A CURIOUS BEAR STORY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1051, 18 June 1884, Page 5

A CURIOUS BEAR STORY.

George Swift, a ranchman in the Grand Valley, tells a story which shows how unenviable is the life of a stock raiser in that wilderness. A short time ago Mr Swift left his three year old daughter ride upon his horse and after he had ridden about forty rods from home he lifted her off the animal and told her to run home. On returning about an hour later he found that she had not reached home, and going to the place where he bad last seen her, he found nerjjtracks in the sand. A posse was formed, and all night was spent in searching for the lost child.

In the morning when the searchers were passing a swampy spot where the undergrowth was thick they heard her voice. They called to the little girl to come out of the bushes, but she replied that the bear would not let her. The men then crept through the bush, and when near the spot heard a splash in the water, which the child said was the bear. They found her standing upon a log extending half way across the swamp and it seemed as though the bear had undertaken to cross the swamp, on the log, and, being pursued, left the child and got away as rapidly as possible. She had received some scratches about the face, arms and legs, and her clothes were almost torn from her body but the bear bad not bitten her to hurt her, only the marks of his teeth being found upon her back, where he had taken hold of her clothes to carry her. The child told her rescuers that the bear had put her down occasionally to rest, and would put his nose up to her face, whereupon she would slap him and he would hang his head by her and purr and rub against her like a cat. Her father asked her if she had been cold during the night, and she told him that the old bear lay beside her and put his " arms " around her and kept her warm. — Corr. " Glasgow Herald."