Show 74 FLOYD F LOY lda GIBBONS G I 1 B B 0 NS INS I q ii A adventurers club 2 I 1 the pit by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter ayou OU know boys and girls it at all unusual for an adventure adventurer r I 1 I 1 to run into an experience that leaves him dazed and barely able t to 0 stagger along home but harry goldin of bronx N Y is one up on all those guys harry was dazed and barely able to stagger before his adventure started after it was all over he was a lot worse off it all happened in april 1899 when harry was down in cuba fighting ting the spanish american war for uncle sam he was with the seventh regiment cavalry stationed in the field outside pinal final del rio luo and I 1 things had quieted down to such an extent that troopers with a good record could get a pass from the officer of the day to go into town make a few puri chases and have what was widely known as a good time harry was one of the troopers who had a good record I 1 dont know how he managed to get it and I 1 know doggone well he deserve it because the first thing he did when he hit town he and his buddy was to head for a saloon 0 i they had a couple bottles of beer and then they drank some cuban white mule they ambled around the town taking in the sights but to auf juf judge ge by harrys and his pals actions most of those sights were in the bottom 0 of a glass A W 0 L Is bad business in any mans army finally it got to the point where they had to do their sightseeing sitting down because whenever they got up on their feet the sights reeled and w wab ab bled around so fast that they get a good look at them them that went on until it became just plain impossible to see a sight or anything else then all of a sudden it dawned on them that it was dark that they had overstayed overstated over stayed their leave and that they had better 0 get the heck out of town before the corporal of the guard came looking for them they lurched to their feet and started walking toward the camp in three directions at once by the time they were half way there it was twice as dark as when they had started they see a foot ahead of them and were even having some trouble trying bryin to keep a foot under them how the two lads got separated harry know he was walking along talking when all of a sudden he realized he was talking to himself he yelled for his pal but he got no answer on top of that it started to thunder and lightning and then to rain harry went on alone every once in a while a flash of lightning would illuminate the sky and then he could see where he was going the third or A snarling bear was pawing at him in the pit fourth flash showed a dark object up ahead that harry thought would be his buddy ile he gave a whoop and started toward it through the dark he could see it coming to meet him just as it reached him harry stumbled and fell harrys pal turned out to be a big black bear he reached out and grabbed hold of his pal to help himself up again his pal had grown a thick coat of heavy fur in the meantime but harry had had too many te quilas and back in town to n otice notice that again he stumbled clutched his pal for support and both of them tumbled into a deep pit it was the sort of a pit they use for garbage in cuba something told harry that even though he see the fall jarred some of the sen sense se back into him and for the first time he began to wonder how his pal had happened to grow that coat of fur ile he have to wonder long 0 A sudden flash of lightning lit up the pit that furry thing his bud buddy dy at all it was a bear a huge black snarling bear r for or a minute harry thought he was pipe dreaming the whole thin thing that bear must have come right out of one of those aguardiente agu ardiente bottles back in tow town n but no the bear was on him now had bad him down was mauling him like the devil he dream those sharp stabs of pain dream the bruises the bear gave him as he kicked him around harry learns that bears dont fight fair the bear fight fair it was the darn dest animal harry ever saw it was jumping on him harry could feel it barn bam and the brute would land on him off hed go and then barn bam hed land on him I 1 again what kind of a bear was this that fought like a moose another flash of lightning told the story harry looked up josfin tt me to see the bear pawing and clawing at the top of the pit then barn bam 1 he lost his hold and landed on harry again that animal jumping on him ile he was falling on him ile he was using harry for a aprin sprin springboard board trying to get out of the pit about the last thing harry remembers then barn I 1 again and he lost consciousness the next thing harry knew he woke up in the hospital his friends were all standing around his cot he thought come to be with him at the end until he noticed that they were all laughing the laugh was on harry even if it hurt and when they told me about it harry says 1 I had to laugh myself the bear bea was one that had escaped from a small circus and had bad wandered out of town it was just about twice as seared scared as I 1 was but harrys laugh last long when he tried to move in his cot his grin faded away he was scratched from head to foot and had three broken ribs where the bear fell on him if you want to make him mad now just ask him about the time he did a sidney franklin with old bruin amid the rose petals and incense of that refuse pit way down there in cuba in 99 0 w ru service |