Show FACING A A boy kin I 1 ILI an ar A r br bear naith A blow of 0 an n ax i it t was wag in september and th the e colorado gula ban had done its duty and made phu phil as brown of face and stout stoat of as any of us that the geology claar consulting of the professor and ten pupils made an excursion into the range with the object of taking a practical lesson among the limestone beds at the back of lincoln peak away we went feeling very tery hilarious at the idea of making an independent expedition even with blinkers for a general scrambling over rocks and fallen trees chasing squirrels and chipmunks chipmunk throwing stones at birds and rabbits and behaving I 1 generally just like what we were a parcel of school boys bos I 1 presently we emerged from the trees tree and came out upon ulon another little open park like stretch of round ground half way across it our attenni at attention n was suddenly attracted by a stir among some borne high grass and out a little dark colored short legged annual ani lual which looked like a wooly pig if there be au any 8 such u e h thing in n nature away away it scuttled and away we all ail went with a shout in pursuit phil happened to be soine oine distance behind at the moment being busily engaged in digging a tarantula tara s lle biet t out of the ground with his knifa but aa soon as he saw what we NN were erv do ing he be came racing after us shouting look out look out its a n we did not licar heni what we were in mik ak ino so much noise ourselves I 1 but the little animal whatever it was was too quick for us and disappeared into some willows while we were still twenty yards behind the next moment the willows waved and bout bent and out bounced a great she bear IL 9 grizzly with a yell of dismay we all turned and scattering like a flock of sparrows when a cat jumps into the midst of them fled for the nearest trees blinkers quite forgetting that he was the general of the little expeditionary force made such use of his long legs that he be was fafel safely y up a tree before any of the rest of us had reached one As for me I 1 never rea reached thed one rt at all in turning to run I 1 tripped over oer the ax ix and though I 1 was up again in an to stant the check made me the last of the fugitives the chase was very er soon over in wix fix jumps as it set seamed mod med the peat great caught caugh t me and with one blow I 1 of her paw on the middle midd le of m mv back sent bent me face do downward nv u w a rd to thi the ground 0 i und with every atom of breath driven fr ll 11 en out of my body I 1 the list last circumstances was a good thing for me I 1 could not have moved IL muscle MU scle if I 1 had wished to conse 1 bently the bear supposed that I 1 was dead lead and instead of tearing me up into small pieces as I 1 expected the began sniffling me all over and turning me about with w ith her claws claw suddenly however she ceased and began to growl and I 1 heard beard blinkers up in his tree call out go back you cant do any good you 11 only pet get yourself killed too from which I 1 concluded that blinkers and the bear had bad one thought in common they both reposed rv supposed posed me to be dead was beginning to recover my mv bloth a little by this time and in m my anxiety to see what was going forward I 1 T made a slight blight movement with one arm and in an instant the bear had that arm between her teeth it hurt me so horribly hor rahly that I 1 fainted and a all 11 that happened afterwards I 1 gathered from the other hoyi boys phil when he row me knocked donau dow n instead of climbing up a tree like the rest ran back to where I 1 had biad dropp dropped tl the ax and picking it up advanced to my rescue it was a mad thing to do ther j is no doubt about that but phil did it and nd wi without phout a thought of his own dinger danger it was in vain that blinkers called to him to go back he did not seem eem to hear but kept coming on slowly with his eyes fixed on the bear and the ax held in readiness to strike the bear dropped my arm and advanced a step standing across my body growling and turning up her upa lips until all her great white teeth were exposed but still phil came on at six feet distance he be stopped the bear took a step forward and then another and then with all the strength of his body doubled by bs the intense excitement of the moment phil struck at her with such force and precision that he split her skull clean in two but even in dying the bear succeed ed in doing some mischief with a last convulsive effort she struck out and with her great claws i tore away the front of phils coat vest test and ab shirt find and made three deep cuts all ail across his chest from the left der diagonally downward another inch and phil must certainly have been killed As it was he stood for a moment swaying to and fro and then fell forward upon the dead body of the bear from grizzly phil by bid ford F ramp hadap in st SL nicholas |