Part 21 (1/2)
”It was not likely to be a difficult job The tree, as I have said, was a hollow one; and near the ground its trunk was nothing but a h So Cudjo went lustily to ith his axe; and the white syca in every direction
”He had hardly ular noise, that sounded sorowl and a snort!
”Cudjo i at each other with looks that betokened surprise and terror I say _terror_-- for the noise had so terrible in it; and we knew it could have proceeded froe and fierce animal Whence did it come?--from the woods? We looked anxiously around us, but no motion could be observed in the brae aniain the horrid sound echoed in our ears It appeared to issue out of the earth! No--_it came out of the tree_!
”'Golly!' exclairowl'
”'A bear!' I ejaculated, catching the thought at the salade!'--and I hurried my wife and children from the spot Harry and Frank both wished to reet the them that they uard them in case the animal should come that way
All this occupied but a few seconds of time, and then Cudjo and I were left to ourselves
”It was evident that a bear was up the hollow of the tree, and hence the flurry a down!
”What was to be done? Could we not close up the hole? No--there was nothing--we should be too late!
”I seized my rifle, while Cudjo stood by with his axe I cocked the piece, and made ready to fire the moment his head should appear To our astonishy, black hair made its appearance, which as the ru down tail-foreh not a bit of tail was to be seen, for he had none
”We did not stop to examine that I fired as soon as his hips made their appearance, and almost at the same instant Cudjo dealt theh to have killed hiht, but to our surprise the hind-quarters suddenly disappeared He had gone up the tree again
”What next?--would he turn himself in the hollow, and come down head-foreht miss his blow, and let hireat deerskin coats, that were lying on the ground close by They would be large enough, properly rolled, to fill the mouth of the cavity I threw aside my rifle, and laid hold of theathered theed them into the hole They fitted it exactly!
”We saw blood strea down as we stuffed in the coats The bear ounded It was not likely, then, that he would trouble us for a while; and as one watched the coats, the other brought up great stones, which we piled against them, until we hadup the trunk, to assure ourselves that there was no opening above, through which he ht creep out and come down upon us No--there was none, except the bee-hole, and that was not big enough for his nose, sharp as it was Bruin was fairly 'in the trap'
”I knew that Mary and the rest would be uneasy about us; and I ran out to the glade to make known our success The boys cheered loudly; and we all returned together to the tree, as there was now no danger--no more than if there hadn't been a bear nearer to us than the North Pole
”We had hi But hoe to get at him?--for we had determined to take his life Such a fierce creature as this et off; as he would soon have settled with one of us, had he ht, at first, he rizzly bear, and this had terrifiedof one of these fierce animals with a shot is next to an impossibility When I reflected, however, I knew it could not be this; for the 'grizzly,' unlike his sable cousin, is not a tree-cliot in the tree
”But hoe to reach him? Leave him where he was, and let him starve to death? No, that would never do He would eat all the fine stock of honey; if, indeed, he had not done so already Moreover, hethe bee-hole This he could do with his great sharp claws We must therefore adopt some other plan
”It occurred to us that it was just probable he ainst the coats We could not tell, for there was no longer any growling He was either too angry, or too badly scared to groe could not say which At all events, he was not uttering a sound He ht, nevertheless, be as close to us at the et If so, our plan would be to cut a sht reach him with a bullet from the rifle This plan was adopted, and Cudjo set to work to make the hole
”In a few minutes the thin shell was penetrated, and we could see into the cavity Bruin was nowhere visible--he was still up the tree The 'taste of our quality,' which he had had on his first descent, had evidently robbed him of all inclination to try a second What next?
”'Smoke 'i: but hoe to do it? By pushi+ng dead leaves and grass through the hole Cudjo had cut, and then setting theht be burned! These we could first rereat stones in their place; and we proceeded to do so In a few rass and leaves were staffed in; soh; more rubbish was piled on top, until it reached up on a level with the hole; and then the hole was closed with a bundle of grass, so as to prevent the s
”In a fewas we had intended it A blue rope of s out of the bee-hole, and the terrified bees swarht of this before, else we loves and ue We could hear hi fiercely Every now and then he uttered a loud snort, that sounded like an asthed into a whine, then a hideous ether The nextto the earth We kneas the bear, as he tumbled from his perch
”We waited for soer any stir--no sound issued frorass from the upper hole A thick volume of smoke rolled out The bear must be dead No creature could live in such an at I could feel the soft hairy body of the ani convinced of this, at length, we reed it forth Yes, the bear was dead,--or, at all events, very like it; but, to ave hiy hair was literally filled with dead and dying bees, that, like himself, had been suffocated with the smoke, and had fallen from their combs
”We had hardly settled the question of the bear, when our attention was called to another circumstance, which was likely to trouble us We perceived that the tree was on fire The decayed heart-wood that lined the cavity inside had caught fire fro away like fury Our honey would be lost!