The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-12-12
AN UNEXPECTED STRIKE
Battling Grizzly With High pressure Stream From
A Giant Sluicing Nozzle
By Grayman Andre0s, Youths Companion

I1ZNZY2EYRI1RlNlNZNRNIHK YRNfkXHXkXfNllkyZ IL
He didn't know what he should do
if the bear attacked him. He had no
weapons, not even a knife; he could
not run away, for in the under
brush the bear would overtake him
before he had fairly started. As
he desperately searched his mind
for some other means of escape,
the grizzly turned its wicked little
eyes upon him.
Tom crouched behind the slen-
der nozzle, seemingly unable to
move. Twenty yards away, the
brute rose on its hind legs and bal
anced for a moment while it glared
at the man; every claw on its fore
paws stood out like black dagger
and its mouthed gaped prodigi-
ously as it emitted roar after roar.
A moment the creature hesitated,
as if it were anticipating the joy of
crushing its victim; then it charged.
As last resort, Tom decided to
wait until the grizzly came danger
ously near, then to dodge round
the giant and run for his life.
He had put his hand upon the noz-
zle to steady himself for the start,
when another plan flashed into his
mind. Reaching down, he grasped
the valve to turn on the stream of
water. Would he never get it
open?
At last Tom had the valve open.
Just as the grizzly was almost up
on him, he grasped the handle and
turned the stream toward the bear.
With thud the powerful cur
rent caught the beast square in the
chest. The bear went down under
the shock. Seizing his advantage
Tom kept the stream trained on
the grizzly, which gasped and
rolled about. Finally the creature
managed to regain its feet, and it
lost no time in running beyond
reach of the jet, where it stalked
up and down, growing and roar
ing and working itself into a worse
rage than ever.
Now and then the grizzly charged
toward Tom, but every time Tom
met it with the powerful stream of
water, and it had to beat retreat.
1t soon learned it's lesson, however,
and contented itself with stalking
back and forth just out of range.
Half an hour passed in that way,
and the bear showed no disposition
to leave. Morgan looked at his
watch; it was half past five! The
water had already been turned off
ut the storage reservoir, and in a
few minutes there would be no
pressure; his only means of defense
was slipping from him!
He was nearly in despair. Fifty
yards below, the bluff over which
the mountain stream and the pipe
ran cut off his escape in that direc-
tion. His voice would not carry
to the main mine, which lay more
than quarter of a mile below the
cliff, nor could he summon help
from the crew at the storage reser.
voir above. Apparently his only
course was to fight until the water
pressure was exhausted, then to
run round the cliff and make for
the mine below; but he had little
hope of getting far.
The pressure gradually decreased
and the grizzly came closer and
closer. Suddenly Tom thought of
the waterfall. The brook tumbled
over the cliff in straight drop of
thirty feet. and he remembered
that it had followed a round pool
below. He did not know how
deep the pool was, but even a little
water would break considerably q
jump from the cliff. At any rate,
to jump was his best chance.
Measuring the distance with care
Tom suddenly dropped the nozzle
and ran straight for the waterfall.
As he neared the brink he cast
Continued on page .. celann -