Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-05-30

to say it was dog, cause no man
likes to smoke his pipe of peace with
strong tobacco in a strange pipe, and
feel that his stomach is full Of dog meat.
But we didn't die, and all the evening the
Indians talked about the brave great
father
1t seemed that they were not going
to TAKE much stock in pas bravery
until they had tried him out in In
dian fashion. We were standing in
the moonlight surrounded by Indians,
and pa had been questioned as to his
bravery, and pa said he was brave
like Roosevelt, and he swelled out his
cnest and looked the part, when the
cnler said, pointing to savage, snarl-
Ing cog that was smelling of pa:
Brave man, kick dog!"
we all told pa that The Indian want.
ed pa to give an exhibition of his
bravery by kicking the dog, and while
l. could see that pa had rather hire
a man to kick the dog, he knew that
IL was up to him to show his mettle,
so he hauled off and gave the dog
kick near the tail, which seemed tc
telescope the dogs spine together, and
the dog landed far away The CHIEF
patted pa on the shoulder and said:
Great Father, bully good hero. To.
morrow he kill grizzly" and thex
they let us go to bed, after pa had
explained that if everything went well
he would hire all the chiefs and your;
braves for his show.
After we got to bed pa said he was
almost sorry he told the chief thai
ne would take a grizzly bear by ons
ear, and cuff the other ear with the
nat of his hand, as he didn't know
but a wild grizzly would look upon
such conduct differently from our old
bear in the show used to. Any per.
son around the show could slap his
lace, or cuff him, or kick him in the
Stats, and he would act as though they
were doing him a favor The big
game hunter told pa that there was
no danger in hunting a grizzly, as you
could scare him away, if you didn't
want to have any truck with him, by
waving your. hat, and yelling: "Git,
Ephraim. He said no grizzly would
stand around minute if you yelled
at him. Pa made up his mind
he would yell all right enough, if we
came up to grizzly.
Well, we didn't sleep much that
night, cause pa kept practicing on his
yell to scare a grizzly, for fear he
would forget the words, and when they
called us in the morning pa was the
poorest Imitation of a man going out
10 test his bravery that I ever saw.
While the Indians were getting ready to
go out to canyon and turn the dogs
loose to round up bear, pa got a big
knife and was sharpening it, so he
could rip the bear from Genesis to
revelations. After breakfast the chief
and the Carlisle Indian, and the big
game hunter, and the cowman and I
went out about two miles, to the
mouth Of the canyon, where it was
very narrow, and they stationed pa by
big rock, right where the bear would
have to pass; the rest of us got up on
beach of the canyon, where we
could see pa be brave, and the young
Indians went up about a mile, and
started the dogs. Well, pa was a
sight, as he stood there waiting for
the bear, so he could cuff it's ears, and
rip it open, right in sight of the chief,
and skin it; but he was nervous. and
we could see that his legs trembled
when he heard the dogs bark up the
canyon. l yelled to pa to think of
Teddy Roosevelt, and Daniel Boone,
and Buffalo Bill, and set his teeth so
they would not chatter and scare the
bear, but pa yelled back: Never you
| mind. l will kill my bear in my own
way, but you can make up your mind
to nave bear meat for supper"
Pretty soon the big game hunter
said: There he comes, sure's you are
born,' and we looked up the canyon.
and there was something coming, as
big as a load of hay, with bristles
sticking up foot high on it's back. and
Its mouth was open, and it was Looping
| right towards pa. Gee. but I was
proud of pa, to see him sharpening his
| knife on his boot leg, but when the
great animal got within about a block
of pa, the great father seemed to
nave streak OF yellow, for he droppef.
his knife and yelled: Cit, Ephraim. -
in a loud voice, but Ephraim cana
right along, and didn't git with any
great suddenness. When the bear got
within about four doors of pa, he saw
the great father, and stood up on his
hind legs, and looked as big as a
brewery horse, and he opened his
mouth and said: Wool" just like
that That was too much for my pa,
who began to shuck his clothes. and
then started on run towards the
mouth OF the canyon. The bear looked
around as much as to say: We'll,
what do you think OF that?" and we
watched pa sprinting toward the In
dian camp like scared wolf.
The big game hunter put few bull
lets in the bear where they would do