Part 22 (1/2)

We watched for several following nights, but if Master Bruin had been the depredator, he was too wary to repeat his visits. As he would not come to us to be shot, we searched for him in all directions among the neighbouring rocks, where, in some hitherto undiscovered cave, it was thought probable he had his abode. No traces of him, however, could we discover. Dio during this time was not idle. I inquired whether the bear had again robbed the bees.

”No, he not come back yet, but he soon come, an' den you see,” he answered, looking very mysterious.

At length, one evening, I met him running towards the house in a state of great excitement.

”Wha'r Ma.s.sa Denis?” he asked; ”me tinkee me got b'ar for him now.

Wha'r is he?”

For a wonder, he was in the house, as was Dan; so I called them both.

”We must get some cords to bind our prisoner, or otherwise he may not be quite ready to accompany us,” said my uncle.

Having procured some pieces of strong rope, we set off. We overtook Dio, and asked him how he knew that the bear had got into the hollow trunk. He then described his plan of proceeding. He had filled the lower part of the cavity with dry leaves, branches, and twigs, and had laid a train so that he could fire it in an instant. He had also blocked up a portion of the entrance, and had placed some stout sticks, sharply pointed, directed inwards, so that although the bear could squeeze through one way, he would find it a difficult task to back out again.

As we approached the tree described by Dio, he advised us to get our rifles ready, and to have our las.h.i.+ngs prepared to bind Bruin's legs when he tried to come out, as he probably would, tail first. Still the animal did not make his appearance.

”Perhaps he is afraid of descending for fear of burning himself, as you have lighted a fire at the bottom of the hollow, and he would have to go through it,” observed Uncle Denis.

Dio a.s.serted that it was because the dogs kept up a barking, and he advised that we should retire to a short distance, while he remained near to listen when the bear was descending. We kept the dogs back and held our guns in readiness, should Bruin come forth, indignant at having his hide singed, and make a rush at us.

We waited several minutes, but with the exception of some low growls, which grew fainter and fainter, no sounds reached our ears. Dio every now and then popped his woolly pate out from behind the tree where he was hiding himself, showing his white teeth, evidently wondering what was going to happen. Presently a loud cras.h.i.+ng noise was heard, and the sticks which Dio had placed at the entrance of the hollow giving way, out fell a huge bear headlong to the ground. Dio rushed forward.

”Come here, Ma.s.sa Denis; come here, make fast de bear!” he shouted.

Then he looked at the animal as Uncle Denis advanced, adding, ”Me tink him dead.”

The two dogs also, which now ran forward, seemed to be very much of the same opinion, for without hesitation they ran up and placed their paws on the monster, sniffing fearlessly round him. The smoke from Dio's fire had effectually suffocated him.

”I am afraid that he will not become an inhabitant of my menagerie,”

said Uncle Denis, laughing, ”and I doubt, if we had caught him alive, that he would have proved amenable to my instruction.”

Lest the bear should recover at an inconvenient moment, we put a shot through his head, and then proceeded to cut him up, that we might carry home the flesh, which was likely to prove very acceptable at the farm.

It was one of the largest of the she-bears of the brown species I ever met with, and, though not so fierce as the grizzly, would have proved a formidable antagonist had it been encountered when hard pressed by hunger.

The smoke which had killed the bear had also suffocated the bees, and Dan and I, climbing up, secured the remainder of the comb which Bruin had left.

”We shall probably find Dame Bruin's cubs somewhere or other, if we follow up her trail,” observed Uncle Denis, as we were employed in cutting up the bear. ”Though she would have proved a difficult subject to tame, we may have more hope of succeeding with them.” As soon as the operation was performed, and we had hung up the meat to the bough of a tree--a necessary precaution in that region--we set off to look for the cubs. The animal, not having the instinct of the red man, had left a clearly marked trail as she made her way through the forest. Guided by the marks of the gra.s.s trampled down, boughs bent aside, and twigs broken off, we had no difficulty in following it up, though it continued for a far greater distance than we had expected. It led us towards a rocky spur of the mountain, mostly covered with trees and thick brushwood, so that we could see but a short distance ahead.

”Take care, ma.s.sa, p'r'aps he b'ar dare lookin' after de pickaninnies, so, if he come out, better be ready to shoot him,” observed Dio.

”We'll soon make him show himself,” answered Uncle Denis, and he called to our dogs, who had obediently followed at our heels, to range ahead.

Off they started, delighted with the duty entrusted to them. After ranging backwards and forwards, occasionally showing themselves amid the brushwood, their loud barks and yelps convinced us that they had found either the young bears or some other animal. We made our way towards the spot from whence the sounds proceeded, with our guns ready should we discover any formidable antagonist. As we got up we saw the s.h.a.ggy tails of our dogs wagging vehemently outside a cavern, within which it did not seem possible that any large animal could be hidden. Now Boxer would rush further in, now Toby, while a whimpering sound, mingled with an occasional infantine growl, showed us that the cave was alone occupied by the cubs of which we were in search. Fearing that the animals would be injured, we called off the dogs, when their b.l.o.o.d.y mouths and the brown hair sticking to their jaws, proved that they had had a battle with the occupants of the cave. The difficulty was now to get the creatures out without further injuring them. Though I might easily have crawled in, yet it would be at the risk of being bitten by the young bears, who would, should I do so, naturally mistake me for one of the dogs about to renew the fight.

”Stay, ma.s.sa,” said Dio at length; ”I do it!” Without delay he cut down a young sapling, which he quickly stripped of its branches. He had still tied round his waist a piece of the rope we had brought to secure the bear. With this we formed a noose at the end of the pole. ”Now I get him out,” he observed creeping into the mouth of the cavern and pus.h.i.+ng the pole before him. After moving it about for a few seconds, he shouted--

”Pull 'way, ma.s.sa, got one of dem!” and, he quickly backing out, we hauled away on the rope. The resistance we found told us of Dio's success, and presently we hauled out a good-sized cub, but it was bleeding from its mouth and shoulders, an evidence of the severe way in which the dogs had worried it. Though it struggled and tried to bite, it was so much hurt, that Uncle Denis, believing that it would not live, at once put it out of its misery.

”Dere is 'nodder inside,” observed Dio, listening at the mouth of the cave; ”git him next.”