"Nelly, ye-a-a-ow!" exclaimed Roy, yawning as he awoke on the following
morning from a dream, in which bears figured largely; "what a night I've
had of it, to be sure--fightin' like a mad buffalo with--" Here Roy
paused abruptly.
"Well, what were you fighting with?" asked Nell, with a smile that ended
in a yawn.
"I won't tell you just now, lass, as it might spoil your appetite for
breakfast. Set about getting that ready as fast as you can, for I want
to be off as soon as possible to visit my snares."
"I guess we shall have rabbits for dinner to-day."
"What are you going to do with the sled?" inquired Nelly, observing that
her brother was overhauling the lashings and drag-rope.
"Well, I set a lot o' snares, an' there's no sayin' how many rabbits may
have got into 'em. Besides, if the rabbits in them parts are
tender-hearted, a lot o' their relations may have died o' grief, so I
shall take the sled to fetch 'em all home!"
After breakfast Roy loaded his gun with ball, and putting on his
snow-shoes, sallied forth with an admonition to his sister to "have a
roarin' fire ready to cook a rare feast!"
Nelly laughingly replied, that she would, and so they parted.
The first part of Roy's journey that day led him through a
thickly-wooded part of the country. He went along with the quick, yet
cautious and noiseless, step of a hunter accustomed to the woods from
infancy. His thoughts were busy within him, and far away from the scene
in which he moved; yet, such is the force of habit, he never for a
moment ceased to cast quick, inquiring glances on each side as he went
along. Nothing escaped his observation.
"Oh, if I could only get a deer this day," thought he, "how scrumptious
it would be!"
What he meant by "scrumptious" is best known to himself, but at that
moment a large deer suddenly--perhaps scrumptiously!--appeared on the
brow of a ridge not fifty yards in advance of him. They had been both
walking towards each other all that forenoon. Roy, having no powers of
scent beyond human powers, did not know the fact, and as the wind was
blowing from the deer to the hunter, the former--gifted though he was
with scenting powers--was also ignorant of the approaching meeting.
One instant the startled deer stood in bewildered surprise. One instant
Roy paused in mute amazement. The next instant the deer wheeled round,
while Roy's gun leaped to his shoulder. There was a loud report,
followed by reverberating echoes among the hills, and the deer lay dead
on the snow.
The young hunter could not repress a shout of joy, for he not only had
secured a noble stag, but he had now a sufficiency of food to enable him
to resume his homeward journey.
His first impulse was to run back to the hut with the deer's tongue and
a few choice bits, to tell Nelly of his good fortune; but, on second
thoughts, he resolved to complete the business on which he had started.
Leaving the deer where it fell he went on, and found that the snares had
been very successful. Some, indeed, had been broken by the strength of
the boughs to which they had been fastened, and others remained as he
had set them; but above two-thirds of them had each a rabbit hung up by
the neck, so that the sled was pretty well loaded when all the snares
had been visited.
He had by this time approached the spot where the bear-trap was set, and
naturally began to grow a little anxious, for, although his chance of
success was very slight, his good fortune that morning had made him more
sanguine than usual.
There is a proverb which asserts that "it never rains but it pours." It
would seem to be a common experience of mankind that pieces of good
fortune, as well as misfortunes, come not singly. Whether the proverb
be true or no, this experience was realised by Roy on that day, for he
actually did find a bear in his trap! Moreover it was alive, and,
apparently, had only just been caught, for it struggled to free itself
with a degree of ferocity that was terrible to witness.
It was an ordinary black bear of considerable size and immense strength.
Heavy and thick though the trees were that lay on its back and crushed
it to the earth, it caused them to shake, leap, and quiver as though
they had been endowed with life. Roy was greatly alarmed, for he
perceived that at each successive struggle the brute was ridding itself
of the superincumbent load, while fierce growls and short gasps
indicated at once the wrath and the agony by which it was convulsed.
Roy had neglected to reload his piece after shooting the deer--a most
un-hunter-like error, which was the result of excitement. Thinking that
he had not time to load, he acted now on the first suggestion of his
bold spirit. Resting his gun against a tree, he drew the small axe that
hung at his belt and attacked the bear.
The first blow was well delivered, and sank deep into bruin's skull; but
that skull was thick, and the brain was not reached. A roar and a
furious struggle caused Roy to deliver his second blow with less effect,
but this partial failure caused his pugnacity to rise, and he
immediately rained down blows on the head and neck of the bear so fast
and furious that the snow was speedily covered with blood. In
proportion as Roy strove to end the conflict by vigorous and quick
blows, the bear tried to get free by furious efforts. He shook the
tree-stem that held him down so violently that one of the other trees
that rested on it fell off, and thus the load was lightened. Roy
observed this, and made a desperate effort to split the bear's skull.
In his haste he misdirected the blow, which fell not on the head but on
the neck, in which the iron head of the axe was instantly buried--a main
artery was severed, and a fountain of blood sprang forth. This was
fortunate, for the bear's strength was quickly exhausted, and, in less
than two minutes after, it sank dead upon the snow.
Roy sat down to rest and wipe the blood from his hands and garments, and
then, cutting off the claws of the animal as a trophy, he left it there
for a time. Having now far more than it was possible for him to drag to
the hut, he resolved to proceed thither with the rabbits, and bring
Nelly back to help him to drag home the deer.
"Well done, Roy," cried Nelly, clapping her hands, when her brother
approached with the sled-load of rabbits, "but you are covered with
blood. Have you cut yourself?"
She became nervously anxious, for she well knew that a bad cut on a
journey costs many a man his life, as it not only disables from
continuing the journey but from hunting for provisions.
"All right, Nell, but I've killed a deer--and--and--something else!
Come, lass, get on your snow-shoes and follow me. We'll drag home the
deer, and then see what is to be done with the--"
"Oh, _what_ is it? do tell!" cried Nell, eagerly.
"Well, then, it's a bear!"
"Nonsense!--tell me true, now."
"That's the truth, Nell, as you shall see, and here are the claws. Look
sharp, now, and let's off."
Away went these two through the snow, until they came to where the deer
had been left. It was hard work to get it lashed on the sled, and much
harder work to drag it over the snow, but by dint of perseverance and
resolution they got it home. They were so fatigued, however, that it
was impossible to think of doing the same with the bear. This was a
perplexing state of things, for Roy had observed a wolf-track when out,
and feared that nothing but the bones would be left in the morning.
"What _is_ to be done?" said Nelly, with that pretty air of utter
helplessness which she was wont to assume when she felt that her brother
was the proper person to decide.