Part 12 (1/2)

They noticed that he did not approach from the front, and this explained that Ralph had no intention of trying to enter the place while it had a hairy occupant.

He had first gathered up something and made a bundle of it under one of his arms.

Bud, looking closely, believed that he knew what the other scout had collected.

”Dead weeds, as sure as anything! Bears don't eat dried weeds, do they? If he had 'em dripping with wild honey p'raps it might do the business, because they say bears go crazy when they get sniff of honeycomb.”

”All of which is true enough, Bud,” Hugh told him; ”but when you think Ralph expects to coax the bear to come out, you're barking up the wrong tree. It's my opinion force would be a much better word, because he means to compel him to vacate.”

”Now you have got me guessing, Hugh; If you know, please take me into the game. There, Ralph's climbing up where the roof is lowest.

It wasn't much of a boost for a fellow as active as he is. What d'ye think he'll do next?”

”Make for the chimney, unless I'm away off, which I don't think I am.

There, you see he's up already. What does he seem to be doing now, Bud?”

”Why, I declare if he isn't crunching all that dry stuff down the old chimney! Oh! now I've got it, Hugh! He's going to smoke the bear out!”

”I shouldn't wonder but what that is just what he expects to do,”

chuckled Hugh; ”and let's watch and see how it works. Ralph knows how much alarmed a bear will always get after smelling smoke. It seems to be a part of his nature to dread anything that has to do with fire. And in case he has had to hustle at some time in the past to save his bacon from a raging forest fire, of course it's all the worse. But Ralph is getting ready to put a match to the dry stuff he has in the chimney. After he has it smouldering good I reckon he'll give the same a kick, and send it down into the fireplace. Then watch him clap that short piece of board on top of the clay chimney, forcing all the smoke to ooze out into the cabin, filling it full.”

Both boys, and the soldier as well, kept their eyes glued upon the figure of the scout on the roof of the cabin. Ralph was taking his time. He usually did his work very systematically, and could be depended on to make a complete job of anything he undertook.

”There, it's beginning to come out of the door, the smoke, I mean!”

exclaimed the anxious Bud.

”I want to get a snap-shot of the event when the bear rushes out,”

said Hugh; ”because there are a lot of fellows these days who want to see the proof every time you tell them a story that seems out of the common run. The light is good right now, and I believe I can make a fair picture, with Ralph pressing his board down on the chimney-top, and the smoke oozing out around him. Now to see how much the prowler can stand for.”

”He peeked out just then, and must have seen us, Hugh, because he pulled in again,” Bud shrilly cried. ”Guess he don't think much of human beings. He must have had some experience with the little shooting sticks they seem to just point straight at him, and then with the cough he feels an awful pain. P'raps he's a better smoker than you think. What if he just declined to run the gauntlet as long as we stand here.”

”It's only a question of time,” Hugh a.s.sured him. ”He can only stand for so much, and then he'll make the rush, no matter what happens.”

”The smoke's coming out thicker and thicker, let me tell you,”

Bud continued, fairly dancing in his nervous excitement. ”If he can stand that much longer I'll believe he's a regular old salamander.”

”He won't,” Hugh a.s.sured him. ”He's pretty nearly all in right now. Twice we've seen him peek out as if he wanted to get the lay of the land, so he could make his rush. The third time he's apt to come. So everybody get your breath ready to let out a whoop that'll make him think the end of the world has arrived for keeps.”

”Look! there he comes, Hugh!”

Even as Bud said this a bulky object rushed headlong out of the cabin door. It was the bear, doubtless already half-blinded with the bitter smoke that smarted his eyes and created a panic in his mind.

Immediately the two boys and the soldier set up a series of whoops that made the forest ring. Ralph, too, joined in, and waved his hat from the roof of the cabin, even as Hugh pressed the b.u.t.ton, and snapped off the lively scene, with the frightened bear in full retreat.

Bud outdid himself in shouting, he was so tickled over the success of Ralph's plan. Twice he raised the double-barrel shotgun belonging to Ralph, which the other had placed in his hands for safe-keeping before starting to evict the unwelcome guest who had taken to using their shack during their temporary absence. Of course after what Hugh had said, about not wanting to injure the bear, backed up as he had been by the third scout, it was far from Bud's intention to pull either trigger, and wound the poor beast. But just like most boys he wanted to boast afterwards as to what ”terrible things” he could have done had he cared to take the trouble.

The bear must have received more or less of a shock, what with the smoke, and that volley of shouts greeting his appearance outside the cabin; for the way he galloped away was indeed comical.

Hugh laughed heartily, and then as Ralph jumped off the low roof of the shack to join them, he complimented the one-time trapper on his knowledge of Bruin's weak spots.