The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-07-23
JIM AvHRPrr AND THE BEAR
A Corn Whiskey Nightmare -
Squirrel Killer Changes Hands
The Tables Turned-A Cold
Dress to Keep a Secret.

say?"
There amt nothin' left Of 'em but a
little skin and blood outside the pen,
and the bars tracks is plain clean
through the field to the edge Of the
swamp"
Which isow's pigs were they,
Jim?"
The big white Chester sow; the
best breed we've got"
"It's mighty hard the chOlera's
been well nigh ruinin' us, and if the
bars set in on us there'll be precious
winter
In going to set in on that bar this
very night" said Jim, gritting his
teeth. I'll let the no-account trap
stay, but I'm goin' to oil up squirrel
killer on the rack there, and load it
with fve-fingers of buck-shot.'
The above conversation went on
through open kitchen door Of a farm
house on one of the counties lying
along the Cape Fear one morning,
Dc" cen Jill AfeI III anu IT'D WIZ,
Elviny, and the former was hopping
must nave slept a long time, for when
he aWOke, and sat up with a start at
some noise the moon was high up-and
holy Moses, What was that Out in
the open sat Il bear on his launches,
and even in that position he was at
least ten feet high. He was looking
square at Jim; and, %strangest Of all,
across his lap lay Il long, single-bar-
relied, Old-time muzzle-loading gun.
Jim looked down at his side, and
"squirrel killer" was gone.
Wen, Jim said the bear IL a
hoarse, growing voice, but something
with bearish laughter in it, I've stole
a march on you. You come out load
ed for bar and now whar is ye?"
Ayeritt was so much amazed to hear
his freckled ace and red head in the
tin basin on the porch, and the latter
was in the kitchen dishing up break
fast. jim Averitt was a ro~und-shOuld-
cred lanky fellow, a farmer of the low
er class and almost illiteratc. Elviny
was Of Jim's type, but she was a come
~ young woman with black hair and
bright eyes. She had had the ordinary
country schooling of three Or four
months in the year, which little as it
was, had never come Jim's way. They
hadn't been married long, and were
content with their lot, for they were
born and raised to it.
TIE house was an ordinary farm
building Of TWO or three rooms n Il
little kitchen, surrounded by a small
farm, but with good soil, wkica.
hard work would have produced fair
crops. But jim Averitt, a rural rip
Van Winkle," was fonder Of his gun
Il dog, and loafing about the store
at the cross; roads, than he was Of the
hoe and the pI0W-handle. He vas a
prOdigiOus eater, and must have bacon,
ham and side, S % he raised a good stock
of hogs, which had contributed to the
bears supper the night before.
After breakfast, having one some
chores about the house and lot, AVERT
set to work out on the porch to clean
up squirrel killer" which already had
a record of innumerable squirrels, sev-
eral wild turkeys, a few deer, and n
bear. He then loaded it heavily with
buckshOt, and sat for a. few minutes
with the gun across his knee as If III
a brown study. Then he rose, passed
into the house. laid "squirrel killer"
across the rack, put on his c a.
went down the highway to the coun
try store at the cross roads.
Entering the store he passed into
the rear, nOdding to the proprietor,
who followed him, and they exchanged
a few words in a o. one. Then the
shop keeper slipped out of the back
door. and went to his house fifty yards
away. Presently he returned and
handed a package in newspaper to his
customer, which the latter placed in
side of his home-spun shirt, and went
out Of the store.
Two hundred yards up the Dad jim
Averitt sought the shelter Of 4 gall
berry thicket, drew out the package,
and from a quart bottle Of corn whis-
key took a long, long drink, smacking
his lips, and muttering with a grim
chuckle: Tn er gettin' ready fer bar"
Further along he took another swing
ing pull at the bottle, and when he
reached the house he hid it behind a
chest in the bedroom. At dinner his
face was as red as a boiled lobster;
but as it was always red when the
weather was hot, Elviny didn't seem to
take any notice.
From dinner up to along about 3