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Show THE NERVE OF A DARING WESTERN PROSPECTOR ' The most magnificent exhibition of nerso I eicr knew or heard of was that of nn old fellow named Michael, w horn I came across once during ms wander-Ingn wander-Ingn In tho Itocky mountnlns," said a found gold-mluo suiwiintcnlcnt to the witter the olhcr day ' rhla man mis one of n small group of piospectors nnd miners who compoMd u camp near where I settled foi a whllo In the litter lit-ter '"Os Tho had piepnred them-seliea them-seliea for continuing work In tho win ter by building lough cabins und a stockade, find heidlng In the littci with a few sheds for sheltei, n numbei of joung catlle, which could be slaughtered slaugh-tered from llmo to time fot fresh meat About midwinter they became lory much troubled by nocturnal tilts from a bear, which carried oft two ot thiee nf tho fatfst calies btforo they plucked up splilt enough to go out nnd hunt down tho marauder Ono dat, howeiei, thes org-inlzed a shooting expedition ex-pedition The snow was soft enough to recoil o the bears footprints icry cleor-Ij cleor-Ij , Mils trill In duo course led them to a caio In the woods beforu which they drew up nnd In order to lure llrtiln out they discharged a inlley Into tho opening open-ing A huge she grizzly respondcl promptly and mi le for tho party without with-out a sign of feat Thes opened (lie, but not a shot tools effert. and when they dlscoveied this tho fled, panlc-slrlcken, panlc-slrlcken, Into the thick brush Michael stubbed his toe and fell, and the bear wss upon him, with hoi Jaws wide open Rid he say his prnsers nnd icslgn himself to his fate" Not hel On tho contrniy. a plan (lashed like lightning-through lightning-through his briln nnd he thrust his right hind right Into the beir s mouth as fai down as It would go Ho had hored to stiangle, her, but she was too nuU Her hugo teeth closed together, nnd were soon ciushlng the dainty meinbei, on which she ihi-wed and sucked till she hid eaten It orf nearly to tho shouller I'alnt? Not a bit. he had too much to think of When there was nothing but a couple of Inihes of mm left he thrust his right foot Into tha raniu lnienous Jaws nnd watcher! It go All the while of course, he was shouting lustily to his companions, "Well two or three of them when their llrBt tenor had passed, wore ashamed of themselves, and heirlng his cries, rieit buck to see what wns the matter The bear was so busy, and her ears were so filled with the racket Michael was making that she did not notice them They screwed up their tuuragp this lime, look sure aim, and let her hate it from all their muzzles nt once That finished her and then Michael found limn tn fnlnt. "When I know Michael ho was per fectls happy nnd good-natured, but had tn walk about with the aid of a queer mechanism of his own Inicntlon stripped to his right side, serving tho purposo of a leg nnd crutch In combination combi-nation I nsked him once what thoughts passed thiough his mind whllo tho bear was deiourlng his extremities extremi-ties "'At first.' he answered, when she fell to work on my right arm I was most full of the Idea of gettln' tho other fellows back When I found they wnrn't comln', I glie msself up to thlnkln' what I d let her eat next Then, when she wan chew In' on ms right leg, I suddenly sas to myself, "What a tir-nel tir-nel fool sou bel Why dldn t sou glie her the left leg Instead? Now durn you, you'll he lopsided all your llfel ' ' " Harrer's AVeekly. |