| Show BEAR AND CAT BATTLE ENCOUNTER IN THE JUNGLES OF COLORADO experience of a youna yonne lieutenant while Grubb grubbing inc for opals opala alle are arc suddenly ended by ml an indian la in ula war lionnet content of the beasts wherever tile the sun could force his rays between the clefts of the mountain or through the heavy foliage of the forest which skirted the base of the hills lie he carried conviction to the mind of 0 nil fill who naho suffered buffered from the heat beat that tile dog days were tit lit hand aeterna alternately tely cool in the delightful shade of the trees with the of the rushing mountain brook to lull one to drowsiness and hot with the fierce heat as the sun suit cut hla his way through the day was one of oppression mixed with nith just enough qualification to make inake the southern trend of the mountains of colorado the HIJ ideal outing spot of the american con it would be pleasant under almost any condition but for the little party encamped in the lower regions of the san juan country there was little of pleasure there was too much of duty and possible danger to render anyone oblivious of his business in the world and to aid him in the full enjoyment of the scene way back in the years when the ute wn wat a troublesome quantity and old colorow was threatening to exterminate every white man who entered the sacred confines of the reservation a small email party of cavalry wearing the uniform and trappings of the regular army went into camp at the foot of the mountains and prepared to head off any outbreak from that direction the squad for it was little more was the advance guard of a force sent out to check an incipient raid it consisted seemingly was wag placed a lark dark cross surrounded as it was with till the other magnificent mountains with the angry brook rushing between and over the trall trail the picture was one of grandeur and beauty not to be found surpassed by any land arid under tinder the heavens canopy on an opal young howard walks slowly and musingly toward where hunter was busily C completing his bis details for or the night ile he nodded at times and the men respectfully watched the dreamer is as lie he was culled called when lie ho was not in fit hearing distance suddenly he be stopped and kicked at a rock at his feet lie he turned it over with lih his boot a couple of lines and then stooped to examine it more cl closely oely then lie picked it ill hii ail and finished his walk without haste or apparent emotion well lIo howard Nvard what did you find a moonstone called hunter cleaf not exactly drawled howard its better than that unless you have the superstition of dour our irish ancestry its a fine opal I 1 imagine a nian mini could pick up some rood good specimens of turquoise around here if lie gave ills mind to it I 1 am halt half inclined to go out to that cliff and see what I 1 can dig out of it and he be gazed thoughtfully in the dire direction tl indicated stand fast ray my boy you hoard heard the old man say that no one was to pass tho the lines its dangerous and you take my advice and stay inbode this 1 Is 13 3 before the hours of challenge it said howard we have no such think lit in the enemies country was the blunt reply 1 I think it would be well not to go I 1 dont lay any orders on you but if you go I 1 N w let the old man know NN hither and would take a rifle of course join tile ine but then you have that beastly guard duty well so long iong so saying mr howard turned back and sought the commanders tent and preferred his request to go to the cliff to explore tor for stones while I 1 jr i 4 7 i 7 TIC r INJUN KILL SAID TJ THE BRAVE of parts of two troops of bronzed warriors who lid had seen considerable son serl ice fee in the apache country south of the grand canyon the captain of one troop was lit in command and lie he hat had with him several officers of ills 0 own wn arid and the other troup horses suit and men were weary ath with a long ride during the lie heat lit of the day over the almost insurmountable passes of the mountains As the party approached the lie spot where the trall crossed the brook a young who had been sent forward to select a good place for the camp reported good ila place here sir plenty tit f forage and water for the eattle cattle and shado shade for the lie inen all right I 1 hunter I 1 unter x as t the lie reply as aa captain morris iris swung ills horse to tile rear llant dismount gentlemen we will go suto into vaina here hunter lluu ter establish the guard lines arid see that no man leaves the camp we are near the reservation find the fellow who strays Is liable to get hurt pass the word gentlemen camp quickly pitched so saying the captain dismounted tossed tits hla bridle rein to his bis ordering mid arid placing his back against a tree lazily superintended super intended the job of pitching camp from this coign of vantage with the celerity of long years of discipline and service the wilderness became a habitable abode for the detachment in ad incredible short time the corrals were roped off the horses watered Nat ered find and placed under the charge of a couple of men to graze and the white wall tents of the oft officers leers and the walled sibleys of the men placed in regular form As Is 19 customary in that benighted region 0 fierce heat beat and sudden cold the march came to an end in the early afternoon while the sun oven even in the mountains was several hours high scouts wore were sent bent forward and everything done to prevent the unnoticed approach of white or red man supper was cooked and dispatched with the speed find and appetite which Is engendered in the alps of america aud and the camp settled down to the routine of camp duty among the officers was a young man recently joined who had bad a taste tor for mineralogy and metallurgy ile he smoked his pipe in quiet for a time and then having no duty to bother him strolled toward the guard quarters to chat with hunter ile he cast more than one approving glance at a huge bugo precipice which overhung the gorge where tho the camp was pitched like a mighty cathedral those rocks rose from the green bushes which studded the landscape at their base piled up in the confusion of nature they broke into terraces with here and there a break which let in the light of the setting sun as it if some infinite architect had carved windows away bear near the summit tho the rocks broke and separated into a number of peaks which seemed like innumerable spires while at the very apex was a white smooth peak on tho the surface of which the lie ano off leers wore nere talking of the matter they were 4 joined by hunter who mado made ills his report and was wag about to return to quarters ihm the captain railed called after him sue see any signs of indians Ind inns no sir I 1 fancy they are not in our immediate vicinity ity but the scouts are well niell to the be front and it if they see sec anything they bey tire are ordered to report lit at once right night well mr air 1101 howard ard I 1 will not object but keep this bide of the scout lines and dont got get out of sight of the camp callip if you need anything fire your rifle and we c will conic come to noll ou the young man mail turned and rapidly strode to his tent acut near liy by look down ills rifle and swung it ills his buk back and then seizing a dinall geologists geologist s lit kit started out to see what vital lie ile could find ile he was soon deep in the underbrush which aich lined the trall trail and extended some distance on oil the face of the cliff lie he plunged into it and made directly for the cliff intending to ascend it if possible arid and take in some of 10 1 1 I i q 1 VE HE CLOSE TO THE the i lews jews from higher altitudes lie he had to struggle to get through and changed his course more than once before he struck it a spot which promised well for the ascent ile ho stopped for a moment and wiped the sweat from his forehead before commencing what promis Lol to be it a hard climb ile he scanned the flat surface of that cliff tor for some borne time before ho he discovered any foothold but finally dually lie he saw what seemed to be a winding stair cut lit in the rocks and crossing the cliff front from east cast to west ile he commenced the ascent and made very satisfactory progress until he reached a shelf or op the rocks nearly fifty feet from the baso base of the cliff ile he rested it a moment and looked about for some means of continuing the ascent but without avail ile he sat down on the shelf arid and ruminated rumina ted for a time just as ail he was about to descend he be observed out of its hei in a one fine stone peeping out h hammer am got the rock ile he instantly and chisel and began to dig that hard bard and had bad worked atone out ile he the jewel loose when he noticed small scan 11 and quantities of dust pieces of stone were descending on his head ili ho was not much of a woodman but lie he knew that some cause must have produced that dusty rain he 1 e pa paused S ed in his work and vast cast an upward 9 glance latice of mingled apprehension and at d reproach and was asto rAshed to see the tawny hide nud and glittering eyes of a huge hug e cata mc maunt crouched above him blin on another shelf not more than twenty five feet fee t from where he sat lie ile was no coward yet lie had never held it a private inter clew with it ii catamount and experienced no deslie desire to come to close quarters it was evident the lie fat eat was pm puring paring to leap arid and llo howard Nvard did some hard thinking finally lie ho crouched close to the cliff and signal signaled Ld the eat cat to come the eat cat did so with a snarl and showing of its fearful tooth teeth that eat cat launched itself downward like a yellow cloud it alie shelf b because it was too narrow darrow to nf ford much of a chance in such a ie leap IP but its claws ellit clutched ched tile the edge arid tile the animal was lit in the act of making dakill a desperate arid probably successful saul effort to scramble up tip to whore where tile the I 1 young oung t t the 1 lieutenant was anva flattened against again cliff howard redeemed himself I 1 in a I 1 athla h ji juncture in e tu re b by y g giving i v i tig t the illias ead cat a to swift ange fd kilik kick I 1 in n t the b e w whiskers il 1 k e r g T this dislodged J i 0 the e angry beast and with a howl of rale rage it partly tw twisted itself about and estu celil sprang wildly v out into to space it cleared the intervening rocks arid and fell like a wet blanket or on the root roof of a huge cinnamon bear Nhi which ell ind been sleeping the hot but hours away in a clu clump illi of besles at the base of tile the cliff then the run fun commenced that on cinnamon lot let go tits his right and that eat cat was sent sprawling twenty feet the ilie eat cat was a fighter and resented the insult by declaring war on the spot ile he not only declared but he prepared to mix with the bear ile he sprang at bruins throat but thy the bear ducked skillfully and claw od ed a handful of wool from froin the eats cats back bach the eat cat anade another rush and succeeded this time in fastening his bis fangs in the bears bh dera the be bear ar immediately took a chancery hold and began his famous representation of now to squeeze ft a fellow to death the eat cat was game nearly as large as the bear and full of fight and with a desperate effort lie tore lore himself loose and also made several ragged holes in the bears fur ur and hide bide with the claws with gitil which his hind feet were endowed again they came together and howard had bid been standing in a trance watching the fierce combat regained ills his senses lung long enough to take aim at the battling brutes with his good rifle ile he stepped near the edge of the cliff and was anas about to turn loose with his gun when the sharp report of a rifle above him caused him to lose his balance and lie tumbled headlong to join bear and eat cat In injen Jinn on the scene for foe a time he thought lie he h hid id lieu li eu shot but as he felt nune none alj the worse not so after the tumble having dru dropped lOd into sume some heavily foliaged foll aged bushes lie he jumped to his feet arid and opened fire on oil the lighters As lie he IM did so no the cat sprang into alea tl 0 a rand r and fell with widely ing legs at quite a distance ana and then lily lay still after clawing up all the bili liei near it ii w tile lille the bear bears putt around mid and around as if chasing its own till tall howard howad knelt and hent bent lit in another liot lilot i as there was an ail echo from up tile the lafr this time little the bear slowly ind with beneral se eral builds lit in lit hii bod alel led up the alie ghost howard to examine the quarries when lie ws was astounded astound cd to see an ail indian in 1 I i mongrel costume os of cavalry trousers iralli or cr shirt and nar bonties of bagi enl feneli ors ers rush down don the c calil a and 11 claim everything lit in sight alit injun kill said mild the bratie with a 1 sweep of liis 1119 art arm injun lid did nothing not liing of tho the sort was the retort as II houard oNard pui pu lied hod it 11 lut lot of tail alt ridges into tile the magazine or of ills his title bullier Sul lier kill and soldier xv will ill just huts hus tile the job if its all the same to tu nuu my lily buck tile the lii III jun JUIl showed it a desire to mix nar ar ine medicine dicine ind and it Is doubtful whit the result would have been but for tho the idoly Irl ival of captain and a ut of troopers troup ers on oil the run the captain ili took lu in tile he situation nt lit a 1 I glance and lid ordered the indian arrested for shout lug ilIg off if of tile the ic loaded the bear and eat cat on oil the natii arid and lead tile wiy way back to cilip lie he also callei called in the scouts unit and gave then a good ran raft hiding As a conclusion to his monologue gue lie he remarked if it had not been for the reckless recklessness nesi of this young fellow I 1 knuhl not have enoi known n that there was a R ute in ill colorado excepting by consulting tile lie war maps and geography get ct away ay with you arid and see sec if you call c in redeem your 4 elves gentlemen hereafter orders not to bean c camp 1 I apply to off leers ns as boll 1 11 is s illen |
