Little Jessie Mitteer and the Bear-Trap
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“I see them coming, Papa,” said little Jessie, who from her position could look back over her father's shoulder, “and, oh, Papa, there are so many of them; you won't let them hurt me, will you?” A scarcely audible groan was the only response.
While every means of escape was being canvassed in the mind of the agonized parent with a rapidity that is possible only in times of great danger, he bethought himself of a bear-trap he had seen in the vicinity but a short time before. Could he reach the trap? It was worth the trial. All that human energy could do he would accomplish. Striking obliquely from the path he bounded away. The door to the trap was raised when he last saw it; if still in that position he believed he could place the child inside and spring the trap; but if the door was down, he knew he would not have time to raise the ponderous weight, and all would yet be lost. It was a forlorn hope at the best.
What is that object looming up directly in his path? It is the bear-trap. But the door! the door! The shadows of the forest render the vision indistinct. He cannot tell whether the door is shut or raised. It appears to be shut. A few more steps will decide. Already he hears the panting of the brutes at his heels, and expects each moment to feel their sharp claws in his flesh. There is a mist before his eyes. He feels that his strength is failing. One moment, and-"Thank God," he cries, “the door is raised.” With a wild energy begotten of despair he tears the terrified child from his breast, thrusts her through the opening, touches the spindle and down comes the ponderous door with a thud. Then seizing an overhanging limb he swung himself up out of reach just as the jaws of the foremost wolf came together as he snapped after his prey.
Jessie Mitteer and the Bear-Trap
Now that the necessity for immediate exertion no longer existed, the reaction was so great that Mr. Mitteer feared he would fall from the tree from sheer exhaustion; to prevent such an occurrence, he tied himself securely with his cravat and handkerchief. All night long the wolves perambulated about that bear-trap and tree, and made the night hideous with their howling. It was a night ever to be remembered by both father and child. They were sufficiently near to one another to converse, so they could cheer each other during the long and tedious hours.
The trap in which little Jessie lay was built so strongly that the largest bear could not get out after it had once sprung the door. The father had told her to keep as near the centre of the pen as she could, and she would be safe. Though out of reach of harm, her position was far from enviable, with the ferocious brutes all around and over her prison, thrusting their nose ands their sharp claws into the crevices between the logs in their frantic efforts to reach her. Morning came at last, but Mr. Mitteer dare not leave his perch for fear their late assailants might yet be lurking in the vicinity.
The people in the village of Liberty where he resided had heard the unusual howling of the wolves during the night, and much anxiety had been felt, as it was feared they were on his track; the wife and mother had been inconsolable. She had spent the whole night in alternately going to the door of her log cabin to listen to the wolves in the forest through which her husband and child were to return, and then throwing herself upon the bed and giving way to violent paroxysms of grief. Before sunrise a party was sent in search of the wanderers. Proceeding along the Hurley road the relieving party hallooed the names of the missing ones, and presently were rewarded with an answer. Then, following up the direction of the sound, they came upon Mr. Mitteer still in the tree, and little Jessie safe and sound in her bear-trap. The wolves had gone, but had left behind abundant evidences of their visit. The father and child were speedily restored to their friends, who had given up all hope of ever seeing them alive. Though Samuel Mitteer lived many years after this occurrence, he ever after exhibited an almost childish terror at the howling of a wolf.
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