CHAPTER XIII.
AN ISLAND LIFE.
Tom was awakened by the sun streaming down into his face. It camethrough the vent-hole in the roof. At first he could not recall forthe life of him where he was, and for a time thought that the venthole was the port hole of his cabin, oddly misplaced by some accidentto the roof. But he soon realized all that had happened, and arousedthe others, who at first were equally confused.
"The steward has called for breakfast!" said Tom laughing.
"Humph! And where is the breakfast coming from?" grunted Sandy,looking at the remains of the fried fish and thinking of the scantstore of crackers and tinned beef that remained.
The others did not reply to this, and Tom devoted himself todressing. As he had taken off only his outer garments, this did nottake long. Shoving open the door he looked outside.
"Gee whiz, fellows, a dandy day!" he exclaimed. "Clear as a bell andthe sea is quite calm."
In a few minutes the others joined Tom at the door. They stood lookingabout a while, when suddenly a loud splash not far off made them allexclaim.
"What was that?" asked Jack.
"Don't know. Sounded like somebody throwing a big rock into thewater," was Tom's reply.
"It did, too," declared Sandy. "Hark! there it is again!"
"It's down by the creek," announced Tom. "I tell you what, fellows,it's fish!"
"Fish!"
"Surely. Fish leaping. Big ones, too, by the sound of them."
Two or three more splashes came while the boys were talking. Theyhurried down to the creek, and as they went they noted that a greatcloud of crows and ravens were hovering above it. Wondering greatlywhat all this could mean, they quickened their footsteps.
Arrived at the creek, they found the shallow sand bar between itsmouth and the sea all aboil with confusion. Masses of fish seemed tobe trying to get from the sea into the creek. All at once a great fisheagle swooped down out of a cottonwood on the opposite side of thecreek. It struck the water with a splash. There was a brief struggleand then the bird of prey shot upward again. In its talons it held asilver-scaled fish of large size.
"Well, he's going to breakfast all right," remarked Jack ruefully."My, what a whumping big fish!"
"No wonder: it was a salmon," declared Tom. "This must be the seasonwhen they rush up into the rivers to spawn."
"Look! there's lots of them wriggling about on the sand bar!" criedJack.
"Hookey! So there are. If only we could grab some of them we'd solvethe breakfast problem in jig-time."
All this time Sandy had been quietly whittling a long stick to a sharppoint. Now he rushed suddenly forward, wading waist deep in the creekto the sand bar. Half a dozen salmon lay wriggling there, theirsilvery scales flashing in the sun. Sandy's arm holding the spear shotup and then descended, spearing one of the stranded fish. Before hecould strike again, the others had escaped and joined the rest of the"run" in their mad rush up the creek for their spawning grounds. Witha cry of triumph Sandy came ashore again and received thecongratulations of his comrades. Broiled salmon and the remainder ofthe crackers formed their breakfast, which they ate with much gusto.
The food problem appeared to be solved by the salmon run and theother fish with which the creek abounded; but a bread supply offered afurther puzzle. However, the boys did not worry much about this at thetime. After breakfast they visited the dory and found everything allright with the boat.
"I don't know that we'll be so badly off here for a time," said Tom.
"Yes, but we can't stay here forever," objected Jack gloomily.
"Oh, dinna fear but they'll find us oot," declared Sandy hopefully."What do you say if we hoist up a flag on the point yonder?"
"That's a good idea," declared Tom, "but in any event we won't stayhere long. If no help comes before many days, we'll set out in thedory and keep along the coast till we reach some settlement where wecan get into communication with our friends."
The flag question bothered them sadly for a time, but it was solved byutilizing an old bit of canvas that was in the dory. With this theyimprovised a signal, affixing it to a tall limb of a tree which theyhad lopped off and anchored on the rocky point by piling stones aboutits base.
They were coming back from this task, having vainly scanned the seafor a sail, when Tom halted suddenly and pointed toward the hillsidethat sloped upward behind the hut. The others likewise came to astandstill at his sudden exclamation.
Among the bushes, which grew thickly on the lower part of the slope,some large animal was moving. A glimpse of a shaggy back could be seenand the bushes waved and swayed as some big body came lumberingthrough them.
"What can it be?" wondered Jack, round-eyed, gazing at thedisturbance.
The mystery was soon explained and in no very pleasant way. Out intoan open space there suddenly emerged the huge, clumsy form of anenormous bear. It was almost as big as a colt, and shaggy andferocious looking.
"O-o-oh!" cried Sandy, his cheeks turning white.
There was good reason for the boys to feel scared. The bears of KadiakIsland are the largest in the world. The specimen the boys were nowgazing at with awestruck faces was a giant even among his own kind.
"Cracky!" cried Jack. "That fellow could eat us all without salt.What'll we do?"
"Get back to the hut as soon as possible. We must make a detour toavoid him," decided Tom quickly.
"Is he after us do you think?" asked Sandy.
"No, I guess he's come after salmon. See, he's heading for the creek."
"Wow! Christmas!" yelled Jack suddenly. "Look, there come two more!"
Out of the brush from which the first bear had emerged there came twomore shaggy, lumbering brutes. One was quite tiny, plainly a cub. Thelarger animal, which was a sort of yellowish-gray color, the boysguessed to be the little fellow's mother. It certainly was an excitingmoment as, crouching behind a friendly patch of brier bushes, the boyswatched the mother and cub join the head of the family.
Luckily the wind was blowing offshore, that is from the bears towardthe boys. But, nevertheless, the great animals appeared suspicious.The mother stopped suddenly and sat up on her haunches. Then she beganswaying a huge head from side to side as if puzzled. But evidently hersuspicions were lulled soon afterward, for after a few minutes in thisattitude of listening, she dropped on all fours and the three bearsbegan to advance once more.
"Now's our chance," declared Tom as the bears vanished in the tall,thick growth between the hillside and the creek.
The boys raced down the hill at top speed. They were between thebears and the sea, and it was their object to cross the creek and gainthe hut on the further side before the bears sighted them. They madegood time and reached the creek and crossed it, while the bears werestill in the thick growth.
They reached the hut and Tom closed the door. Then the boys exchangedblank glances. Unless the bears went away they would be prisoners, forthe hut was quite visible from the creek. Tom found a peephole in thesod covering of the shack and peered through. Then he beckoned to theothers. The bears had reached the creek and were fishing. The oldmother sat in midstream with her offspring beside her, while fatherbear was further up the creek on a sand bar.
Serious as their position was, the boys could hardly help laughing atthe antics of the old bear and her cub. The cub was apparentlylearning to fish. And it was not an easy lesson. His mother proved ahard task mistress. The boys could see her long hairy paw swoop out inscoop fashion, land a fine salmon and throw it up on the bank. The cubwanted to start for the bank every time this was done. But the oldlady would have none of this.
Every time it happened, she raised her huge paw and struck the cub abox on the ears that knocked him into the water. He would get upwhining and crying pitifully and then try to fish on his own account.But his small paws failed to land the fish. All his efforts werefailures. At last his mother appeared to relent. She waded ashorefollowed by Master Bruin, who was then allowed to regale himself onthe pile of fish the ol
d bear had landed.
While both mother and son were eating greedily, up came the old fatherbear. He, apparently, was not much of a success at fishing. At anyrate, with growls and blows he drove his wife and son away from theirpile of fish and pitched into it himself. His blows must have had theforce of a sledge hammer, for huge as she was, the mother bear reeledunder them.
"One of those blows would mean good-night to the strongest man thatever lived," declared Tom.
"And to think that if they don't go away we've got to stick in here,or run the risk of getting a dose of the same medicine or worse,"groaned Jack despairingly.
"Hoot, mon, we're nae sae safe even in here," put in Sandy. "We'recaught in a fine trap and yon bears hae the key."