Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-19

was not there. So he and his men, with
their revolvers in easy reach and the
belt with their bowie knives loosened,
cautiously explored the sage brush and
the little caverns with which the local
ity abOunds.
At length they came upon the bat
guano cave that was discovered a
short time ago by Jesse Plowman. a
twelve-year- boy. The latter had
followed bear tracks to the entrance OF
the cave and, being afraid to enter, he
placed his hat on pole at the entrance
velopments. In a short time big bear
poked his head out the entrance and
angrily made for the cap. The bear
tore the cap off the pole and shook it
to pieces. Jesse waited till he had a
good chance and then he let by bullet
from his rifle and the huge animal fell
dead in his tracks. Then the boy
smoked the others out by making a
fire in the entrance and shot two more
of them. He brought the pelts to
Carlsbad and told the story of the gu
ano find, which was hailed with delight
by the farmers, as it is the finest fer
tlizer to be found
Stewart and his companions had
heard the story Of the boy, and while
they were in the locality they thought
they would explore the cave and make
an estimate of the amount of guano
that it contained. They made their
way some distance into the interior,
and at length came to a wide rock
chamber. The light poured in through
hole i'm the roof and showed clearly
the surroundings. In the center of the
chamber were four skeletons. A closer
inspection showed that three Of them
were those of human beings and that
the fourth was that of a bear. Among
the bones were two rusty knives, pis-
tol and some metal buttons. The cloth
ing had rOtted away, and it was evil
dent that the tragedy had been enacted
many years before. Judging from the
bones, all the men must have been big
fellows, strong and full of vigor, for
the teeth were all yet good, but the
tongues that could once have told the
grewsOme tale were returned to dust,
and only the hollow sockets Of the eyes
In three grinning skeletons looked up
at the discoverers. But the surround
ings told the story, and it needed not
the recital OF words to tell the sheriff
and his men what had happened. They
saw it as if they had been on the spot
when it was enacted.
Old Bruin sat at the door Of the cave,
which was his castle, back in the days
when no white man had previously
disturbed the wild stiffness. Down
from the valley of the PecOs came
three prospectors after the gold that
the Indians told the Spaniards was
there. They were big, husky fellows,
probably a part of body of Spaniards
that afterward made its way to Cali
fornia. When near the entrance to the
cave they saw the fierce, old bear, but
they were brave fellows and they
thought it would be an easy matter to
kill him, feast upon his carcass, and
take up their abode for the night in his
retreat. With deep growls the bear
warned them off, but they pressed on
ward. The bear retreated into the
cave and the men followed. Two OF
them were armed with heavy knives
and the third had a huge pepper-boX
pistol. At length they cornered the
bear in the big chamber and he resolv-
ed to make his last stand. A bullet
landed in his hide, but it did not
reach a vital spot, and with one blow
of his great paw he struck down the
man who had fired. Then he turned
on the others.
The intruders, although armed only
with the knives, thought they were a
match for one bear, and they eagerly
closed with him, plunging their knives
again and again into his shaggy body.
Although covered with wounds, and