Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1875 — Carious Bear and Indian Story. [ARTICLE]

Carious Bear and Indian Story.

A curious ,< *bear” story, illustrating the peculiar characteristics of the Indian mind, was that of two Crecs, who, sud denly surprised by a grizzly, ineffectually discharged their guns and rushed to climb the nearest tree for refuge. The tree, as it happened, was a high, naked pole, with but one lateral branch sufficient to support the weight of a man. One Indian was able to rest on this branch, but the other was obliged to save himself from the clutches of the monster by hugging the bare tree trunk in the most painful Eosition, clinging by the hands and nccs. Such a position could not long be endured. The poor fellow’s strength rapidly gave out, and he burst into tears and lamentation at the thought of his wife and children, while the callous wretch above him, in safety, laughed and flouted at his agony. At last the fatal moment came, and he abandoned himself to his fate with stoic resignation. Now, as it chanced, at that very instant the grizzly was in so exact a line beneath that our Indian friend, instead of dashing upon the hard ground, plunged right upon the animal’s back, a catastrophe which 60 astonished the bear that away he rushed in a panic as hard as his legs could carry him. Finding that the enemy had of returning the second Indian after a time decsended, and, resuming their guns, the two proceeded together to the encampment where they both had their home. As they were on the way the unlucky hunter, filled with alarm in anticipating the ridicule he would meet with were his weakness under prospect of death proclaimed to the tribe, exerted himself in the most munificent otfers to his companion in the hope of purchasing his silence ; and he did at length succeed in extracting a promise of secrecy, but only by the sacrifice of everything he {•ossessed in the world of the slightest uxury or value. Stripped of all but the bare necessaries of life the poor fellow could yet be happy—his self-respect was saved. But, as might be imagined, the man who could take so base an advantage of a friend’s misfortune was not likely to prove a trustworthy guardian of the secret he had sworn to preserve. Not many months afterward this worthless villain, as he came staggering through the camp in one of his accustomed fits of drunkenness, began loudly to proclaim the story of his friend’s disgrace, and hold him up to the bitterest contempt and ridicule. The outraged Indian went straight into his tent and armed himself with a loaded gun, then, returning to the place where the knave was uttering his scandals, he took aim at him in sight of all the people, and shot him through nis treacherous heart. —From Adventures on the Saskatthetcan, in Appleton's Journal.