BATTLE WITH A BEAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 16

BATTLE WITH A BEAR.

FIGHT IN LONELY CABIN. A CANADIAN ADVENTURE. A bear skin hide that is at present on its way to a taxidermist shop at Edmonton, tbe capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, carries with it a strange tale to account for the slashings and bullet holes it contains. Neil Allen, forest ranger, who is outfitting preparatory to returning to his territory at 'Cadomin, tells the story of how it was procured. Near Mary Grepg Lake, in the mountains to the south of tbe railway and to the east of the boundary of Jasper Park, he had partly constructed a cabin. One night, in company with Walter AA'rigley, a lad of 16, also from Cadomin. he took shelter under the tar paper which he had hung upon its frame to exclude the snow that was commencing to fall. At about 2 a.m. he was awakened by a movement at the foot of his blanket*, which be took to be that of a porcupine. His rifle, a .32 special, lying handy at bis head, be prepared, to rid himself of a current nuisance of tbe trail. He felt a large bulk move in the dark, for the cabin was no larger than a small room, and soon deckled that he had something larger than a porcupine with which to deal. The bear made a heavy lurch towards the door to escape, but the canvas and the high sill which had permitted a cautious entry forbade an impetuous exit. He became badly entangled in his inability to get outside. Allen fired the first shot as the animal stood up on his haunches before the door. It passed through the neck, sending the blood into bruin's windpipe in quantities that almost throttled him. He commenced a wide pilgrimage around the restricted interior after being wounded, until, of the seven shots fired at him, one took effect, placing him "hors de combat" behind the stove, which, with a final shove of his back foot, he threw on to the blankets. So close had he been that his fur was singed, in spots, with the flame of the discharge. Meanwhile, Wrigley had not been idle. His rifle, a .303, lay under the blankets. After the firing of the five rounds in the magazine the bedclothes were fully alight, the smoke adding to the general confusion arising from the rifle reports and the laboured cries of the bear. The intruder into the cabin was quieted forever when, while he was still vainly struggling to regain his feet behind the upturned stove, Allen, realising that his magazine w-as empty and that the bear if he uprose again would have him at his mercy, slashed him deeply with his hunting knife. Pieces of bannock on the floor, visible after the fray, explained the visit of the four-footed robber. Had the first shot not been as effective as it proved in making the animal wild and blind wi£h pain, the struggle might have had an entirely different ending. As it was, a marauder of the trappers" cabins in the Mountain Park vicinity for years received its inevitable reward.