Part 19 (2/2)

THE YOUNG GRIZZLY-HUNTERS

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 d.i.c.k, ”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 d.i.c.k, ”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 d.i.c.k, ”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 d.i.c.k,” 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.”

<script>