Читать книгу The Untamed American Spirit: Historical Novels & Western Adventures - Emerson Hough - Страница 60

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“This weather,” said Uncle Dick, walking toward an open place in the trees and looking up at the bright sky above, “is entirely too fine to suit me. This morning looks as though we would have a warm day, and that means high water. The rock walls in the cañons below here don’t stretch, and a foot of water on a flat like this may mean twenty feet rise in a cañon. And that is where this little band of travelers will all get out and walk.”

Leo, who had been examining his boat, which he had drawn up on the beach to dry overnight, now asked a little time to calk a leak which he had discovered. Meantime the boys concluded it might be a good plan to walk out a little way into an open place and try the sights of their rifles, which they knew would need to be exactly right if they were to engage in such dangerous sport as that of hunting the grizzly bear.

“S’pose you see some small little bear,” said Moise, as they started out, “you shoot ’um. Shoot ’um caribou too, s’pose you see one — law says traveler can kil meat.”

“Well, we’re not apt to see one,” said John, “for we’d scare them when we began to shoot our rifles.”

They had advanced only a few hundred yards from the camp when they found an open place in front of the trees which offered a good opportunity for a rifle-range of two hundred yards.

“I’m not going to fool with my sights,” said Jesse, “because my gun shot all right last night on the grouse. You fellows go ahead.”

Rob and John proceeded with the work of targeting their rifles, firing perhaps a dozen shots apiece in all before they turned to walk back to the camp. As they did so Rob, happening to look back of them, suddenly halted them with a low word. “What’s that?” said he.

An animal large as a two-year-old heifer and wearing short stubs of horns was trotting toward them steadily, as though bound to come directly up to them. So far from being alarmed by the firing, it seemed to have been attracted by it, and really it was only curiosity which brought it up thus to its most dangerous enemy. It had never heard a rifle or seen a human being before in all its life.

“Caribou!” said Rob in a low tone of voice. Even as he spoke John’s rifle rang out, and the other two followed promptly. The stupid beast, now within sixty yards of them, fell dead in less time than it would take to tell of the incident. A moment later the boys stood at its side, excitedly talking together.

“Go back to camp, Jesse,” said Rob, at length, “and tell Moise to come out. John and I will stay and begin to skin out the meat.”

Moise, when he came out from camp, was very much pleased with the results of this impromptu hunt. “Plenty fat meat now,” said he. “That’s nice young caribou, heem.” He fell rapidly to work in his experienced fashion, and in a short time he and George had packed the meat down to the camp and loaded it in the two boats, both of which were now ready for the departure.

“That’s the most obliging caribou I ever heard of,” said Rob, “to walk right into our camp that way. I’ve read about buffalo-hunters in the old times running a buffalo almost into camp before they killed it, to save trouble in packing the meat. But they’d have to do pretty well if they beat this caribou business of ours.”

Leo stood looking at the young hunters with considerable surprise, for he had been very skeptical of their ability to kill any game, and extremely distrustful of their having anything to do with grizzly hunting.

“Plenty caribou this valley,” said he; “big black-face caribou. Heem plenty fool, too. Caribou he don’t bite. But s’pose you’ll see grizzlum bear, you better look out — then maybe you get some scares. S’pose you get some scares, you better leave grizzlum alone.”

“Never mind, Leo,” said Uncle Dick, laughing at him, “let’s not worry about that yet a while. First find your grizzly.”

“Find plenty grizzlum to-morrow, one day, two day,” said Leo. “Not far now.”

They determined to make a good long run that day, and indeed the stage of water aided them in that purpose; but Uncle Dick, as leader of the party, found that Leo and George had very definite ideas of their own as to what constituted a day’s work. When noon came — although neither of them had a watch — they went ashore at a beach and signified their intention of resting one hour, quite as though they were members of a labor-union in some city; so nothing would do but the kettle must be boiled and a good rest taken.

“How’ll you and George get back up this stream, Leo?” inquired Rob, seating himself by the Indians as they lolled on the sand.

“That easy,” said Leo. “We go Revelstruck two, three tam, my cousin and me. Come up Columby those wind behind us all right. Sometam pull boat on rope, mos’ tam pole. Sometam pull ’um up on bush, little bit at time. But when we come on Columby, up Canoe, we get horse fifty miles this side Cranberry Lake and go out on trail. It most easy to go down and not come up.”

“Well, I should say so,” said Rob, “and on the whole I’m glad we don’t have to come back at all.”

“We not come back this way,” said Leo, calmly lighting his pipe.

“But I thought you just said that you did.”

“Not this tam. My cousin and me we go on railroad from Revelstruck west to Ashcroft. Plenty choo-choo wagon Ashcroft near Fort George. At Fort George two, three choo-choo boat nowadays. We get on choo-choo boat and go up to Tête Jaune. That’s more easy. Bime-by railroad, then heap more easy.”

“Well, will you listen to that!” said John, as Leo concluded. “Automobiles and powerboats up in this country, and a railroad coming in a couple of years! It looks to me as though we’d have to go to the north pole next time, if we get anywhere worth while.”

“Bime-by grizzlum,” said Leo, rising after a while and tightening his belt, as he walked down to the boats. “I know two, three good place. We camp this night, make hunt there.”