The Pickens sentinel-journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1903-1906, 1906-01-10

erect. III the saddle. Had we leaned
forward, as he did, an officers saber
orross our backs would have straight
ened us up. Crawford carried q
Henry rifle Cn the saddle in front cn
MN and lugged around two Colts Dis
'oiS oay and night. He slept with
them on We had to do that ourselves
at times but unless | was told to keen
,H''e on 1T came off promptly when l
lay down. | could get it quickly
enough If l needed 1t.
He had been all Indian fighter all
MS life, or said he had, and as he
round us no Indians this trip, and
never made another one with us |
Will have to take his word for 1t, but
rom what I saw of him afterward,
II 4 were an Indian he would be the
man | should want to follow me. |
would not expect to have to fight him
oftener than twice 4 day.
we went into camp more than half
mile beyond the cave, and as soon
as our horses were stakcd out | went
to Crawford and asked him if he
would go and examine that cave with
me. no, he did not care to walk that
far.
ut is only half a mile" | said.
eyes, but it is another half mile
back, and aint used to walking. You
may 80 down and get that bear if you
want him.
81 want him. Of course, if he is;
there"
"Oh, he is there all right. saw his
tracks there"
| went to tie major and asked per-
mission to hunt the bear.
"icS.' he told me, hunt him, but
don't crawl into that cave after him,
as Mr.. Crawford was going to do"
had no idea Of doing that. did
not want bear quite SO badly as that.
and | don't think that Crawford had
ever meant to crawl into it, either.
lie wS.5 not exactly fool
On my way to the cave I began to
study plans to get him out Of it if he
was in it, without going in and drag
ging him out. fist thought to climb
up there, then give him a slOt or two
into, but | dismissed that plan.
might kill him if | did and would
not know it. | WAS rot SDiug in to
see. According to some authorities
on bears, it takes ., man and a Gun
half a day to kill enc. Sometimes it
does. I have followed one with q rife
a half day, then did not kill him. |
don't know that ! ever wounded him,
though | shot 1t him often enough.
And again | have killed one in less
lh:ll two minutes with Il pistol. Il
depends good deal on where YOU hit
the bear how many shots it takes 10
kill him.
get down in front CT the cave and
examined the ground for bear signs.
but found none. The ground, what lit
t!e there was Of it that was not Gov
cred with loose rcclis, was hard yellow
cl"T-an OK team passing over it
would hardly leave a sign.
Gathering up lot Of dry brush,
weeds and leaves I piled them in
front OF the cave, set them on fire, and
"oing OFF 4 few feet TO one side waited
for the bear Or bears to come out.
had Spencer cGrbine and a Colts
pistol. and / though that | could stop
all the bears that might be in there
The wind drove the smoke right into
the cave, the fire burned out, but no
bear made his appearance There
would be no danger in going into that
cave now, and tried 1t, but as there
was too much smoke in it I had to
crawl out. went back to camp and
Crawford wanted to know if had seen
the bear.
mo, sir, there is none there, nor has
there been any lately"
"Oh, yes, there has hccn;" he had
co., thni~ ~;o..,"
"You could not see sign there with
Z ml,ru,. oDe. 4nc hl~Anu Is tuu
hard"
"rhere might be plenty of signs
there that an old hunter could see.
and you could not. You have not
been in this country long"
Yes, know; but we have men in
this troop that have been. some OF
them twenty years out on the frontier
myself have been pretty we'll over
the Northwest, and have hunted with
Sioux Indians. They know something
about signs, don't they? We are not
all tendcrfcet, If we were born and
raised in the big citics'
Yes, maybe SO, but there has been
4 bar up thar"
well, as the Major told you, we
will let him stay up there. can't
find him."
We started again early next morning
10 hunt those Indians of Crawford's,
and soon after breaking camp ii began
to rain and kept on raining all fore
noon. The Major went into ccInp as
soon as he could find grass and wood.
We did not need to look for water
We had all we wanted Of that and
some more.
The timber here was cypress, and