The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1908-10-16

ened ou on his own doorstep with
bullet through his brain.
Twice in my chase of Bruin ! have
made use of a bearspear as my weap-
on OF attack; and some newspaper
writer's in their search after copy have
rloted luriously over my methods, !
may take this opportunity to main
tain thai the use of the spear entails
no greater cruelty than any other
mode OF attack. and that every hunt.
er should be armed with one in re.
serve, since these powerful beasts
have a Vitality that triumphs over
stray bullet or more, unless lodged
in vital region: and when wounded,
their retaliation is redoubtable and
easily fatal.
In karelen the bear is yet regarded
as noXious horror The great black
haired "Slaabjorn," or killing bear,
is still rampant there, and couple
of winters back | was able to wreak
Juslifiable vengeance on some beasts
that had killed over score of cows
and nine horses. News had been
brought me that some Of these rascals
were alternating on small marsh
bound island. We found no difficulty
in locating their lair. and | took up
my post at the entrance to it, armed
only with my spear. | may explain
that bear-spear consists of an ash
staff some two yards long and about a
rait,,In nf in in, no
is a blade Of steel about 12 inches in
length. and the shaft is copper cased
as prevention against the teeth of
Bruin AS soon as my gentleman ap-
pcared ! tried to stick him in the
throat, but he parred adrotly and |
missed; | made another lunge and
succeeded in driving my spear point
through his breast. He started roar
ing furiously and snapped at my cop
per cased staff, then made an attempt
to strike at my arm with his huge
iorcpaw, so that | might drop my
weapon. There was thrilling unccr-
taintE as to the outcome; the power
full brute hung on to my spear at the
one end. while | as grimly held on at
the other end. His bites went through
the copper plate and he started shred
ding the wood beneath. Strenuously !
checked his further advances, and
gradually, for his wounds began to
tel, his resistance weakened. and he
dropped at last over the aperture of
his den. pulled out the spear. but so
much strength still remained in him
lhat he seized the blade and bit it
with force that left deep indcnta-
tious in the steel. Herr Broberg then
finished him off with his own weapon.
This struggle from start to finish
covered five minutes.
! certainly have had, as have all
other big game hunters, one or two
narrow escapes, but 50 far my luck
has carried me through and Bruin has
ncrer got the best of it. | once found
myself in tight quarters with an over
grown specimen of the Slagbjorn va
rjcty. He had chosen for his sleeping
place the center of an open tract
where, while the giant forest trees
had long since been burned down,
dense bushes had grown in their place
and these snowladcn and frost-stif-
ened, obdurately impcdcd my way. 1t
was no easy task to advance noiseless-
" here, where every twig was { snare
10 "n'angle my long ski. I stumbled.
fell and lay foundering in the deep
Snow. simultaneously my bear
ioumed forth on the near horizon
He might considered--have select.
ed more auspicous moment for his
manifestation. Prone as | was, for ski
are Internal machines when speedy
cXtrication is desirable. took careful
ain and fired: my shot went home.
and certainly my good genius direct
ed it. for had I missed or merely
wounded. my position would have
been almost unenviable. When we
came to skin my capture. we found
an old bullet embedded under the
right shoulder-blade, which shows the
wonderful vitality Of these animals.