“Hist!” he said in a low tone. “Something
comes!”
The men all seized their rifles and listened intently.
Presently they heard a soft step on the snow outside,
then there was a snuffing sound.
“B’ar!” the Indian said.
A moment later a great head reared itself over the
bushes at the entrance. Five rifles rang out,
the two Indians reserving their fire; the report was
followed by the dull sound of a heavy fall outside.
“Wait a moment,” Harry said sharply, as
the others were preparing to rush out, “let
us make sure he is dead.”
“He is dead enough,” Jerry said.
“I reckon even a grizzly cannot walk off with
five bullets in his head.”
Harry looked over the screen. “Yes, he
is dead enough; anyhow he looks so. Waal, this
is a piece of luck.” They all stepped out
on to the platform.
“Is it a grizzly, uncle?” Tom asked excitedly.
“He is a grizzly, sure enough. You don’t
want to see his colour to know that. Look at
his size.”
“Why, he is as big as a cow.”
“Ay, lad, and a big cow too. You go in
and make up the fire while we cut off enough meat
for supper.”
The fact that they had eaten a meal but half an hour
before, went for nothing; slices of bear-meat were
soon frizzling, and as hearty a meal was eaten as
if no food had been tasted since the previous day.
The men were in the highest spirits; the fact that
they were out of meat had been the greatest drawback
to the prospect of being shut up for perhaps a week,
for badly-baked bread is but a poor diet to men accustomed
to live almost exclusively upon meat.
“What brought the bear down here?” Tom
asked.
“Curiosity at first perhaps, and then hunger,”
his uncle replied. “I expect he was going
along on the path above when he saw the light among
the leaves, and then no doubt he smelt the bread, and
perhaps us and the horses, and came down to see what
he could get.
“Curiosity is a bad fault, Tom. You have
had two lessons in that this evening. Bear in
mind that in this part of the world the safest plan
is always to attend strictly to your own business.”
All thought of sleep was for the present dissipated;
their pipes were again lighted, and it was midnight
before they lay down. In the morning the bear
was with some difficulty skinned and cut up, the joints
being left outside to freeze through. The snow
still fell steadily, but the wind had almost died
down. Sallying out they cut five or six long poles,
and with some difficulty fixed these from above across
from the cliff to the outstanding rock, pushed the
bear’s-skin across them, and lashed it there,
its bulk being sufficient to cover the space above
the fire and a considerable portion of their dwelling
room.
After breakfast snow was again melted for the horses,
and the work for the day thus done they seated themselves
contentedly round the fire.
