woman fust She fout harder artec
she knowed l was thar Mebbe She
sorter depended Oh me. an mebbe it
made her all the madden. Whichever
way it 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 cuff
which sent her spinnin, an l said to
her:
Nancy, shan't l put bullet into
the varmint an end this fuss?
Not today, thankee,' she said Us
she got up like cat.
"While they was hevin' another tus-
sic looked at that bar powerful clus,"
said Zeb, IAN he didn't seem to be
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 his speerit had passed into that
bar. It was most the same as a pho
tograph. He had a wink to one 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?"
mo, sab, l didn't wanted to, bun
the mint l riz up that bar knowed
what l wanted an waltzed up to me
an took hold fur a wrassle. I used to
wrassle with Joe an down him every
time, but he was different now as q
bar. He laid me plumb on my back in
no time. got up an tried it again, but
it was dead easy fur him. Why. was
jest plaything for him. He throwed
me down 50 easy that l got mad and
yelled at him:
"tJoe Robinson, I'm KNOWN who yo'
are even if yo' are a bar. used to
outfite, outjump an Outrun yo' every
day in the week, an l kin do it now
That's what / said," remarked the
old man, "but l was made to wish 1
hadn't. The bar held up his paws an
begun to dance around, an purity soon
he gin me a whack on the ear which
knocked me ten feet. got up an went
fur him, but he knocked me jest as far
the other way. Then 1 got whippin'
mad an sailed in. They used to say
that 1 was good fur any two men
around yere, but lickin' 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 cuffed me
this way an that an bimeby he fetch
ed me a whack which took all the fite
outer me an left me as limp as a rag.
l was a licked man, an l knowed it
an was ready to give up, but that bar
wasn't willin'. He remembered the
whoppin' 1 gin him as Joe Robinson,
an he kept on cuff1n' me till l tainted
away. When l cum to my senses he
had gone.''
"And didn't you ever see the bear
againT'
Never, sab. He was a speerit bar,
an he jist disappeared an was never
seen ag'in. 1 crawled home an was in
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. When
Joe got even fur that whoppin' 1 gin
him he was satisfied to lie in his grave
furevermo', an so the bar vanished off
the airth-yes, sah vanished off the
airth-an' was licked man."
M. QUAD.