Part 36 (1/2)

”Take it easy, Mr. Grinder,” said d.i.c.k kindly. ”You are safe now.”

”But the bear! Where is the bear?” murmured the dazed man.

”There is no bear here.”

”He is after me! He wants to chew me up!”

With this Jasper Grinder relapsed into unconsciousness once more.

”I reckon a b'ar chased him and he lost his reckonin',” was John Barrow's comment. ”Bring him up to the fire. He wants warmin'.”

Yet, with all the care they were able to bestow, it was a good hour before Jasper Grinder was able to sit up and relate what had occurred to him. He was very hungry, and eagerly disposed of every sc.r.a.p of food they had to offer him.

”I have been lost in the timber since yesterday,” he said. ”Oh, it was awful, the wind and the snow, and the intense cold. Sometimes I could not feel my feet, and I knew I was freezing to death. And I hadn't a mouthful to eat!”

”But where are the others?” questioned d.i.c.k.

”I don't know--back to that cave, I suppose. We were out looking for some trace of--ahem--of Tom and Sam, when I became separated from the others. Then, in trying to find my way back to the cave, I fell in with a big black bear. The ugly creature came after me, and I ran for my life, through the brushwood and the snow, until I came to a cliff. I fell over this, landed on an icy slope, and rolled and rolled until I struck the river. Then I got up and tried to get back to the cave, but it was out of the question. I found an opening in the cliff, on going back, and remained there until morning, when that bear, or another like him, roused me and caused me another roll down to the river.”

”Didn't the bear follow you?” asked Tom.

”He followed as far as the river. But I ran with all my might through the deep snow, and presently he gave up the pursuit. Then I went on and on until I happened to catch a glimpse of your camp-fire, and set up a cry for help. I slipped on a rock and hit my cheek, and the loss of blood and the shock made me dizzy. The next I knew I was here.”

”You may be thankful that we found you and brought you in,” was the remark made by John Barrow. ”If you had remained out there this night, you'd 'a' been a corpse by mornin', sure!”

”I suppose that's true,” said Jasper Grinder, with a thoughtful look.

His experience had humbled him greatly. He was so exhausted that he soon fell asleep, breathing heavily. The boys and John Barrow gazed at him curiously.

”His being with us presents a problem,” said d.i.c.k. ”What are we to do with him?”

”I'm sure I don't want him along,” answered Sam promptly. He had hot forgotten the treatment received at Putnam Hall.

”None of us want him, I take it, Sam. But we can't leave him behind to starve. And I doubt if he can find his way back to the Baxter camp alone.”

”No, he can't do that,” put in the guide. ”It is easy to see he knows nothing of the woods and mountains. He was a fool to come here.”

”If we take him along, we ought to make him do his share of the work,”

said Tom. ”But I don't like it. He'll be forever spying on us, and if we find that treasure he'll try to get it away, mark my words.”

”The only thing we can do is to watch him, and not let him have any gun or pistol,” said d.i.c.k. ”He won't dare to leave us, unarmed, especially if we tell him of all the wild animals that are around.”

The subject was discussed for fully an hour, but no satisfactory conclusion was reached, and presently one after another dropped off to sleep; the guide being the last to lie down, after fixing the camp-fire for the night, so that a share of the warmth might drift into the shelter.

On the following day the sun came up bright and clear. It was still bitterly cold, and they were loath to leave the vicinity of the camp-fire. But John Barrow urged that they make good use of the clear weather, and so they started up the river as soon as they had disposed of their breakfast of fish and birds.

”To be sure I'll go along, if I can walk,” was what Jasper Grinder said on being questioned, ”I wouldn't remain behind alone for a fortune, and I am sure I can't find the Baxter party now. Please don't cast me off!

It wouldn't be human!”

”I believe you'd cast us off, if we were in a similar situation,” was Tom's comment. ”The way you treated Sam at the Hall shows that you don't care how some folks suffer. But you can go along, for we are not brutes.