For the light they had not long to wait. The day broke almost as soon
as they had got well settled in their places; but the bear was likely to
delay them a little longer--though how long it was impossible to guess,
since his return to his sleeping quarters might depend on many
contingencies.
Formerly the Pyrenean bears--so the izzard-hunter said--were often met
with ranging about in the day-time; but that was when they were more
numerous, and less hunted. Now that they were scarce, and their skins
so highly prized--which, of course, led to their becoming scarcer every
day, and more shy too--they rarely ever left their hiding-place except
during the night, and in this way they contrived to escape the vigilance
of the hunters. As to the one they were waiting for, the hunter said he
might return earlier or later, according to whether he had been much
chased of late.
The exact time of his return, however, was soon after ascertained, by
the bear himself making his appearance right under their noses.
All at once, and in the most unexpected manner, the great quadruped came
shuffling up to the mouth of the cave. He was evidently moving under
some excitement, as if pursued, or alarmed by something he had seen in
the woods. It was perhaps the sight of the horses, or else the scent of
the hunters themselves--on whose track he appeared to have come.
Whatever it was, the party in the trees did not take time to consider,
or rather the bear did not give them time; for, the moment he reached
the entrance to his cave, and saw that it was blocked up, he gave
utterance to a terrific scream expressing disappointment, and turning in
his tracks, bounded off, as rapidly as he had come up!
The volley of four shots, fired from the trees, caused some of his fur
to fly off; and he was seen to stagger, as if about to fall. The
hunters raised a shout of triumph, thinking they had been successful;
but their satisfaction was short-lived: for, before the echoes of their
voices died along the cliff, the bear seemed once more to recover his
equilibrium, and ran steadily on.
Once or twice he was seen to stop, and face round to the trees--as if
threatening to charge towards them; but again resigning the intention,
he increased his speed, went off at a lumbering gallop, and was soon
lost to their sight.
The disappointed hunters rapidly descended from their perch; and letting
loose the dogs, started off on the trail. Somewhat to their surprise,
as well as gratification, it led near the place where they had left
their animals; and as they came up to these, they had proofs of the bear
having passed that way, by seeing all four, both ponies and mules,
dancing about, as if suddenly smitten with madness. The ponies were
"whighering," and the mules squealing, so that their owners had heard
them long before coming in sight of them. Fortunately the animals had
been securely fastened--else there was no knowing whither they would
have galloped, so panic-stricken did they appear.
Our hunters believed it a fortunate circumstance that the bear had gone
that way; for the guide assured them that there was no telling where he
would now stop; and as the chase might carry them for miles through the
mountains, they would have been compelled to take to their saddles
before starting upon it. The direction the bear had taken, therefore,
was just the one most convenient for his pursuers.
Staying no longer than to untie their animals, they once more mounted,
and kept after the dogs, whose yelping they could hear already some
distance in the advance.
As the izzard-hunter said, the Pyrenean bear, like his Norwegian cousin,
when started from his lair, often scours the country to a great distance
before making halt--not unfrequently deserting the ravine or
mountain-side, where he habitually dwells, and making for some other
place, where he anticipates finding greater security.
In this way he often puts his pursuers at fault--by passing over rocky
shingle, along ledges of cliffs, or up precipitous slopes, where neither
men nor dogs can safely follow him. This was just what they now had to
fear; for the guide well knew that the forest they were in was
surrounded on almost every side by rocky cliffs; and if the bear should
get up these, and make to the bald mountains above, they would stand a
good chance of losing him altogether.
But one hope the hunter had. He had perceived--as indeed they all had--
that several of their shots had hit the bear--and that he must be
severely wounded to have staggered as he had done. For this reason he
might seek a hiding-place in the forest, or perchance take to a tree.
Cheered by this hope, the pursuers pushed onward.
The conjecture proved to be a just one; for before they had gone half a
mile farther, a continuous barking sounded on their ears, which they
knew to be that of the dogs. They knew, moreover, by this sign, that
the bear had done one of three things--either taken to a tree, retreated
into a cave, or come to a stand in the open ground, and was keeping the
dogs at bay. Of the three conjectures, they desired that the first
should prove the correct one; and from the manner in which the dogs were
giving tongue, they had reason to hope that it would.
In effect, so it did; for, on getting a little closer, the two dogs were
seen bounding about the roots of an enormous tree, at intervals
springing up against its trunk, and barking at some object that had
taken refuge in the branches above.
Of course, this object could only be the bear; and under this belief,
the pursuers approached the tree--each holding his gun cocked and ready
to fire.
When they had got quite up to the tree, and stood under it, no bear was
to be seen! A large black mass was visible among the topmost branches;
but this was not the body of a bear: it was something altogether
different. The tree was one of gigantic size--the very largest they had
seen in the whole forest; it was a pine, of the species _sylvestris_,
with huge spreading limbs, and branches thickly covered with fascicles
of long leaves. In many places the foliage was dark and dense enough to
have afforded concealment to an animal of considerable size; but not one
so bulky as a bear; and had there been nothing else but the leaves and
branches to conceal him, a bear could not have found shelter in that
tree without being visible from below. And yet a bear was actually in
it--the very same bear they were in pursuit of--though not a bit of his
body--not even the tip of his snout, was visible to the eyes of the
hunters!
He was certainly there: for the dogs, who were not trusting to their
eyes, but to that in which they placed far more confidence--their
scent,--by their movements and behaviour, showed their positive belief
that Bruin was in the tree.
Perhaps you will fancy that the pine was a hollow one, and that the bear
had crept inside. Nothing of the kind: the tree was perfectly sound--
not even a knot-hole was visible either in its trunk or limbs. It was
not in a cavity that Bruin had been able to conceal himself.
There was no mystery whatever about their not seeing him: for as soon as
the hunters got fairly under the tree, and looked up, they perceived,
amidst its topmost branches, the dark object already mentioned; and as
the bear could be seen nowhere else in the tree, this object accounted
for his being invisible.
You will be wondering what it was; and so wondered our young hunters
when they first raised their eyes to it. It looked more like a stack of
faggots than aught else; and, indeed, very good faggots would it have
made: since it consisted of a large mass of dry sticks and branches,
resting in an elevated fork of the tree, and matted together into a
solid mass. There were enough to have made a load for an ordinary cart,
and so densely packed together, that only around the edges could the sky
be seen through them; towards the centre, and for a diameter as large as
a millstone, the mass appeared quite solid and black, not a ray of light
passing through the interwoven sticks.
"The nest of a lammergeyer!" exclaimed the izzard-hunter, the moment his
eye glanced up to it. "Just so!--my dogs are right: the bear has taken
shelter in the nest of the birds!"