

FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 
knees. Pat and I yelled a hole in the air, 
but the echo had scarcely died away when 
Jack and the deer got into rough and tumble 
and were soon coming like the wind straight 
down the bar, nearly opposite where Joe was 
standing. Once more Joe’s gun _ belched 
forth and the forked horn went all heels up, 
that time for good. . 
We got a long rope from the camp and 
after an hour’s hard work had him hung 
up. The first shot had struck him in the 
fleshy part of the neck; the one that did the 
business landed just behind the shoulders. 
He was a 4 point buck and the fat on his 
back was as thick as my hand. 
= F. C. Godley, Drain, Ore. 

FOUR SHOTS, FOUR BEARS. 
EDWARD BARNEY, 
I am a farmer living near Hubbard’s 
lake in Alpena county, Michigan. I set out 
May roth to go to Alpena on business and 
when 4 miles from home was startled by a 
noise in the bushes by the roadside, which 
I supposed might be caused by deer. Al- 
though unarmed, I stopped. Presently I 
saw 4 bears, a mother and 3 cubs, not more 
than to feet distant. The mother instantly 
rose to her hind feet, prepared for battle, 
growling ferociously to frighten me away. 
The cubs scampered up a large hemlock. 
- I backed off about 6 rods. Then the 
mother started away, calling her children 
to follow. At this I advanced to the tree. 
She charged me and I retreated. So, be- 
tween advance and retreat in alternation, 
we kept busy an hour, both never being 
in the advancing mood at the same mo- 
ment. 
At last I heard a team passing on a road 
80 rods distant, and ran rapidly to inter- 
cept it. I succeeded in doing so, sent for a 
rifle and then hurried back to the tree.’ 
Much to my gratification I was in time. 
The cubs were still among the branches. 
Many times the old bear tried to drive me 
away, but I returned to sentry duty as 
‘soon as she retired to resume her calling 
tactics. 
When 2 hours of this charge and re- 
treat had passed, Alf Robbins came with a 
rifle and 3 companions. They scared the 
mother away. Alf and I shot one of the 
cubs, which cried out, bringing the mother 
back instantly to its relief. Alf's compan- 
ions climbed trees at this juncture. The 
mother climbed into the tree with her cubs. 
We tried to get a shot at her but’ failed, 
and she presently came down and went 
away. We shot another cub and she came 
back, but again retired unhurt. 
It was then too dark to see to shoot the 
last cub, so we built a fire at the root of the 
tree and Alf and I stayed there all night; 
the others came down from their trees and 
365 
went home. We kept plunging around, re- 
plenishing the fire, and were from time to 
time visited by the unhappy mother, but 
not attacked. We intended to keep watch 
all night, but at last we lay down, just to 
stretch our limbs and rest, and, as might 
have been foreseen, both fell fast asleep. 
The fire was almost dead when Alf, star- 
tled by a crash in the brush near, sprang 
to his feet and yelled to me: 
“The fire is dying and the bear is here! 
Start a blaze quick!” 
I did as directed, and as the flames 
sprang up the mother bear fled once more. 
At daybreak we killed the remaining cub. 
‘In an instant the mother was upon us, and, 
getting a chance, we finished her, too. 

ON A CALIFORNIA SLIDE. 
As the deer season opened July 15th, our 
company of 5, all expert riflemen, started up 
the San Gabriel canyon early in the morn- 
ing of July 14th. When about half way up 
the canyon we discovered that the moun- 
tains were on fire not far ahead. Soon we 
met a Government ranger from Rincon who 
furnished us tools and took us to the top of 
the mountain where we went to work to 
help put out the fire. It covered about I00 
acres, but in 4 hours we succeeded in check- 
ing the flames. After there was no more 
danger of the fire’s breaking out again we 
started on, reaching our camp-ground late 
in the evening. 
The next morning we saw plenty af 
signs of deer. I became separated from my 
friends and forced to cross a dangerous 
slide about 200 feet high. Being a tender- 
foot, I was unable to get either way. I 
struggled hard to get a foothold and tried 
to brace myself with my gun. For a while 
it seemed as if I would surely be carried 
down over the precipice below. I was al- 
most ready to drop my gun and canteen 
when I saw, not far ahead, a rock embedded 
in the gravel, so I made a desperate effort 
to reach it, in the hope that should it give 
way it would leave a cavity where I could 
brace myself long enough to reconnoiter. 
It proved to be firm, so I remained braced 
against it until I could make a lunge for 
another rock and some brush a few feet 
farther on. My legs were trembling and 
so fatigued they would scarcely hold my 
weight, when my friends came back to hunt 
for me. They helped me out and we started 
to reach the river. We scrambled down a 
steep precipice and through thick brush, 
sometimes crawling over and sometimes 
creeping under. It was not long until we 
came to a little canyon, which we followed 
until we reached the falls. At first it 
seemed dangerous to attempt to make the 
descent, but it was too late to go back and 
we finally succeeded in climbing down by 
