Three

they came out of hibernation they were ravenous and ready to eat anything. There was a final crash of sound and, then, silence. The bear had obviously made a kill.

  Now came another sound as though a third animal was moving through the brush. What was it? He glimpsed a much smaller creature, low to the ground, grunting its way toward the bear and its prey. For the first time, Joel began to feel uneasy. The two animals sized one another up and flew at each other. Joel suddenly realized what the second animal was. A wolverine, a nasty predator of legendary strength that was unafraid of anything in the woods including this bear that was a whole lot bigger.

  It was fast and over quickly. The bear was trying to drag the little deer away, but the wolverine would have none of it. Both tore at the deer--unwilling to let go. At last to Joel’s amazement the bear gave up. It left its hard-won prey to the wolverine and lumbered off.

  It occurred to Joel that the bear, its hunger piqued by the deer it lost, might now start seeking another meal. He decided to beat a retreat to their fire where he set about building up the flames. He felt sort of stupid doing it. He’d never heard of bears making meals out of humans, but why take a chance? He knew he would have trouble getting any sleep at all that night. It was his turn to keep Bryan warm, but, if Roke was willing to go on sleeping there, he decided to let him.

  Roke was awake at the first sign of dawn light, and Joel told him what had happened. His reaction was to laugh, but almost immediately he was all business. “We’ve got to get things ready for the copter. Got to rip up some trees and open up a clearing.”

  Joel was in immediate awe of his brute friend’s ability to pull trees up by the roots--saplings anyway--and toss them aside. A clearing was quickly beginning to form in the marsh. Joel for his part gathered armfuls of dead underbrush to stoke the fire.

  An hour later Roke told him to stop. “We’re going to have a forest fire here if we’re not careful.”

  “What else can I do?” asked Joel.

  “We need smoke. Maybe that wolverine didn’t eat all of that deer.”

  “It’s possible.”

  “You ever barbecued?”

  “Of course,” said Joel. “Who hasn’t?”

  “What’s the worst part of barbecuing?”

  “The smoke--if you get on the wrong side of the fire. Okay, you want us to cook up what’s left of that deer.”

  “So smart,” said Roke.

  “But that means I’ll have to go down there and—” Joel made a sour face.

  “Come on, boy. You getting dainty on me? This is for Bryan.”

  So Joel headed down the hill to where he had seen the wolverine and the bear fighting it out. There were broken branches and bits of fur left behind on the bushes---but no deer. He guessed the wolverine must have eaten the entire carcass. Then, he saw a bloodied, mangled leg and haunch hidden under some leaves. Saved for another meal, he thought. Yuck. He grabbed what was left and walked back to the fire.

  “I’ll just stick it on there,” he said,

  “No, wait till we hear them. Don’t want to waste it. The clearing’s ready. All we need is that bird. Your sister’s all right. She didn’t have much time to put this together.”

  Joel looked at the torn leg of the deer in his hand. Yes, it was yuckie—but it was meat. “Hey. Roke,” he said, “How about we stick just the leg on the fire. Save the rest of the deer to make smoke. This has got to taste good.”

  “Yeah,” said Roke with a grin. “We deserve it.”

  The leg and its fat were sizzling merrily in minutes. Roke reached in to pull it out and froze. “Something’s out there,” he whispered. “Something pretty big.”

  Joel turned and saw the black bear he had seen the night before. A great rolling hulk of an animal, it was walking along the edge of the clearing about sixty feet from them. They could see it was afraid of the fire, but it was deeply aroused by the smell of the roasting meat. Joel removed a burning stick from the fire and waved it threateningly at the bear. It snarled at him without backing off.

  “What’ll we do?” he whispered.

  “Keep him away from Bryan, boy. There’s not enough deer meat here to satisfy him. He’s bound to come after us.”

  “I’ve heard they don’t like loud noises,” said Joel.

  “Yeah, but what do we have? I don’t have any pots and pans in my wizard bag. I know we can’t shout loud enough.”

  “Or run fast enough. They can run like hell. I saw that for myself. This is ridiculous, Roke. We can’t end up getting wiped out by a bear.”

  “Wait! Listen!”

  Joel heard it, too—a low drone in the sky. “Please let it be them,” he said under his breath. “Please.”

  The drone came closer and closer. Suddenly, a shadow whipped across the clearing as something big crossed in front of the sun. Yes, it was them. “We need smoke, boy!” shouted Roke. “Put on the rest of the meat! Don’t let them miss us!”

  Joel threw on the last of the deer meat and watched the smoke swirl upwards. “Just see us, Lois,” he begged. Now the chopper came into view far above the treetops. “He doesn’t see us,” said Joel. “He’s going on by.” He was devastated.

  “No!” said Roke pointing skyward. “He’s passing right over us.” He paused, and his hand traced a loop through the air. “Now he’s turning. Okay, he’s coming back.”

  He really did have great ears, thought Joel. The next thing they knew the helicopter was hovering far above them. They could feel the wash from its propellers stirring the leaves on shrubs around them.

  “Scream! Yell! Wave your arms, Roke! They can’t miss a guy like you!”

  They hadn’t missed him. The copter began to come down into Roke’s clearing. Joel could see the bear hesitating, staring up at the chopper, then, scuttling into the bushes, then, stopping to look back, clearly scared to death of the rotor noise.

  Joel finished the job. He ran at the bear waving his arms and yelling his head off. Hunger was no longer of interest to it. It took off at a lope down the hill away from them.

  And now the chopper was settling slowly into the clearing. The pilot turned off the rotors, and there was Lois standing in the hatchway ready to leap off. With her was someone they did not know. Obviously, it had to be the doctor she had mentioned on the phone.

  Roke and Joel exchanged frowns. This was not the helicopter they were expecting. It was really small—almost like a toy compared to the ones the 911 guys usually used. How were they going to fit everybody in? Joel realized somebody was going to have to stay behind—maybe even two people. Roke for sure and maybe--he felt a nervous shiver—maybe him.

  He gathered his sister in for a long hug. With a start, she saw the bloody pieces of shirt wrapped around his hands. “Joel! What happened to you?”

  “It’s nothing. Couple of scratches climbing around. My friend Roke here fixed me up. Come and see Bryan. Meet Roke.” He led her and the doctor over to where his brother lay by the fire. On the way over he had to ask her: “Lois, why is this copter so small?”

  “Couldn’t be helped, Joel. They worked most of the night on their regular chopper. It just wasn’t ready so I told them: ‘Go with what you have.’ This is it.”

  She stared up at Roke looming above them. “God, he sure is big,” she whispered. She sounded a little anxious.

  “Not to worry,” said Joel. “He only eats candy bars.”

  “Thanks for saving Bryan,” she said to him softly.

  Roke gave an off-hand shrug. “It was a two-man job,” he said.

  The doctor opened his medical bag and began to examine Bryan. “There’s a faint heartbeat, doctor,” said Joel, “and he’s breathing. That’s all we can tell you.”

  The doctor confirmed it and expressed surprise that he was as warm as he was. “Yeah, we’ve been working on that,” said Roke. “All night in fact.”

  The do
ctor said he would give Bryan some emergency treatment, but they would have to take him to a hospital right away. “He’s not out of danger by any means,” he said. “This is going to be a drawn-out convalescence, I warn you. It’s kind of a miracle he’s survived at all.”

  While Joel and the doctor talked, Roke took Lois aside. “You got to know this about your brother. I’m talking about Joel. He was kind of a know-nothing kid when I found him down there in Slater’s.” He shook his head, remembering. “Not any more. He’s a full caver now.”

  “You were so great to look out for him,” she said. “It must have been---terrifying.”

  “Yeah, now and then it was.” He shrugged. “Caving’s like that.” He looked over at his young friend, “You can be proud of him, Lois. He’s a special guy.”

  She smiled. “I am proud of him,” she said.

  Roke and Joel helped lay Bryan down inside the chopper. “Hey, Mr. Pilot,” said Joel. “You really think there’s room in this bird for him?” He jabbed a thumb in Roke’s direction.

  The pilot shook his head. “Probably not. What do you weigh, big guy?”

  “Maybe more than the whole chopper,” said Roke chuckling. He became serious. “You guys go on without me. Get him to the hospital. Make him well. I’m going to stay.”

  The pilot pointed to Joel. “I’m afraid he’ll have to stay, too.”

  “No!” said Lois loudly. She was shocked. “He can’t stay. Look at his hands! He needs treatment, too.”

  “I’m sorry, lady. We don’t have room. I’ll