The voice told it was no bear

By Mrs. Alfred Pike
Charleston

It happened one night in October, more than forty years ago. It was a beautiful night, the full moon was barely visible through a thick haze which hung around. By the roadside dead grasses and the fallen leaves gave plain evidence that summer was over, - summer with all its bright colors and gorgeous beauty had spent itself and was gone.

On a night like this, to one who admired the beauties of Nature, there came a pang of loneliness at its departure much like saying goodbye to a dear friend.

In a humble Newfoundland cottage there stood by the window a man and his wife, who having put the children to bed with lights out continued to gaze out over the meadow. Every little tree and object along the garden path looked like a weird ghost out for a frolic in the moonlight. A short distance away a young calf nibbled a way at a few more straws as a bedtime snack. She was lilywhite and showed up plainly against a somewhat dark background.

"I wonder if she is safe out there", the man said to his wife, "or should I let her in the barn. There is danger of a bear coming out any night now to make the attack."

"Well," said the wife, "it would be an awful misfortune to us if the bear killed her but, she has been out nights all along and nothing happened so I guess she is all right tonight."

So saying they retired for the night. About an hour later the wife awoke to the shrill bellowing of the calf and called her husband.

"It must be the bear," they both exclaimed at once, and while the calf's cries continued they scrambled out of bed and looking out the window saw to their horror the white calf being held by a black object (presumably a bear). There was no time to lose. "Get my boots;" said the man "while I get the gun," and in less than a minute he was gone through the door intent on killing the nasty intruder.

By now the bear had apparently dragged its victim across the field and stopped beside the brook; which ran through the garden; only a part of the white calf being visible as the big black object holding her had nearly covered her, so that only a small part showed up in the not-so-clear noonlight.

By now the calf has ceased her loud bellowing, and the wife, thinking her husband would be too late to save it called out, "She must be killed I believe." Meanwhile, her husband had crept along the path and was only a few yards from the bear. His wife, standing on the platform of their house, called to him to shoot before the bear sprang on him.

He then prepared to shoot and taking good aim, was about to pull the trigger when a voice distinctly spoke: "Say who is there?" Pausing, again he heard the same clear words, "Say who is there?" and as if some immortal power had taken possession of his speech he called out, "Who is there?"

When no answer came, for a second time, not knowing why, he called out again, "Who is there?"

Immediately the answer came. "It is I, Ensign Snow (S.A.), trying to clear your calf."

Frightened almost beyond words, the man finally breathed out, "You came very near to being shot."

"But," he said, "you wouldn't shoot me would you?" Clearly unaware of the danger he had been in. Whereupon his friend explained to him how he mistaken him for a bear causing the loud bawls from the calf.

In turn he (Snow) too, told the reason for holding the calf. He had been attracted by the animal's cries while passing along the road; jumped over the fence and found it entangled in some barbed wire, which had been left in a corner of the yard. The rescuer finally stopped her after she had dragged the wire some distance. He was in the act of trying to pacify the animal when the man with the gun crept upon the scene with one purpose in mind, to shoot him for a bear.

Other men, upon hearing the uproar, came with gun in hand, hoping they too could share in the slaughter, but were shocked to learn the supposed bear had been nothing less than a human being.

Months later, Ensign Snow again visited the settlement and surveyed the spot where one night he came so close to death, and stopped to marvel at the miracle that saved his life.

Last Modified: Friday, 06-Aug-2010 11:43:19 NDT