CHAPTER XXVI
HUNTING THE HUNTERS
Bob Budd played the part of pendulum to the bear for perhaps tenminutes or less, during which he kept up his outcries, and Tom and Jimlaughed till they were in danger of falling from their perch in thetree.
"If Bob had only known what was coming," said Tom, "he could have hadhis trousers lined with sheet iron, and then he might have joined inthe laugh too."
"Why don't he give the bear a kick with his foot and knock him over?He ought to have knowed enough to climb a big tree like us."
"Helloa! what's up now?"
Without any apparent reason bruin at this moment dropped down on allfours, and, leaving Bob Budd to himself, lumbered over under therefuge of the other two fugitives.
They felt no special fear, for it seemed impossible that the animalcould do them harm.
Bob's experience was not lost upon him. He realized the mistake hemade when he took refuge in the sapling, and he now repaired it beforethe opportunity passed.
Letting go, he dropped lightly on his feet and ran for another treedouble the size of the hickory, up which he hurriedly climbed to wherethe limbs put out a dozen feet above the ground.
Here, as he flung one leg over the strong support, he felt that atlast he was safe against a regiment of bears.
Meanwhile, bruin was giving attention to Messrs. James McGovern andThomas Wagstaff.
He first walked deliberately around the tree several times, as ifsearching for some vulnerable point, occasionally looking up at thegrinning youngsters and snuffing like one impatient to secure hisdinner.
"I wonder what he means by _that_" said Jim, with a vague feelingof alarm.
"He wants us to see what a big fellow he is."
"He is a bouncer and no mistake," was the truthful comment of Jim.
"I wouldn't care if he was ten times as large--good gracious! look at_that_!"
Well might the boys start in alarm, for at that moment the brute beganclimbing the tree!
They had lost sight of the fact, if indeed they ever knew it, that theblack bear is a famous climber when the trunks are big enough to begrasped without his paws interfering.
While Tom and Jim were congratulating themselves on being safe beyondall possible harm, they discovered they were not safe at all.
Bruin was on the point of ascending to their perch, when he wastempted aside by the shouting of Bob Budd in the sapling, and he wentoff to have some sport with him.
Why the brute should have left Bob at the time he had him within reachit would be hard to say. It may have been he concluded that the singlelad had afforded him enough entertainment, and the moment had come forthe other two to take a hand.
The consternation of Tom and Jim may be imagined when they saw thosemassive paws embrace the shaggy bark, which began to crumble beneaththe vigorous clawing of the nails, while the huge black body slowlybut steadily ascended toward the limbs, where the white-facedyoungsters watched his terrifying action.
Bob's turn had come to laugh, and he called out:
"Wait till he gets up among the branches, then drop and run for a treethat is too small for him to climb."
This was good advice perhaps, though it occurred to the boys, for whomit was intended, that if they allowed their foe to approach that nearit would be too late for them to flee.
Bruin had not very far to ascend when his huge, pig-like head wasthrust among the limbs, and he slowly drew his ponderous body afterhim.
He was now close to the fugitives, one of whom was perched above theother, and both as far out on the branches as they could get withoutbreaking them.
The big, shaggy form being fairly among the limbs, at the point wherethey put out from the tree, bruin paused a minute, like a generalsurveying the battle plain before him.
There were the two cowering boys about a dozen feet off, apparentlywithout any hope of escaping his wrathful appetite. All he had to dowas to make his way out on the branches and gather them in.
It will be seen that there was some difficulty in the bear's path,since his weight would not allow him to advance clear to his victims,unless he used some other limb for his support.
As ill-luck would have it, the very means required was at his command.
Directly beneath Tom and Jim was another branch, broad and strongenough to support two large bears. It was so near the ground that theboys used the limbs immediately above, with a view of making sure theywere beyond the reach of the biggest kind of animal on _terrafirma_.
"_Here he comes!_"
It was Tom who uttered the exclamation, and he spoke the truth, for atthat moment bruin began cautiously moving out on the heavy limb justunder them.
"It's a good time to leave," whispered Jim, who, while the words werein his mouth, let go and dropped to the ground.
Tom was but an instant behind him, imitating him so quickly, indeed,that he struck directly upon his shoulders.
But no harm was done, and they were instantly up and off.
It will be seen from this that the couple adopted substantially theadvice of Bob Budd, which contained more wisdom than most of hisutterances.
Like their leader, the fugitives heeded the dearly bought lesson, and,instead of taking refuge in a large tree or sapling, they chose one ofprecisely the right size, each perching himself where he was as farbeyond reach as Bob Budd himself.
The lads were given plenty of time in which to take their newdeparture, since the bear, instead of leaping to the ground as theydid, picked his way back to the body of the tree, and slid down thatto the earth, tearing off a lot of the bark in his descent.
This required so much time that when he once more stood on solid earthall three of the boys were out of his reach, and could afford to laughat his anger.
Halting a short distance from the tree, bruin looked at the boys inturn with such an odd expression that they laughed.
Gradually the idea appeared to work itself into the thick brain of theanimal that there was nothing to be made by remaining in thatparticular part of the country, though his reluctance to leave causedno little misgiving on the part of all three of the youths.
If he should decide to stay until the party were compelled to choosebetween starving to death and coming down, the situation, to say theleast, would have its inconveniences.
"There he goes!" exclaimed Jim, a quarter of an hour after thispossible complication had been discussed by the youngsters from theirdifferent perches.
The bear seemed to have decided that it was useless to hang around theneighborhood, and began moving off in his lumbering fashion. He wasattentively watched until he vanished in the dense wood.
"We're all right _now_" called Bob.
"Maybe he is trying to fool us," suggested Tom; "you had better staywhere you are awhile longer."
"Who's afraid?" defiantly called back Bob, sliding nimbly down thesapling; "you don't catch me running from a bear again; all I want isa chance to get hold of my gun and load it--Jewhilakens!"
A roar of laughter broke from Jim and Tom, who at that moment caughtsight of the brute coming back at a faster rate than he had departed.
Bob was equally quick in descrying his danger, and the manner in whichhe shinned up the sapling would have surprised a trained athlete, whocould not have surpassed it.
"When is the fraud going to leave?" he growled, looking down on theintruder that had stopped directly under him; "I don't know whetherbears are good waiters, but I hope he won't try to keep us here morethan a week."
Bruin went snuffing around the spot, clawing the guns curiously,gazing up at each lad in turn, and finally starting off once more.
The boys hoped his departure was for good, but you may be sure theydid not discount it. When, however, a half-hour went by without hisbeing seen, all felt there was ground for hope.
It seemed safe to experiment a little, and so Bob once more slid downthe sapling, after carefully reconnoitering all the forest in hisfield of vision. He held himself ready also to climb a
gain the instantthe beast reappeared.
The boys were too frightened to attempt any jokes on each other, andwhen Tom and Jim reported that bruin was not in sight, Bob believedthem.
His gun was lying not far off, and he began timidly making his waytoward it. Step by step he advanced, glancing in every direction, andready to dart back the instant he saw or heard anything suspicious.
Finally he stooped over and picked up the weapon. Still the bear wasinvisible, and Bob hurriedly reloaded his gun, though it cannot beclaimed that he felt much more secure than before.
Thus encouraged, Tom and Jim ventured to descend from their respectivetrees, and they also recovered their weapons without bringing theirenemy down upon them.
"It must be he's gone for good," said Jim, in a guarded undertone.
"It looks that way," replied Tom, "and the best thing we can do is tofollow suit."
This was the unanimous sentiment, and it was acted upon without delay.
It cannot be said that a single member of the Piketon Rangers breathedfreely until fully a half-mile from the scene of their adventure withthe bear.
The slightest noise caused them to start and gaze around withrapidly-beating hearts; they spoke only a few words and they were inundertones, while they paused a half-dozen times in the belief thatsome stump or dark-colored boulder was the dreaded brute awaitingtheir approach.
But by the time the half-mile was passed they grew more confident.They spoke in ordinary tones, and did not start at the sound of everyrustling leaf.
"That's the last hunt I ever make up there," said Jim McGovern,turning about and glaring at the mountainous slope as though it haddone him a personal injury.
"I'm with you," replied Tom Wagstaff; "them as like to have theirbrains banged out by bucks ten feet high or chawed up by bears as bigas an elephant are welcome, but not any for me."
"I feel sort of that way myself," assented Bob; "it's the first timeI've tried it since I was a tot of a boy, but I've had enough to lastme for the next three hundred and eighty-five years. I hope Uncle Jimwon't ask too many questions about Hero, because he thought a gooddeal of that hound."
"He needn't ever know that he departed this life through a mysteriousdispensation of Providence," replied Jim; "all that it is necessary tolearn--and I don't know that there's any need of _that_--is thatHero went off on an exploring expedition and hasn't yet returned. Theparticulars of his shipwreck are unobtainable, as is often the casewith other explorers."
"Oh! I can manage it, I've no doubt, for I was never yet caught in ascrape that I couldn't get out of," was the cheerful response of BobBudd.
The day was well gone when the three reached their tent at the base ofMount Barclay, and they were glad enough to get back again.
During their absence Aunt Ruth had sent one of the hired men, as washer custom, with a liberal supply of delicacies, which were disposedof in the usual vigorous style of the three, who were honest when theyagreed that they had had enough hunting of bears and deer to last thema lifetime.
"If we could only manage the thing without so much work," said Bob,"we might find some fun in it; but we had to climb up that mountain,which is three times as high as I supposed, and when the danger came,why we hadn't our usual strength."
"I think we did pretty well," replied Tom Wagstaff, "but all the sameI don't believe it would read very well in print."
"Who's going to put it in print?" asked Bob; "we know too much to tellany one about it, or, if we did, we would get it in a shape that woulddo us proud."
"Well, being as we have had all we want of hunting, the next thingwill be--what?"
"Doing nothing," replied Wagstaff.
"We can do the next thing to that, which is just as good."
"What's that?" asked Bob.
"Fish; stretch out along-shore in the shade, where there's no dangerof rolling in, or go out in a boat and wait for the fish to bite, notcaring much whether they do or not. The best thing about fishing isthat you never have to tire yourself--"
"_Hark!_"
At that moment the three heard a prodigious roar, rapidly increasingin volume, until the air seemed to be filled with one continuousreverberating peal of thunder.
"Heaven save us!" exclaimed Bob Budd; "the dam has burst!"
"And it is coming down on us and we can't get out of its path!" addedwhite-faced Wagstaff.
He spoke the truth!