CHAPTER XX. FINDING OUT HOW BUMPUS DID IT.
"Well, what d'ye think of that?" Giraffe demanded, as, with his comrades,he presently hurried forward to examine the dead bear.
"I said Bumpus could do it, didn't I?" questioned Step Hen. "Why, withthe great run of luck he's camping alongside now, that pard of ours couldgo into the lion and elephant country of Africa, and knock over more oldtuskers and yellow manes than you could shake a stick at."
"But how d'ye know he did this?" asked Giraffe, as a new doubt assailedhim.
"Tell me who else could?" demanded the other.
"Oh! I'm not sayin' they did; don't think that," Giraffe went on; "but wehappen to know there are a couple of men hanging around this section ofthe country."
"Meaning Hank and Pierre, of course?"
"Yes, they're the dodgers. Now, you see, they just might have come uphere, found the bear holdin' Bumpus up in a tree, and took a notion toknock the old mountain bear silly, just so they could look our chum over,and take all he had."
Step Hen was unable to hazard a reply to this, and so he appealed tothose who ought to be able to decide.
"How about that, Thad, Allan?"
Both shook their heads in the negative.
"Give Bumpus all the credit of downing this bear," Thad remarked.
"There are lots of things that go to prove it," said Allan. "Look here,and I'll show you. See, here's where he knelt to fire, first of all, andI want you to notice what a dandy tree for climbing Bumpus picked out,just alongside."
"And when he'd rammed in both charges, only to see the bear coming fulltilt after him, like a house afire, Bumpus swung up in the tree--is thatit, Allan?" and Giraffe looked wise as he said this.
"Just what he did," Allan went on to say. "I reckon he had a stout cordfixed on his gun, and could slip one arm through this, so that the Marlinwent up when he did, all right."
"Ain't he the cute one, though?" Step Hen murmured, in admiration.
"Well, you can see how the bear clawed the tree," continued Allan, "buthe wasn't able to get up. Grizzlies are poor climbers anyway, and thisfellow must have been handicapped by that injured hind leg."
"And then Bumpus, he opened on him, didn't he?" Giraffe cried.
"Well, I guess that's what he did," laughed Thad. "I can count _twelve_empty shells here under the tree. Two Bumpus used at long range, but allthe rest he must have fired point-blank, with the bear not more than fiveor ten feet away from the muzzle of his gun."
"How d'ye tell that?" asked Giraffe.
"Why, here, and here you can see the hair on the bear looks singed arounda wound. That proves the gun was only a few feet away. And notice too,boys, nearly every shot took effect either in the breast or back of thebear. The one that finished him was this in the ear. It penetrated hisbrain."
Giraffe gave one of his whistles, and then remarked:
"Glory! but there must have been a hot time around here, all right. I canjust imagine I see Bumpus perched up in that crotch, and blazing away asfast as he could load. What a circus it was, and such great luck. Why,that feller could grab the first prize in the Havana lottery if he everwanted to go down to Cuba and take a chance. He can sure do anything!"
"He got his bear, bless his dear old heart," laughed Step Hen.
"Yes, and just like he did with the bob-cat; only this time, he hackedoff the claws from all four feet. Must mean to have 'em made into a warnecklace, Indian fashion," observed Allan.
"Looks some like a slaughter-house around here," Giraffe said. "The bearbled from every wound. They told us a grizzly could stand any amount oflead, and now I believe it. Why, at that close range, them buckshot inhis gun just tore in like a great big fifty-eight slug. Oh! what a sight,if Davy had only been here with his snapshot box."
"But I can see that Hank and Pierre came right along in," observed StepHen.
"Yes, and looked around, just like we're doing now," Allan remarked.
"I'm some surprised that they didn't capture the skin of the bear," theother went on. "Bumpus couldn't take it off, because that's one thing hehasn't learned--yet. But surely Hank or Pierre must be old trappersenough for that."
But Allan shook his head.
"They looked at it, and quickly decided it wasn't worth taking," he said."First place, Bumpus had hacked all the fierce claws off, and they're thebest part of a grizzly pelt, I'm told. Then our chum had, as you can see,just about riddled the hide; shot holes through every which way. That'sprobably why they didn't bother trying to take the skin off the bear."
"But--did they keep on after Bumpus?" asked Giraffe.
"I'm sorry to say they did," admitted Allan, who with his customaryalertness had been looking around, and taking note of things.
"That means, we will be on the move again," Giraffe declared.
"Can't be getting away any too soon to suit me," Step Hen said.
"The things I'm sorry about are these," remarked Thad. "First, it'sgetting along in the afternoon now, and our chances of overtaking eitherthe men or Bumpus before darkness comes on are mighty small, I'm afraid.You see they've got quite a few hours' advantage over us."
"Well, why not make a torch or so, and keep moving along, even afternight does set in," suggested Giraffe, quickly, for his mind was alwaysinclining toward fire in some shape or style.
"Now, that may not be such a bad idea at all, Giraffe," Thad promptlydeclared. "And I'm glad you mentioned it. If we're not too leg-wearyafter we've eaten, and rested an hour or two, we might try that scheme."
"If it didn't do anything else," put in Allan, "it would surely cut downthe big lead they've got on us, and we might be close enough when westarted at dawn again, to get Bumpus with the call of the Silver FoxPatrol."
"Better than that, even," said Thad, "if we kept moving right alongto-night who knows but what we might have the luck to glimpse acamp-fire. Remember how we did that before, and thought to surprise ourchum; when it turned out the other way, and we got all the surprise fromHank and Pierre?"
"Whose fire would this be, d'ye think--Bumpus', or Hank's?" askedGiraffe.
"Perhaps both," was the significant reply Thad made. "For unless they'vechanged their minds, and concluded not to meddle with a tenderfoot scoutwho was able to kill a full grown grizzly all by himself, I take it thatbefore now Bumpus and the timber cruisers have joined forces."
"Like the lion and the lamb lying down together without the least bit oftrouble, because the lamb was _inside_ the lion," remarked Giraffe,drily.
"Yes, the chances are that they've bulldozed our chum, and made him waitupon them like a slave, cook their meals for them; and perhaps they willtie him up in camp to-night, so he won't have a chance to run away."
Step Hen fairly gnashed his teeth while drawing this agonizing mentalpicture of the further troubles of Bumpus. And even those who had themost faith in the fat scout's newly aroused ability to think, and takecare of himself, could hardly see how the awkward lad might come out ofsuch an encounter as this with any degree of credit.
Being up against two husky and unprincipled men, who had brains withwhich to plot and scheme, was an entirely different proposition frommeeting animals that acted only from instinct, and often very unwisely.
"But see here, Thad," exclaimed Step Hen, "you said a while ago therewere two reasons for you feeling sorry, and the first was that it wasgetting late, and we might have to camp soon. What was the other?"
"Why," the patrol leader continued; "knowing that these hard charactersare abroad, between us and Bumpus, even if they haven't made a prisonerof our chum, you see, we're kept from doing any more shouting out loud."
"Just why?" asked the other, dubiously.
"It would only advertise our presence to the pair, and they could lay atrap to snare us. Perhaps they'd make Bumpus lure us on, or even imitatehis voice and catch us napping. As it is now," Thad went on, "so far aswe know, they don't even suspect that we're around. If we can keep themf
rom knowing right along, our job's going to be all the easier."
"You're right, Thad," said Allan, emphatically.
And even the other two could see the force of his reasoning.
There was nothing to do, therefore, but keep steadily along, trusting totheir perseverance to bring them a reward in the end. None of them daredto even dream that the astonishing good luck that had followed Bumpusever since he found himself lost in the big timber, would not continuewith him to the end.
The best they could figure on was that if their chum had fallen into thehands of the two husky timber spies, they would be tired enough to gointo camp soon after, and make the boy do all the work of getting supper.
And while they thus dallied, dreaming of no danger, the four scouts mightbe advancing steadily, rod after rod, making use of a rude torch in orderto see the trail, and all the while drawing nearer the crisis.
"You don't think they'd be apt to hurt Bumpus, do you, Thad?" thewar-like Step Hen asked, for the third time, as they continued to presson.
"Not seriously," replied the scoutmaster. "We know they are bullies onthe face of it, but really cowards at heart. If they hadn't been that,d'ye suppose for one minute they would ever have bombarded us while weslept, as they thought, with great rocks, any one of which might havebroken our arms or legs? And if they've got hold of Bumpus, just becausehe's a scout, and our friend, they'd likely kick him around a lot, andmake him knuckle down to them; but I hardly believe they'd hurt himbadly. But no matter what they do, they've got to settle with Bumpus'chums, sooner or later."