Part 29 (1/2)
A little after, Fritz doubled to one side, and appeared busy with some object by the side of the cave The hunters were under the iing his piece to the ready
After aforward on the trail The torches were carried up to where Fritz had e pile of withered leaves and grass wasden of Bruin--still here his huge carcass had lain; but the cunning brute was no longer ”abed” He had been roused by the noises of his enemies, and had retreated farther into the cavern
Fritz was again rowl” as he went He was by noup a scent, nor yet on the run These were not his qualities But he was stanch and sure, and desperate when once he grappled with the game So sure was he, that, whenever he started off upon a trail, you aer of looking for the bear anywhere else than before the snout of Fritz; and, therefore, the chase beca the hound in view The nature of the ground--here covered with blocks of loose stone, there with huge stalagress The bear had often doubled and halted, no doubt having so way in the darkness; and this doubling caused enerally keep hiain, he became lost to view; and then there was a halt, and so howl of the hound echoing through the cavern, and guiding them to his whereabouts
You will be surprised that they should at any ti on, they
Such h this stupendous cavern; but, instead of one, they saw scores of vaulted aisles forking at intervals, and traversing in very different directions They had long since turned both to the right and the left--of the hound, or the view of his yellow body, as he scra the trail
An ies, and halls, and chambers; many of the they were running in a round!
By this tiun to reflect, and his reflection was, that they were proceeding rashly Certain ideas were rising in histhe rest was, that, going as they were, without taking either ”bearings or distances,” they et lost!
Before he had time to call his companions to a halt and take some deliberation about the matter, a peculiar noise struck upon their ears-- a noise that was easily recognised as beingand a bear
Beyond a doubt it was Bruin and Fritz--beyond a doubt they were ”in grips!”
The Plant Hunters--by Captain Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX
LOST IN THE CAVE
The scene of their encounter was at no great distance--about twenty yards off; and, guided by the loud growling and ”worrying,” the hunters easily directed theainst the projecting points of the stalactites, they arrived upon the ground; and the glare of the torches was thrown upon two ani and a bear They were near the middle of an ihting attitudes; the bear standing upon the flat top of a rock--about three feet above the surrounding level--and the dog assailing his leg, now on one side of the rock, and now upon the other
The bear was defending hi the forepart of his body doard, with the design of seizing the hound in his hug
Fritz well knew the danger of being embraced in the fore-arms of a bear, and thereforeup at the hind-quarters of Bruin, and biting him in the hams To avoid these assaults upon his rear, the bear kept turning round and round, as though he was spinning about upon a pivot!
It was altogether a laughable sight to witness the curious contest between the two quadrupeds, and had the hunters been pursuing the bear for o on for so in it But amusement was just then out of the question The fat of Bruin was a thing of far more importance; and now that the hunters had become aware of the vast size and endless labyrinths of the cavern, they perceived that it was quite possible in such a place to lose both the bear and his fat He ht have escaped them as easily as if he were in the open woods
With these ideas, therefore, they were only too anxious to put an end to the struggle, and secure the game
The bear could not have offered them a better opportunity His position upon the rock rendered hiuns and the arrows of Ossaroo Besides, there was no danger of wounding Fritz, if good aim was taken by the marksmen
Good aih the cave-- one of Ossaroo's arrohistled, and penetrated the thick shaggy skin-- and the next e black mass rolled down fro his paws about in the last throes of death
Then Fritz leaped upon his upturned breast, seized the white throat between his jaws, and choked and worried at it till the last breath was squeezed out of poor Bruin's body, that the next moment lay quite limp and motionless
Fritz was now scolded off, and the torches were held near, in order that the hunters ame they had killed A splendid speciest and fattest of his kind; and no doubt would yield therease”
They had scarcely made this reflection when another of far different character forced itself upon theirat each other with looks of mute inquiry Each waited for one of the others to speak; and although no one had yet said a word, all equally felt that they were in a dileaing it out of the cave, and afterwards taking it hoh to you, because you do not yet understand the situation in which the hunters were placed--you do not co upon each other with troubled looks