Part 18 (1/2)

”I know it, but this is a time when you'll have to resist.”

”I ain't so sh.o.r.e. I notice that them that want things pow'ful bad an'

go after 'em pow'ful hard are most always them that gits 'em, an' that's me tonight.”

”Well, lie close, and we'll see what happens, there's Wyatt within reach of my rifle right now, and it's a strong temptation to put a bullet into him. The temptation is just as strong in me, Sol, as it has been in you.”

”Then why don't you do it an' take the chances? We kin git away anyhow.”

”For several reasons, Sol. I doubt whether we could get away, and escape is important not only to ourselves--I like my life and you like yours--but to others as well. Besides, I can't draw trigger on Braxton Wyatt from cover. Cruel as he is, and he's worse than the savages, because he's a renegade, I can't forget that we were boys at Wareville together.”

”Still your bullet, most likely, would save the life o' many a man an'

o' women an' children too. But it's too late anyhow. He's gone, an' them warriors hev gone with him. By the great horn spoon, what wuz that!”

They had now gone to the extreme eastern edge of their little covert and a sudden floundering and gasping there startled them. A large black figure rose up from a dense thicket of alders, pawpaws and small willows and gazed at them a moment or two with frightened red eyes.

”A bear,” exclaimed s.h.i.+f'less Sol. ”Oh, Henry, let me shoot! I kin see his steaks fryin' over the coals now. Thar's our supper, settin' on its hind legs not ten feet from us.”

”Don't you dare do such a thing!” exclaimed Henry, laughing. ”Why, your shot would bring a whole tribe of Indians down upon us!”

”I know it, but I do want that bear, an' I want to put the responsibility o' not gittin' him on you.”

”All right. I take it. There he goes and your chance, too, is lost.”

The bear threshed out of his den, clattered across the mud flats and entered the forest, whence came in a minute the sound of a shot.

”Thar, the warriors hev got him!” exclaimed s.h.i.+f'less Sol, deep disappointment showing in his tone, ”and in two or three hours they'll be cookin' him. An' he was our bear, too. We saw him first. I could see that he was nice an' fat, even ef it wuz early in the year, an' them steaks belong to us.”

”Maybe they did, but we've lost 'em. Now, I think we'd better keep quiet. The Indians are probably far ahead of us, thinking that we've gone that way.”

The s.h.i.+ftless one subsided into an indignant silence. The oasis was an ideal place for two situated as they were, and having the wisdom of the woods they remained still and quiet in its cover. But after three or four hours the s.h.i.+ftless one became restless. He was a man of great strength, and despite his lazy manner, of wonderful bodily activity. It took much food to satisfy the demands of that powerful frame, and he was growing hungrier and hungrier. Moreover a light wind began to blow from the west, bringing upon its edge a faint aroma that caused him to sit up and sniff inquiringly. The odor grew stronger, and he no longer had need to ask questions with his nose. He knew, and he knew too well.

”Henry,” he said, ”thar's our bear jest as I expected. They're cookin'

him, an' it's not so fur away either!”

”I think you're right, but we can't help it. We have to be resigned.”

”Mebbe we can't help it, an' then ag'in mebbe we kin, but anyway I ain't goin' to be resigned. I'm protestin' all the time, 'cause it's my bear.

I saw him first.”

The savory odor grew stronger, and the anger and indignation of the s.h.i.+ftless one increased. And with these two emotions came a third which hardened into a resolution.

”Henry,” he said, ”you're our leader, an' we most always do what you say, but this time I reckon I've decided fur myself what I'm goin' to do. I'm growin' hungrier an' hungrier. Sometimes I put that hunger down but in a minute it bounces back up ag'in stronger than ever. It's my master, gittin' control over ev'ry inch o' me, an' I've got to listen to what it says. I know I'm makin' a long speech, talkin' like an Injun chief at a council, but I've got to explain an' make clear ez day why I'm goin' to do the thing I'm goin' to do.”

”Go on, Sol. Talk as much as you please. We've all night before us.”

”Which is good. Ez I said, hunger has laid hold o' ev'ry inch o' me, an'

is workin' mighty fast. When I git into that state I'm plum' distracted on the question o' food, though it makes me smarter an' more keerful than ever on the ways to git it. I jest wanted to tell you, Henry, that I'm goin' to leave this oasis an' come back with a load o' them bear steaks that rightfully belong to me.”

”Have you lost your mind, Sol? You'd be killed and scalped in an hour!”