Читать книгу The Untamed American Spirit: Historical Novels & Western Adventures - Emerson Hough - Страница 62

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So excited were our young hunters over their first bear-hunt that they scarcely slept at all that night. It was a very merry party which sat late about the little camp-fire high up in the mountains. Their camp was rather a bivouac than a regular encampment, but they now scorned any discomfort, and, indeed, exulted in their primitive condition.

“Now, Leo,” said Uncle Dick, “what do you think about these boys as hunters?”

“One boy heap shoot,” grunted Leo. “Kill ’um one bear when mans along. Don’t know about other boys.”

“But let me tell you they have killed bear before now, and big ones, too. Why, two years ago, up in Alaska, all by themselves, they killed a Kadiak bear a good deal bigger than this one whose hide we have here for our mattress to-night.”

“Yes, and last year up on the Peace River we helped kill a big grizzly,” added Jesse, “only Alex MacKenzie was along, and he shot, too.”

“But this time, Leo,” continued Uncle Dick, “you must admit that only one shot was fired, even if we were in the woods near by.”

“That’s all right,” admitted Leo, who still felt aggrieved at the humiliation of not being allowed to use his own rifle in the bear-hunt. “S’pose only one bear, and only one boy, what then?”

“Well, in that case the best thing the bear could do would be to run away. As I told you, a rifle will shoot just as hard for a boy as for a man if the boy knows how to hold it.”

“Did you ever have a bear come at you, Leo?” inquired Rob.

“Sometam bear come, not many,” said he, indifferently. “Sometam bear get scared, not know which way he’s ron — then people say he’s got mad.”

“And didn’t you ever get scared yourself, Leo?” inquired Jesse.

“Too much kill ’um bear long time for me to get scare’,” said Leo, proudly. “Kill ’um more bear pretty soon,” added he, pointing over to the steep country on the other side of the valley.

“Well, I was just thinking,” said Uncle Dick, “we could very likely get more bear. But why? Some one will have to go down to camp and carry this hide, or else take word to the other men to come up and get it. Besides, this isn’t the only bear valley in the country. What do you say, boys? Shall we stay up here, or go back and run on down the river farther?”

The boys were silent for a time. “Now, Uncle Dick,” said John, at last, “no matter where you are, you’re always in a hurry to get somewhere else. It’s pretty hard to climb up into the real bear country even when you get near to it. Now here we are, already up, and we know that this is good bear country. We would only lose time if we hunted up any other country lower down.”

“That’s very well reasoned, John. What do you say, Jesse?”

“Well, I don’t see any good in working the men too hard packing the stuff up from a main camp anywhere else. The devil’s-clubs stick a fellow a good deal. Besides, here we are.”

“And you, Rob?”

Rob looked for a time up at the clouded sky, bright with innumerable stars. “Well,” said he, “it certainly does look as though we were going to have clearer weather. And if so, we will have higher water. I stuck a stick in a bank for a water-mark yesterday, and I’m just wondering how much the river has risen since then.”

“Precisely, and that’s well reasoned, too. You see, I don’t want to take any more chances running these rivers than I have to.”

“How far is it to the Columbia from here, Leo?” inquired Rob.

“Half-day ron — whole day, don’t know. S’pose water all right.”

“Exactly,” rejoined the leader of the party. “We don’t know how long the water will stay all right. Every day we run puts that much behind us. And I want to tell you all that the danger of hunting these grizzlies is nothing at all compared to the risk of running the upper Columbia when the rise is on. I’ve tried both, and I know.”

John protested at this. “Well, Rob has got his bear, but, you see, Jess and I haven’t had a shot yet — though I don’t suppose that is why Rob is willing to go.”

“No, that isn’t the reason,” commented Rob, quietly.

Uncle Dick thought for a time. “Well, I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” said he, at length. “We’ll stay at least one more day and hunt here to-morrow. Then if we don’t have any luck to-morrow we’ll run on down and have a look at the Columbia, and if she isn’t too bad we’ll stop at some good country below — say on Nagel Creek, down the bend.”

“That seems fair,” assented John; and Jesse also said he would vote the same way.

“How about you, Leo?” inquired Uncle Dick.

“Me not ’fraid of any water,” replied the courageous Indian. “I like stay here. Most best grizzlum country of anywhere. Down below too much timber. Plenty black bear, not so much grizzlum. Not many place where you’ll get grizzlum now. This plenty good place.”

“Agreed,” said Uncle Dick. “I think you all reason pretty well, and am convinced that we could spend another day here to good advantage. And now, Rob, since you got your bear, I think I’m going to send you down to camp in the morning for Moise and George. They can carry down the hide and some of the other stuff which will have to go down.”

“All right,” said Rob. “I’m not afraid. The only risky place is on the snow-slide at the side-hill. Then you go right down in the creek-valley and follow that to the camp.”

“Very well. That will leave the other two boys to make a hunt to-morrow, and if they have as good luck as you have had we certainly will have more hides in camp.”

With this arrangement already made, they at length turned to the little tent, where their blankets and the big hide of the bear made some sort of a bed for them.

At an early hour of the morning they had finished their breakfast, and Rob was ready to take the trail back to the camp.

“Well, so-long, Rob,” said John. “We’re going to try to kill as big a bear as you got. You’re not afraid to go back through the woods, are you?”

“Certainly not,” said Rob; “I have my ax, and my compass, and my match box, and a little something to eat, besides my rifle. I might be able to get clear through to the railroad or back to Tête Jaune if I had to. But I’ll not have to. So-long.”

“That’s good boy,” said Leo, approvingly, after Rob left and as they saw his sturdy figure trudging steadily onward toward the shoulder of the mountain.

“They’re all good boys,” replied Uncle Dick. “I’m going to make hunters out of all of’em. And now, just as a part of their education, they’ll all help us to flesh out this bear-hide.”

Jesse, hunting around on the side of the mountain, found a bit of coarse stone which John and he used as a whetstone to sharpen up their knives. They knew well enough that work on the coarse surface of a bear-hide dulls a knife very quickly. It was an hour or two before their leader was satisfied with the preparation of the big hide.

“I wish we had more salt,” said he; “but as it happens Moise has put in a little tin of pepper, and pepper is very good to use around the ears and nose of a fresh bear-hide. The main thing is to flesh the hide carefully, and to skin out all the thick parts around the ears and nose very carefully indeed. Then you dry the hide — not in the bright sunlight, but in the shade — and never let it get near a fire. Some hides get grease-burned from bad fleshing and bad drying. I think this one’ll do all right, though, for we made a pretty good job at scraping it down.”

“Plenty all right now,” said Leo. “Go hunt.”

“Which way next, Leo?” inquired John.

Leo pointed up the valley. “Plenty slide farther up. S’pose we stay here three, four days, get plenty grizzlum. Best tam late in day. Maybe-so get ’um now, maybe-so not. Don’t know.”

“Yes,” said John; “it’s too bad we have to start back to camp in just the best part of the day. But we’ve agreed to do that, so all we can do is to do our best. I suppose bears do sometimes come out before evening?”

“Once in a while,” said Uncle Dick, “a bear will come out on the slide just to look around, as I’ve told you. There are no absolute rules about it. They don’t like the sun any too well, but sometimes there is a heap of snow on a slide, usually near the foot of it, and I’ve seen two or three bears at once come out and lie down on the snow to get cool. Then sometimes they like to go out where they can get a bare rock to scratch themselves against. Besides that, I don’t suppose all the bears get hungry at just the same time, and come out on the slide when they hear a dinner-bell ring. Take it all in all, grizzly-hunting is about as hard to classify as anything you’ll find. It’s one thing that would make a man believe in luck, good or bad. Anyhow, we’ll go and try our luck.”

On their way up the valley they had to wade their little stream once more, but at this hour of the day it was not very wide or deep, although it certainly was very cold.

“Me know one slide,” said Leo, after a time, “very old slide, not steep. Plenty gopher on that slide. Dig in dirt. Grizzlum he like eat gopher. Sometam he come there and dig gopher most all day. Maybe-so ketch ’um grizzlum there.”

“That’s mighty well reasoned, Leo,” said Uncle Dick, approvingly. “You see, boys, why Leo is such a successful grizzly-hunter — he is a good observer, and he knows the habits of animals, and why animals have such or such habits. To be a good hunter you’ve got to be a good student.”

When at last they had reached the upper end of the flat valley in which the many branches of their little creek wandered tricklingly, Leo pulled up alongside a dead log and signified that they would stop there for a time while observing the slides on each side of the valley. From this point they had an excellent view of a great mountain series opening out beyond. And as they were commenting on the beauty of this prospect there came to them one of the experiences of mountains which not very many men have known.

They heard a heavy, rumbling sound, yet faint, like thunder in the distance. Then slowly they saw a spot on one side of the valley, some four or five miles distant, grow misty and white, as though a heavy cloud were forming.

“Look yonder!” exclaimed Uncle Dick. “That’s a snow-slide, boys, and lucky enough we are that we’re not under it. It’s a big one, too.”

They sat silent, listening to the dull voice of the avalanche. The great mass of snow which lay on the steep mountainside had begun to loosen at the rim-rock as the snow melted and began to trickle under the edges. Gradually the surface of the ground, moistened under the snow this way, began to offer less and less hold to the snow which was piled above it. Little by little the upper region of the snow-field began to drop and settle down, growing heavier and heavier on the supporting snow beneath, until finally, under the increasing weight above, it had given way along the whole surface of the mountain, a half-mile or more in extent.

It chanced that at the foot of the slide — that is to say, at the edge of the valley — there was a tall cliff, or rock wall, and over this precipice all the mass of snow now was pouring, driven with such mighty force against this wall of rock at its foot that it broke into fine particles more like mist than snow. In a vast cascade it poured down and out over the valley, making one of the most wonderful spectacles a man could see anywhere in the mountains.

“There are rocks and trees going down in that cloud of snow, very likely,” said Uncle Dick, “but you can’t see them. That’s how Leo gets his bear-hunting country made for him — eh, Leo?”

Leo grinned, but sat watching the snow-slide more indifferently than the others, the work of the great forces of nature being accepted as a matter of course in his philosophy. The others, however, could not repress their wonder. The slide ran for several minutes, sometimes subsiding and then breaking out in full force again, as the vast mass of snow, dammed up by the edge of the rock wall, would from time to time assume such proportions that the snow behind it finally drove it forward over the brink. Thus in successive cascades it ran on, until at last it died away in a faint dribble of thin white. Silence once more reigned in the valley. With their glasses they could now plainly see a vast mass of white choking the upper valley almost entirely across.

“Now, boys,” said their leader, “there is something in this mountain work besides just hunting bear. The people who live in the lowlands don’t always stop to think very much where their rivers come from and what keeps them up. Here you have seen the birth of a river, or a part of a river. That mass of packed snow will lie there nearly all summer, just melting a little bit at times, and feeding this stream which runs right past us here. Still farther back in the mountains you’ll see the glaciers — great ice-fields which never thaw out completely. These are the upper sponges of the mountains, squeezed each year by the summer sun. That is why the rivers run and keep on running.”

“It’s wonderful to me,” said Jesse. “I’m glad we saw that — and glad, too, that we weren’t camped right where it came down.”

“Yes,” assented his uncle. “In that case there would have been no possible help for us. But good hunters in the high country always take care not to pitch their camp where a slide can possibly come down on them. We wouldn’t have been more than so many straws under that mass of snow and rocks.”

They sat for some time in the bright morning sun, their wet clothing gradually becoming dryer upon them as they moved about a little now and then, or resumed their wait with Leo on the log. The young Indian sat motionless, apparently indifferent to all discomforts, and with no interest in anything except the controlling impulse of the hunt. His keen eye roved from time to time over all the faces of the slides near them in the valley, especially the one directly in front of them at the right. Presently they noted that he was gazing intently for some time at one spot, although he said nothing.

“Do you see anything, Leo?” asked John, idly.

“Yes, see ’um four bears, grizzlum,” said Leo, quietly.

At once all the others started into interest. “Where are they, Leo?” demanded Jesse. “I can’t see them.”

“Four grizzlum,” reaffirmed Leo, quietly. “Up high. Up high, two; more low, two.”

Indeed, at last they saw that the hunter was not mistaken. There were four bears all at once on the surface of the slides, but they were almost concealed by the tall vegetation which in places had grown upon it.

“He’ll go dig pretty soon now,” said Leo. “Ketch ’um gopher.”

“You’re mistaken, Leo,” said Uncle Dick, “about two of those bears. I can see them all plainly with the glasses now, and those lowest down in the brush are black bears. The upper ones are grizzlies, and mighty good ones, too.”

“Oh, ho!” said Leo. “No see ’um good at first. Yes, two black bear — he won’t go close to grizzlum. Him scare’ of grizzlum. Me no like ’um black bear there. S’pose we go after grizzlum, them little black bear, he’ll ron off and scare grizzlum.”

They sat watching the bears from their place in the middle of the valley. The largest one began to advance deliberately toward the middle of the slide, where they could see little heaps of yellow earth thrown up by the burrowing gophers. The bear would look at these idly and paw at them curiously now and then, but it was some time before he began to dig in earnest.

The second grizzly, lower down on the slide, went earnestly to work, and apparently was interested in something which he thought was underneath a certain large rock. They later found that this rock must have weighed three or four hundred pounds at least, although they saw where the bear, putting his mighty forearm under it, had rolled it out of its bed as easily as though it had been a pebble. There is no animal in the world more powerful for its size than the mountain grizzly.

Leo continued to express his dislike of the little black bears.

“S’pose grizzlum ketch plenty gopher, he stay sometam. We heap shoot ’um. But me no like ’um black bears. No get around ’um; they ron off sure.”

“Well, we’ll wait awhile,” said Uncle Dick, “and see what’ll happen.”

“Just look at them!” exclaimed Jesse, who was using the glasses now. “They’re playing like children, those little black bears.”

They could see that these two smaller bears were apparently out more for a lark than anything else. They would lie down sometimes flat on the ground like dogs, or sit up in all kinds of awkward attitudes and scratch themselves, first with one foot and then another. Sometimes they would start off and gallop aimlessly for quite a distance, then, turning, would run full tilt into each other and, standing up on their hind legs, would box like men. At this sport one bear seemed to be the better, and sometimes would land so hard a cuff on his comrade as to knock the latter rolling down the hill, in which case the aggrieved one, recovering himself, with ears laid back would run up once more at his antagonist and resume the half-playful combat.

The two big grizzlies, stately and dignified, paid no attention to these antics, but went on with their own employment of digging for breakfast. Sometimes they would stand motionless, looking out over the country, then leisurely go back to their digging. If they saw the black bears they did not pay any attention to them.

At last the two little bears became either bolder or more careless, and began to work higher up the slide. Then the nearest grizzly, his mane erect on his shoulders, and head down, made a sort of short run at them, half carelessly and indifferently, as though he held them in contempt. At this both the black bears turned tail and galloped off lumberingly into the forest, and were seen no more.

Leo, with a short grunt, arose and reached for his rifle. He made a quick motion with his arm for the others to follow, and set out in the direction which would put him downwind from the game. In order to reach the proper side of the slide they had to walk in full view in the open valley, directly below the two bears, but Leo seemed to be not in the least uneasy about this.

“Grizzlum not see ’um very good,” said he. “He can’t look half-mile. Smell ’um very good.”

When they reached the edge of the timber and made ready for the climb up the side of the slide, the Indian turned inquiringly to Uncle Dick and patted his rifle on the stock. “S’pose two bear, grizzlum?” he said.

“All right, Leo,” said Uncle Dick; “you’re in on this hunt with the rest of us. We’ll all load our rifles here. Now, John, you go on with Leo, and take the grizzly highest up. He’s maybe the biggest; I don’t know. Jesse and I will stop opposite the bear which is lowest down and wait till you get in reach of yours. When you do, open up, and we’ll shoot as soon as we see ours. The slide is narrow up there, and they’ll be under cover in forty yards. There are two robes too good to lose, and we’ll all just take a hand in stopping them.”

“I’d like to kill one all by myself the way Rob did,” said Jesse, although it must be admitted he was just a trifle pale.

“Maybe you will,” said his uncle. “But any hunter has to take a bear just as he finds his chance. It’s always best for two men to go up together on a grizzly, no matter how good a hunter either may be. It isn’t often that you get as good a chance as Rob had on his bear. You leave that to Leo and me. And, Leo, mind now, give your boy the first shot at the bear if it’s a possible thing to do it. I’ll do the same way with Jesse.”

They began now their steady climb under cover, sometimes in the edge of the forest, and sometimes on the face of the slide itself. They were surprised to see that what had appeared to be a flat green slope was really a very steep one, and covered in some places with bushes much higher than their heads, with tall, rank shrubs and early vegetation of many sorts. Leo, as good a grizzly-hunter as could have been found in all the west, was allowed to lead the way, and he took good care never to get within sight of the game or to allow the wind to blow from him toward the bears. He climbed so fast that the others had much difficulty in keeping up with him. But at length, making a swift detour in the forest, he paused and raised a hand.

They could hear now the whining, grumbling voice of the grizzly, as though he were complaining about his poor luck with the gophers, now and then a grunt of anger or disgust as he tugged at some rock. They knew this to be the larger bear, the one higher up the hillside. Leo pointed that way and caught John by the arm, motioning to Uncle Dick and Jesse to advance straight toward the slide in their position.

Without hesitation John dropped in behind his guide; and Jesse, whether or not he felt any trace of fear, in turn followed his own leader. Thus for the moment the two parties were separated.

In a few moments Leo and John were at the edge of their cover. The Indian caught the boy roughly by the arm, at the same time cocking his own gun. They were in the edge of a little poplar thicket which jutted out from the pine forest upon the slide. Leo would have preferred to get above his bear, as all good hunters do, but saw that the cover above would not be so good. Now, as John stepped to the edge of the thicket he saw the great grizzly directly above him, not thirty yards away up the slope.

At the same instant also the bear saw the hunters. He stood looking down at them, champing his jaws like a big hog and making no motion either offensive or defensive. John reached one hand back to quiet Leo, who had given him a strong dig in the back. Then quickly he raised his rifle and fired. It was impossible to restrain the Indian much longer, and his shot was so close to John’s that they sounded almost like one, although John really was first to hit the bear.

The mark was easy enough for any one of any sort of steadiness, for the bear stood with his broad breast full toward them. John’s bullet, as they found, struck fair enough and ranged deep into the great body, while Leo’s landed on one shoulder. It is possible neither shot would have knocked the bear down, but any bear, when hit, will drop. This one, with an angry roar which could have been heard half a mile, let go and came down directly toward them, rolling and clawing, biting at itself, and struggling to catch its footing. John fired again, and to his shame be it said that this time his bullet went wild. At his side, however, Leo, brave as a soldier, stood firm, rapidly working the lever of his own rifle. John recovered presently and joined in. In a few seconds, although it seemed long to the younger hunter, their double fire had accounted for the grizzly, which rolled over and expired very close to them, its body caught in its descent by two or three trees.

Meantime — although John declared he never had heard it — there came from below the roar of the rifles of Jesse and Uncle Dick. The second bear, perhaps more wary than its mate or perhaps warmer from its digging, had left the open space and taken shelter in a little clump of green bushes close to the point where the two hunters approached the slide. When the sound of firing began above, this bear, much excited, began to plunge wildly this way and that inside the clump of bushes. At last it broke cover almost upon Jesse, who was standing in front.

“Shoot!” called Uncle Dick, in quick command; and Jesse fired, almost without aim, into what seemed a great gray mass which ran as though directly over him. Almost at the same instant Uncle Dick fired also and then, like their companions above, they both fired rapidly as they could until their bear also at last lay quiet, but dangerously close at hand.

Uncle Dick pushed back his hat and wiped his forehead, looking at Jesse half quizzically. “Son,” said he, “it’s lucky we both were here. That bear was either badly scared or good and angry. It meant business, I believe, and it’s a lucky thing we stopped it when we did.”

Jesse put his rifle to the ground and stood trembling all over. “Well, Uncle Dick,” said he, “I don’t know whether or not the bear was scared, but I know I am right now.”

“It’s just as well to be honest,” said his uncle, putting a hand kindly on his shoulder. “Any man has a right to be anxious in as close a corner as this.”

They heard the loud hallo of John now, a little way above them; and presently Leo came slipping down toward them, smiling broadly.

“Kill ’um two bear!” said he. “Plenty good hunt, eh?” He looked at the little heap of empty shells lying so close to the dead bear.

“Two grizzlum, both fight,” said he. “Bad bear. Heap shoot ’um.”

“And I’m mighty glad we’re no worse off,” said Uncle Dick, when in turn they had passed from one of the great grizzlies to the other. “And, speaking of luck, you boys certainly have had it in every way. Leo, it looks to me as though you put us up almost too close on these bears.”

“No see ’um from trees,” said Leo. “I like shoot ’um bear close up. Heap shoot ’um. This boy he heap shoot ’um too.”

“All is well that ends well,” said their leader. “Now here we are again, with two big bear-hides to get down out of these mountains. Are you satisfied, boys — good and plenty satisfied?”

“I should say so,” said Jesse, smiling; and they all laughed at him.

“I don’t know that I ever knew of a better hunt,” said Uncle Dick, at last, looking approvingly at the two bears. They had rolled and pulled the upper bear down to the lower, so that they now lay side by side. “Three bears like this in two days is certainly considerable hunting. These are big as Rob’s bear. The robes are prime, too, and not rubbed to amount to anything — one dark silver tip and one gray fellow. You can’t ever tell what color a grizzly is going to have or what he is going to do.”

They fell to work now, each party skinning out its own bear, a task which kept them employed for some time.

“We’d better kill the next bears closer to the foot of the slide,” said Jesse, laughing. “Then we won’t have to carry the skins so far.”

“A good idea,” assented his uncle. “I’m telling you, a full-sized grizzly-hide, green, is all a strong man can pack.”

“We’ll not try to carry them down to the main camp, will we?” inquired Jesse.

“Indeed, no. We’ll be lucky if we make it back to last night’s camp down the valley. There’s a bare chance that we may meet Moise and George there. They won’t know where we are, unless they heard us shooting.”

Leo came up to them at about this time, and stood looking at Jesse’s bear for some time. “S’pose me get ’um two twenty dollar, now?” said he, looking at Uncle Dick. The latter looked at him quizzically for a time, rubbing his chin with a finger.

“Well, Leo,” said he, “you’re a pretty good business man as well as a good grizzly-hunter. So you want to cash in on our bear, do you? All right; I feel so good about it that I’ll just go you — you shall have twenty dollars a head for these bears — and sixty dollars in two days, besides your wages, ought to leave you and your cousin George pretty well satisfied, eh?”

“Yes, feel heap good,” said Leo, grinning. “Buy plenty flour now. Plenty grub on Fort George.”

“You’re no better satisfied than we are, my friend,” rejoined the white hunter. Leo extended his hand, and they shook hands all around.

“I’m willing to go on down the river now,” said John; and Jesse smiled his assent.

With some labor they squared the two hides into a portable pack, one for each of the men, binding them into place with bits of thongs which each carried at his belt. Then, using their belts as tump-straps, Leo and Uncle Dick shouldered their heavy loads and started down the mountain.