The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-08-25

bear seemed to have new and strange
obstacles to contend with. ] let him
have q copious supply of these beans
and feeling the smarting effects of
them. he started of In the opposite
direction.
what Charles had done to at
| tract that bears attention | do not
know. At any rate Bruin saw him In
the tree and made straight for him.
[ began to get scared now. About the
time the bear had reached the foot
OF the tree l had emptied all but
about half a peck OF beans from one
of the bags, and FASTENED to Charles
aid. When | got to the tree the bear
was about half way up 1t. / told
Charles to sit still and at the same
time said Catch this bag of beans,
throwing 1t up into the branches.
Charles had taken out his knife to
meet the attack of the enraged ami
NAL and with 1t he hastily cut the
bag open. So when the bear reached
to strike Charles foot he was met
with handful OF beans. Bruin did
not stop to climb down but suddenly
dropped and struck the ground in a
| mean. WIS hihhObA DdCh W tiC Nehi I
by this time, but the bear saw me
running and made after me. When he
reached the cart / gave him another
volley of beans which struck him
smartly on the nose and head. l
think now that the bear had encount-
cred hornets or bumble-bees some
time because the beans seemed to
make him recollect some such occa-
sion, and as soon as those little hard
pellets hit him he would turn and
scratch his nose frantically.
Charles was enjoying the situa-
ton now and hollered, Poster him,
Pa Bruin soon made off again to-
ward the tree, but before he could
get half way up he came into sharp
contact with more beans and dropped
to the ground again. Why the bear
was SO intent upon getting one OF US
I never knew. He walked round and
round for few seconds and again
made for the cart where | was. |
SHARED no beans on him for | had two
bushels with me. / threw about five
handfuls at him as soon as he was
near enough, and when he turned to
run began to throw potatoes at him.
[ did wrong there, for when one OF
the potatoes hit him he turned and
made for the cart with terrible fury
in his eyes. | peppered him with
more beans but they did not seem
to have the same effect as at first.
kept on throwing them, and when they
hit him on the nose he would hest
tate. but | could see he was fighting
mad and that | must soon do some
! NV
potatoes were in barrels and 80
turned out the contents OF one OF
them. While | was doing this, and
at intervals throwing beans, the bear
was clambering up over one of the
wheels. | grabbed the empty barrel
and watched my chance, and when |
saw the brute rise above the wheel |
rammed the barrel down over his
head.
Now was my lucky moment. The
remembrance of the FIVE HUNDRED
DOLLARS reward flashed through my
mind In an instant. Could | succeed
in taking that bear alive? l jumped
on top of the barrel and hollered to
Charles to come quickly and help me
Charles tumbled down out of the tree
almost as fast as had the bear few
minutes before when shOwered with
beans. Soon he was on the spot to
help me. We turned the barrel over
and now Bruin was standing on his
head inside of it, We got a rope
around his body and then tied tho
other end of it to a nearby tree. 1t
did not take him a great while to
knock the barrel to pieces. Ii you
ever saw a mad bear you know how
this one acted. He jumped; he
growled; he smashed around. He
would rise upon his hind legs and
come down upon the ground with his
whole weight. He would glare saw
ate jump toward us. We approached
only near enough to pepper him with
the few remaining beans. While
Charles was emptying his pockets |
was filling mine for the fun. We
threw beans till that Infatuated ami
NAL was actually crazed. Then he
would lie down and roll, and rub his
ugly black nose in the dirt. Finally
he fell down utterly tired out. Here
was my chance. We jumped upon
him and use all our ropes and
chains to make our prize secure and
then started to lead and drag the
captured victim along. We had not
gone far when you came up.
There, boys, you have the story,
and after get that FIVE HUNDRED
dollars, and buy me new horse, II
there is anything left, you can count
on the best spread of your lives"
-----------------------------
Real Estate Transfers.