Volume VII. 



RECREATION. 



SEPTEMBER, 1897. 

 G. 0. SHIELDS (COQUINA), Editor and Manager. 



Number 3. 



HOW THEY DIDN'T HIT HIM IN THE EYE. 



J. B. JENNETT (OLD SILVER TIP). 



What vivid recollections will at 

 times roll in upon us — even of the days 

 (or nights) when we used to steal our 

 neighbors' apples! 



To-night there appears before my 

 eyes the vision of my first bear. It 

 seems as if the tragedy might have 

 happened but yesterday, instead of 

 many years ago. 



I was up in the Northwest territory, 

 and winter was close at hand. I had 

 a little money and formed the ac- 

 quaintance of 2 men who had none. 

 They were Ai bear hunters, while I 

 was a tenderfoot; so of course I had 

 to be initiated. 



They told me all kinds of stories, 

 some of which fairly set me wild. The 

 result was I put in my money and we 

 went into the Rockies, in British Co- 

 lumbia, to hunt bear. When we got 

 to the trapping ground we put up our 

 shack and then proceeded to build 

 dead-falls for the next spring. By do- 

 ing this in the fall, the men said that 

 by the time spring came all the scent 

 of our bodies would be gone; so it 

 would be far easier to catch His Royal 

 Highness than if the dead-falls were 

 fresh made. 



The talk of each evening was, of 

 course, about bear, and what we would 

 do when we met one. The " old hunt- 

 ers " told me, many times over, that 

 they could hit a bear in the eye, when 

 he was on the charge. 



Our battery consisted of 2 45-75- 

 350 Winchester rifles, belonp-ms: to 



the " old hunters " while I had a 44- 

 40-200 Winchester. This they called 

 the "pop-gun"; but it made them 

 pop in a way they did not like, one 

 day. 



Down below where we were 

 camped, about 4 miles, there was an 

 old bear hunter by the name of Aleck. 

 His other name I never knew, for he 

 would never tell it. He was either 

 English or Scotch, and was a gentle- 

 man. I often thought that at some 

 time he must have handled consider- 

 able money; that he had lost it and 

 had then taken up a hunter's life. One 

 thing certain: he knew what he was 

 about when face to face with " Old 

 Ephraim." Nearly every night, just 

 before going to bed, I was cautioned 

 that if we ever saw a bear I must not 

 shoot at him with that " pop-gun." I 

 had asked Old Aleck's opinion of the 

 44; but he would never give it. My 

 mind was made up that, come what 

 would, if I ever saw a bear, no matter 

 what part — if only the tail — I was go- 

 ing to have the first shot. I looked at 

 it in this light; that if the other 2 could 

 hit a bear in the eye while charging, 

 they were in no danger. 



One morning we were going out to 

 build a dead-fall. It had snowed about 

 2 inches during the night and we 

 struck the fresh trail of Old Ephraim. 

 I asked the other men what we should 

 do. After a little talk we decided to 

 follow it up. As we went along my 

 faith was a little shaken in my pards. 



