Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-03-27

tree almost in the same direction and
out from the tree eight or ten feet
they would be about five or six feet
apart. One Of the limbs was quite a
lot smaller than the other. ! made up
smaller limb which would hold me up,
but would not hold us both, and l
thought if the bear climbed out on It
we would both get a tumble and l
would take my chances with the bear.
In fact l didn't have much time to
think, so I crawled OIL the limb
and waited On developments. The
bear came on up to where the limbs
branched out and stopped as if he
was thinking what was best to do.
FINALLY he started out on the limb
that l was on, but the limb commenced
to bend. He stopped and took in the
situation and l suppose made up his
mind that he didn't want to take a
tumble. He backed out to the body
of the tree and stopped and seemed to
be studying what was best to do.
Finally he started out on the larger
limb. He had made up his mind that
he could reach out from that limb
when he had got opposite me and
knock me off the limb. Just as he
was getting ready to reach out and
knock me off l hunched back out a
little farther and out of his reach.
Both of the limbs that We were on
were bending considerable, but the
bear hunched out a little farther the
same as | did and reached out to hit
me. Just then the limb that he was
on broke and he had reached far
enough so his claws caught in my
coat pocket and took my pocket slick
and clean off my coat. Then he went
crashing down through the limbs max
ing a terrible racket as he went. He
! struck the ground with such force
| that he bounded foul or five feet high
and it seemed to knock the breath
out of him for a few minutes. He got
up and looked up at me and ] could
hardly keep from laughing, although
| was pretty badly scared.
Then | happened to think that it
was about time for the other men to
be coming SO l commenced to haloo
at the top of my voice, and l got an
answer back from the man and they
were only a short distance away
! close enough that / could tell them
what was the matter. We had one
young man in the crew that always
carried a Winchester rife with him.
1t was his duty to keen the camp in
meat He told :tth,s others to stay
back and he would crawl up and get
a good shot. Meanwhile the bear
seemed to think there was something
wrong and it made him mad, SO he
started TO climb the tree again, but
had not reached the first limbs when
I heard the crack of a rife close by.
The bear fell the minute the gun
cracked and only made a few strug-
| giles before he was dead. The young
man came running up, calling for me,
wanting to know where | was. When
| answered him from out of the tree
he looked up and commenced to laugh
and said, 1t seems to me you roost
kind Of high ! told him the bear
roasted high too, but his roost broke
down.
"In a few minutes the rest OF the
party came up and of course L had to
tell them how it all happened. One
of the men was looking at the tree
where the bear had climbed up and
remarked how the bears claws had
sunk into the tree and happened to
%notice an old scar on the tree as if 1t
had been a blaze made on the trunk
several years before. He took his AK
and cut what had grown over the old
cut on the tree and there We're the
markings of the very eorne that we
had been hunting for.
we got our plat out and by meas
urements found the witness stakes as
laid down on the plat, so the bear
helped us to find the corner tree and
also made a nice lot of meat"