Among the Red-skins; Or, Over the Rocky Mountains Read online

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  THREE GRIZZLIES.

  THE START AFTER HUGH--A FOOT-PRINT--FOLLOWING THE TRAIL--ARCHER MEETS AGRIZZLY--A MISS-FIRE--DISCRETION THE BETTER PART OF VALOUR--FAR MOREBEARS--HELP, AND A JOINT ATTACK--HUGH UP IN A TREE--THE RESULT OFDISOBEDIENCE.

  I must now continue my narrative from the evening Hugh was missing.

  The moment we had finished our hurried meal we set out. Sandy, in casewe should be benighted, had procured a number of pine torches, which hestrapped on his back; and Uncle Donald directed Corney and Pierre whocame in as we were starting, to follow, keeping to the right by the sideof the torrent, in case Hugh should have taken that direction.

  Whiskey, Pilot, Muskymote followed closely at our heels--faithfulanimals, ready to drag our sleighs in winter, or, as now, to assist usin our search. We walked on at a rapid rate, and were soon in a wildregion of forests, rugged hills, and foaming streams. As we went alongwe shouted out Hugh's name, and searched about for any signs of hishaving passed that way. At length we discovered in some soft ground afoot-print, which there could be no doubt was his, the toe pointing inthe direction we were going.

  "Now we have found the laddie's trail we must take care not to lose it,"observed Uncle Donald. "It leads towards the very spot where I saw thegrizzly this morning."

  On and on we went. Soon another foot-print, and then a mark on somefallen leaves, and here and there a twig bent or broken off, showed thatwe were on Hugh's trail.

  But the sun had now sunk beneath the western range of mountains, and thegloom of evening coming on would prevent us from tracing our youngcompanion much further. Still, as we should have met him had he turnedback, we followed the only track he was likely to have taken.

  We were approaching the spot where Uncle Donald had seen the bear, neara clump of trees with a thick undergrowth, a rugged hill riding beyond.We were somewhat scattered, hunting about for any traces the waninglight would enable us to discover. I half feared that I should comeupon his mangled remains, or some part of his dress which might show hisfate. I had my rifle, but was encumbered with no other weight, and inmy eagerness, I ran on faster than my companions. I was making my wayamong some fallen timber blown down by a storm, when suddenly I saw riseup, just before me, a huge form. I stopped, having, fortunately, thepresence of mind not to run away, for I at once recognised the animal asa huge grizzly, which had been engaged in tearing open a rotten trunk insearch of insects. I remembered that Uncle Donald had told me, should Iever find myself face to face with a grizzly, to throw up my arms andstand stock still.

  The savage brute, desisting from its employment, came towards me,growling terribly, and displaying its huge teeth and enormous mouth.

  I was afraid to shout, lest it might excite the animal's rage; but Iacted as Uncle Donald had advised me. As I lifted up my rifle andflourished it over my head, the creature stopped for a moment and got upon its hind legs.

  Now or never was my time to fire, for I could not expect to have abetter opportunity, and bringing my rifle, into which I had put abullet, to my shoulder, I took a steady aim and pulled the trigger. Tomy dismay, the cap snapped. It had never before played me such a trick.Still the bear kept looking at me, apparently wondering what I wasabout. Mastering all my nerve, and still keeping my eye fixed on theshaggy monster in front of me, I lowered my rifle, took out another cap,and placed it on the nipple. I well knew that should I only wound thebear my fate would be sealed, for it would be upon me in an instant. Ifelt doubly anxious to hill it, under the belief that it had destroyedmy friend Hugh; but still it was sufficiently far off to make itpossible for me to miss, should my nerves for a moment fail me. As longas it remained motionless I was unwilling to fire, in the hope thatbefore I did so Uncle Donald and Sandy might come to my assistance.

  Having re-capped my rifle, I again lifted it to my shoulder. At thatmoment Bruin, who had grown tired of watching me, went down on allfours. The favourable opportunity was lost; for although I might stilllodge a bullet in its head, I might not kill it at once, and I shouldprobably be torn to pieces. I stood steady as before, though sorelytempted to run. Instead, however, of coming towards me, to my surprise,the bear returned to the log, and recommenced its occupation ofscratching for insects.

  Had it been broad daylight I might have had a fair chance of shootingit; but in the obscurity, as it scratched away among the fallen timber,from which several gnarled and twisted limbs projected upwards, I wasuncertain as to the exact position of its head. Under thecircumstances, I considered that discretion was the better part ofvalour; and feeling sure that Uncle Donald and Sandy would soon come upand settle the bear more effectually than I should, I began slowly toretreat, hoping to get away unperceived. I stepped back verycautiously, scarcely more than a foot at a time, then stopped. As I didso I observed a movement a little distance off beyond the big bear, andpresently, as I again retreated, two other bears came up, growling, tothe big one, and, to my horror, all three moved towards me.

  Though smaller than their mother, each bear was large enough to kill mewith a pat of its paw; and should I even shoot her they would probablybe upon me. Again, however, they stopped, unwilling apparently to leavetheir dainty feast.

  How earnestly I prayed for the arrival of Uncle Donald and Sandy! I hadtime, too, to think of poor Hugh, and felt more convinced than ever thathe had fallen a victim to the ferocious grizzlies. I still dared notcry out, but seeing them again turn to the logs, I began, as before, tostep back, hoping at length to get to such a distance that I might taketo my heels without the risk of being pursued. In doing as I proposed Ivery nearly tumbled over a log, but recovering myself, I got round it.When I stopped to see what the bears were about they were still feeding,having apparently forgotten me. I accordingly turned round and ran asfast as I could venture to go among the trees and fallen trunks, till atlength I made out the indistinct figures of Uncle Donald and Sandy, withthe dogs, coming towards me.

  "I have just seen three bears," I shouted. "Come on quickly, and we maybe in time to kill them!"

  "It's a mercy they did not catch you, laddie," said Uncle Donald, whenhe got up to me. "With the help of the dogs we'll try to kill them,however. Can you find the spot where you saw them?"

  "I have no doubt about that," I answered.

  "Well, then, before we go further we'll just look to our rifles, andmake sure that there's no chance of their missing fire."

  Doing as he suggested, we moved on, he in the centre and somewhat inadvance, Sandy and I on either side of him, the dogs following andwaiting for the word of command to rush forward.

  The bears did not discover us until we were within twenty yards of them,when Uncle Donald shouted to make them show themselves.

  I fancied that directly afterwards I heard a cry, but it might only havebeen the echo of Uncle Donald's voice. Presently a loud growl from therotten log showed us that the bears were still there, and we soon sawall three sitting up and looking about them.

  "Sandy, do you take the small bear on the right; I will aim at the bigfellow, and leave the other to you, Archie; but do not fire until youare sure of your aim," said Uncle Donald. "Now, are you ready?"

  We all fired at the same moment. Sandy's bear dropped immediately, butthe big one, with a savage growl, sprang over the logs and came towardsus, followed by the one at which I had fired.

  Uncle Donald now ordered the dogs, which had been barking loudly, toadvance to the fight; but before they reached the larger bear she fellover on her side, and giving some convulsive struggles, lay apparentlydead. The dogs, on this, attacked the other bear, which, made furiousby its wound, was coming towards us, growling loudly. On seeing thedogs, however, the brute stopped, and sat up on its hind legs, readywith its huge paws to defend itself from their attacks. We all three,meantime, were rapidly reloading, and just as the bear had knocked overWhiskey and seized Muskymote in its paws, Uncle Donald and Sandy againfired and brought it to the ground, enabling Muskymote, sore
ly mauled,to escape from its deadly embrace.

  I instinctively gave a shout, and was running on, when Uncle Donaldstopped me.

  "Stay!" he said; "those brutes play `possum' sometimes, and are not tobe trusted. If they are not shamming, they may suddenly revive and tryto avenge themselves."

  "We'll soon settle that," said Sandy, and quickly reloading, he firedhis rifle into the head of the fallen bear.

  "Have you killed them all?" I heard a voice exclaim, which seemed tocome from the branches of a tree some little distance off.

  I recognised it as Hugh's. "Hurrah!" I shouted; "are you all right?"

  "Yes, yes," answered Hugh, "only very hungry and stiff."

  We quickly made our way to the tree, where I found Hugh safe and sound,and assisted him to descend. He told us that he had fallen in with thebears on his way out, and had just time to escape from them by climbingup the tree, where they had kept him a prisoner all day.

  "I am thankful to get ye back, Hugh. You disobeyed orders, and havebeen punished pretty severely. I hope it will be a lesson to you," wasthe only remark Uncle Donald made as he grasped Hugh's hand. I judged,by the tone of his voice, that he was not inclined to be very angry.

  Having flayed the bears by the light of Sandy's torches, we packed up asmuch of the meat as we could carry, and hung up the remainder with theskins, intending to send for it in the morning. We then, having met theother two men, hastened homewards with Hugh; and I need not say howrejoiced Rose and Madge were to see him back safe.