A TROUBLESOME GRIZZLY
They had sat up so late the night before that neither Hugh nor Jack was
astir very early next morning, and the sun was well above the horizon
before they started west toward the high ridge which lay between them
and the main snowy range.
The horses were now so accustomed to traveling together that they
needed no driving, and Jack and Hugh rode side by side ahead of the
packs, though every now and then Jack looked back to see that the
animals were coming on well. Occasionally an animal would stop and lag
a little, and graze alongside the trail, but usually a shout from Jack
would cause it to stop feeding, and it would trot along until it had
overtaken the others. Each morning about an hour after starting, when
the ropes had stretched a little, the train was halted and the lashings
tightened upon all the animals, and after that they needed no attention.
Of course, if a bad stream or a very steep ravine had to be crossed,
Jack dropped behind and followed the pack animals, but the packing was
so well done that it was very seldom they had to give any attention to
the loads.
As they rode along Hugh said to Jack: "If we had a big train or heavy
loads, I would go 'round the point of the hog-back, which would make us
travel five or six miles further but would be a good deal easier on the
horses, but our animals are fat and strong, and lightly loaded, and we
may as well make the cut-off and cross the ridge."
The ascent of the hog-back was steep at first, but then became more
gradual. Several times during the climb they stopped to let the horses
breathe. On the way up, several big buck antelope were seen, each one
feeding alone, but as they were all at some little distance from the
trail, Jack thought it better to let them alone, on the chance later of
getting a shot which would require less time.
They had nearly reached the crest of the ridge when Hugh, waving his
hand toward the west, remarked, "I thought so; the range is afire,"
and Jack could plainly see the smoke rising some ten or fifteen miles
distant. A little further on they could see the whole range, and found
that everywhere to the south it was on fire, and that the fire seemed
to be moving northward. Columns and masses of thick white smoke rose
from the mountains in many places, and were rolling steadily along from
south to north.
The fire seemed to be chiefly on the lower slopes of the mountains.
Above it could be seen the green timber, and above that again gray
rocks bare of vegetation, whitened a little further up by occasional
patches of snow, and still higher were great fields of snow, pure and
shining when touched by the rays of the sun, but seeming gray and
soiled where shadowed by clouds or by a column of ascending smoke.
"No use to think of hunting there, is there, Hugh?" asked Jack.
"Not any, son," replied Hugh. "We'll have to strike into the hills
somewhere else. But look at that beaver meadow this side of the
mountain."
Jack lowered his eyes to the valley, and was astonished at what he
saw. There, spreading over miles and miles, north and south, was a
great carpet of green, bordered on either side by the gray and yellow
prairie, and intersected by a thousand tiny streams that glistened in
the sunlight. It looked like a vast carpet of emerald velvet over which
had been spread an irregular net of silver cords.
Beautiful it was, but the most astonishing thing about it all was
its great size. It seemed to stretch north and south for ten or
fifteen miles, and east and west for half as many. The view presented
astonishing contrasts in the aspect of the mountains, snow-capped,
timber-clad, and fire-swept; and not less in the lower land, with its
opposites of arid sage brush prairie, and of watered, verdant meadow.
Jack turned to Hugh: "That's the most wonderful thing I've seen since
I've been out West, Hugh. Did you ever see anything like it?"
"Well," said Hugh, "it's sure a pretty sight, but I wouldn't want to
say that it was the prettiest thing that I'd ever seen. One sees a
whole lot of fine sights out in this country. 'Pears to me I've heard
you say a good many times that different things are the most wonderful
things you'd ever seen."
"Well," said Jack, "that's so. I never get through wondering at the
sights here in the mountains, and I don't suppose it's true that each
thing is more wonderful than anything else I've ever seen, but I do
keep being surprised at all these beautiful sights."
"Well," said Hugh, "what do you think of stopping off at the first
water we come to, and taking off the loads and letting the horses rest
while we cook a cup of coffee?"
"That will suit me, Hugh," said Jack, "but I'd like to stop somewhere
so I can look at this show that is spread out in front of us."
"We can do that all right," said Hugh, "and I think over in that little
ravine just below us we'll find some water. There are some willows down
there, and that must mean a spring somewhere near."
They started on, Jack following behind to keep the horses up and to
catch them when they got to the stopping place.
Hugh kept on down the slope, and then turning short to the right
descended into the ravine. He had got part way down the slope when
suddenly his horse threw forward his ears and stopped. Two of the pack
horses turned at right angles and began to climb the sides of the
ravine. At the same moment, from under a cedar just ahead of Hugh, a
bear sprang up and rushed down the ravine. Jack caught a glimpse of the
animal, and saw Hugh throw his rifle to his shoulder and fire, but as
the black horse was trying to run, Jack was not sure that the shot had
told. Jack spurred his own horse up the side of the ravine where the
pack horses had gone, and in a moment was high enough to see portions
of the ravine down which the bear had run. He wheeled Pawnee so that he
could shoot handily, and having loaded his rifle, sat there watching
for the bear.
Suddenly it appeared, and he could see it while it ran twenty-five or
thirty yards along the ravine. It was a hundred and fifty yards off,
but he threw his rifle to his shoulder, and aiming high and well ahead
of the bear, fired. The animal turned a somersault at the shot, and
then regained its footing and disappeared.
Hugh, meantime, had galloped on down the ravine, and a moment of two
later his rifle spoke again.
Jack was strongly tempted to ride down and see what had happened, but
feeling that it was now too late to do anything, and that the bear
had either been killed or had escaped, he rode round the pack horses
and drove them on down the ravine, following Hugh's course. Presently
he came to a place where some willows grew at the side of a patch of
green grass, and there out of the bottom of the bluff bubbled a spring
of clear water. Jack tasted it and found it sweet and good, and then
caught up the pack horses and tied them to the willows.
A few moments later Hugh galloped back, dismounted, and said: "Well,
let's take the packs off here," and in a few moments the horses were
relieved from their loads, and were turned loose on the green grass,
with their hackamores dragging.
Jack saw that Hugh had blood on his hands, but forebore to ask any
questions. He felt sure that presently Hugh would tell what had
happened.
"Now, son," said Hugh, "we've got quite a job on our hands skinning
that bear. It's a good-sized fellow, and you know that skinning a bear
is a good deal of a job."
"Where is he?" said Jack.
"About a half mile down that little valley, right in the open. He's
got a fine hide and we want to save it. It ought to mean eight or ten
dollars to us. Suppose we go right down there and take his jacket off,
and then come back and eat and pack up and go on. That's going to cut
off your looking at the scenery, but we can't afford to waste that
bear's hide."
"No," said Jack, "you're dead right, of course. Let's go and do it now.
We can look at scenery 'most any time, but we don't get bears every
day. How was he hit, Hugh?" Jack went on. "There were only three shots
fired."
"I guess they all hit him," said Hugh. "My horse was hopping round so
when I fired the first shot that I expected I'd miss him clean, but I
don't think I did. I shot him too far back and too high up. When the
ball hit him he fell and bit himself, and then got up and kept on. I
started after him, but just then he disappeared round a point, and when
I got up to it he was away ahead of me. Then you shot and you hit him,
because he fell again and then got up and went on again, but he was
hard hit then and going slowly, and before long I got up to him and
killed him. The hide is in good order, and we are pretty lucky to get
it."
The two mounted and rode down the valley, presently reaching the bear,
which, as Hugh said, was a big one with a beautiful long coat of
shining brown. The long claws of the fore-feet showed that he was a
grizzly and a very large and handsome specimen.
The next hour and a half was spent in skinning the bear, and long
before this operation was finished, Hugh and Jack were tired and more
or less covered with grease.
"This will be good practice, son, if we get any beaver," said Hugh.
"You see, in skinning a beaver you've got to work just as you do on
this bear. You can't do any stripping; every inch of hide you take off
has got to be cut free from the fat that lies under it, and as you see,
that's a mighty long, slow business."
"I should say it was," said Jack, "and a mighty greasy business, too.
It seems to me as if I was all covered with oil, and I am, up to my
elbows, and my face, too. Seems to me my face never itched before as it
does now, and when I rub it with my greasy hands of course my face gets
all grease, too."
"Yes," said Hugh, "it's a very different thing skinning a bear or
beaver, from skinning a deer or a buffalo, but this is just a part of
the game, son, and this hide will pay us good wages for the trouble
we've been to."
"There," Hugh went on, as he made a last cut, "that hide is free on
this side down to the middle of the back. How are you getting on on
your side?"
"I've got a lot more to do," said Jack.
"All right," said Hugh, and he came around to Jack's side and began to
help him, and presently it seemed as if the hide were free throughout.
"Now," said Hugh, "I tried to lift and drag that bear just after he was
dead, and I couldn't stir it, and I don't believe you and I can do any
better now; let's try."
They took hold of the bear's hind-legs and tried to lift and pull the
carcass off the hide, but it was too heavy for them to move.
"Well," said Hugh, "get your rope off Pawnee and we'll see what a horse
can do."
When Jack had brought his lariat, it was knotted about the hind-legs
of the bear, and then after tightening the cinches of his saddle, Jack
mounted, took a double turn of the rope around his saddle horn, and
then slowly started Pawnee up the valley while Hugh took hold of the
bear's hide to keep it in place. The carcass began to slide off the
hide, and Hugh with his knife made two or three last cuts, which freed
the hide from the carcass, and presently the hide lay there spread out
flesh side up. After the rope had been untied from the carcass, the two
went over the hide with their knives scraping away all the fat that
they could get off, and presently Hugh declared that it was in shape to
be spread and dried.
"We're likely to have some trouble getting this on a pack, because, of
course, no horse likes to pack a bear hide, but I guess we can do it
all right. Instead of taking it back to where we left the horses, let's
spread it out here and bring one of the animals down here and load it
on him."
"All right," said Jack, "and now let's get back to camp. I feel like
having a wash."
Returning to the horses it took some little time with water, mud, and
sand--for, of course, the soap was in the pack and they did not want to
open it--to cleanse themselves of the grease from the bear. The smell
of the beast they could not get rid of, and this gave them some trouble
when they were catching and loading their animals, for the horses
snorted and jumped and pulled back when they caught the scent of either
of the two. However, at last they had their lunch, and then loaded
their horses, and went down to the bear skin.
As Hugh had said, the matter of loading it was not easily performed. It
was first lashed up into a secure package, to be put on as a top pack,
and then the lightest loaded of the horses was brought up to it. The
horse did not like it a bit, but at length by blindfolding him with a
coat tied about his head, he stood quietly enough for Hugh to place the
load on his back, but Jack was obliged to hold the rope, for the horse,
notwithstanding his blindfolding, kept stepping about and was very
uneasy.
Hugh managed to tie the skin on so that it would stay, and then Jack,
going around to the off side, helped to put on the lash rope firmly.
When they took off the coat, however, and the horse saw what was on his
back, he bucked fiercely all over the meadow, and would have stampeded
the other horses when he passed near them if it had not been that Hugh
and Jack, both mounted, had a firm hold on their ropes.
At last the horse became tired of bucking, but its fears were not
quieted, for every little while it would look back at its pack and
snort and rush here and there, much afraid of the load it was carrying.
"That bear skin is going to make us a lot of trouble, son," said Hugh,
"and the sooner we get it dried so that some of the smell will be gone
out of it, the better it will be for us. Let's go on now to the edge
of that beaver meadow and camp there. We'll have to spend a day or two
drying this hide and getting the horses used to it."
For the rest of the day they had much trouble with their horses, for
every time the trail crooked around so that the odor of the bear skin
was carried to the other horses of the train, there was a scattering,
and Jack had to round up the animals and bring them back again.
It was nearly dark when they finally camped at a little spring at the
border of the beaver meadow, where a little clump of cottonwood trees
gave shelter and wood for the campfire.
Not long before they reached the stopping place, dark clouds had begun
to rise over the mountains to the west, and gradually the whole
western sky became overcast.
"Looks like we were going to have a rain storm," said Hugh; "and I
wish we might, and a good hard one. It would put out the fire on the
mountains and cleanse the air of the smoke."
"Yes," replied Jack, "I wish it would rain. I hate to see all that
timber burning. It will take a long time for the mountains to become
green again."
"Yes," said Hugh, "many and many a year; and sometimes, of course,
after the fire has gone over the hills like that they never again are
covered with timber. I have seen mountains way down in the south-west
that at one time must have been covered with splendid great trees, and
then had been burned over and no trees ever grew there again. There are
big logs lying on the hillside now that are all that is left of those
old forests, but no sign of any new timber springing up anywhere."
"Well, how long ago were those mountains burned over?" asked Jack.
"You can't prove it by me," said Hugh. "I've asked that question a good
many times, and I have never found anybody that was old enough to know
anything about when the fires took place. It must have been long, long
ago."
"But why don't those old logs that you were speaking about, rot and
disappear?" asked Jack.
"I'll tell you why," said Hugh. "It's because that country is so dry. I
don't believe more than six inches of rain falls there in the year, and
nothing ever rots; things just dry up and lie there, getting drier and
drier all the time."
"And yet," said Jack, "when we came down through the mountains from
the north, we saw lots of country that had been burned, and almost
everywhere a lot of new green timber was springing up to take the
place of the old burnt tree trunks that were getting ready to fall."
"That's so," replied Hugh; "but I remember that we passed over some
places where the forests had been burned, where there was no sign at
all of anything growing, no sign of any soil; nothing except the bare
gravel or the rock."
"Yes," said Jack, "I remember that, too."
"I reckon it's like this," explained Hugh. "If the fire passes over the
country quickly and just burns or kills the standing trees and doesn't
heat the soil too much, then the seeds that have been dropped by the
trees and are lying hidden in the soil, sprout and new timber grows
up, but if the fire catches in the soil of the forest, which you know
is made up of the needles and branches and cones of the pine trees,
and if that soil is dry enough so that it will burn, then the fire
keeps creeping through it, burning it where it's dry enough to burn, or
heating it where it's too damp, and so all the seeds that are lying in
it are either burned or cooked, and there is nothing left to sprout.
Then after that, a few years of rain storms will wash away all the
soil, and as there's nothing left on the mountain to furnish seeds, no
timber ever grows. I take it, a great deal depends on the condition of
the soil at the time the fire goes through. If it's dry, the seeds of
the trees are likely to be killed. If it's damp, they're likely to live
after the fire has passed and to send up another crop of trees."
"It seems an awful shame, Hugh, that all this timber should be
destroyed and all game should be driven out. Of course, the timber has
no commercial value now. I suppose it's too far from any market, and
there's no way to get it out."
"No," said Hugh, "you couldn't sell it for anything, of course, but
the time will come, I expect, when there'll be some use for all this
timber. This country is going to fill up with people sometime, and
those people will need houselogs, corral poles, and fence-posts; and
then besides that, nobody knows what mines may not be found in these
mountains; and if mines ever are found and worked, there is going to be
a lot of lumber needed to timber them with."
When the camp was reached the western sky looked very threatening, and
Hugh said to Jack, "Now, son, let us get these loads off as quick as we
can and picket the horses, and then we'll get the tent up. I reckon we
are going to be rained on to-night, and we may as well sleep as dry as
we can."
It took but a few minutes to throw the loads off the horses, and to
picket them, and immediately the little tent was raised and the beds
and packs got under cover. By this time it was dark, and over the
mountain-tops to the west could be seen lightning flashes, playing far
above the red glow of the forest fire.
"Yes," said Hugh, as he looked toward the mountains, "I believe that
rain will come pretty near putting that fire out to-night. At all
events it will check it."
The storm advanced toward them, and presently the light of the fire
grew dimmer as the rain passed over it and advanced toward the valley.
Supper had hardly been cooked when the first few drops reached them,
and after piling plenty of wood on the fire, they retreated to the
tent to eat. It was a hard thunder storm, and before long flashes of
lightning were thick all over the sky and the thunder was crashing and
rattling above their heads.
"I don't believe we'll get drowned out here to-night," said Hugh, "for
this place where we've camped is a few inches higher than anything
round about it, but we may find our things pretty damp in the morning,
for this hard rain sifts through even good canvas like this," and he
pointed to the tent above them.
"There's one thing you want to look out for when you are camping in a
dry country, son," he went on; "don't ever camp down in a ravine, no
matter how dry it may seem to be. I've known three or four cases where
a lot of fellows camped in a nice grassy spot in the middle of a ravine
and along during the night there came a cloud-burst somewhere up on the
high prairie, and the water came rolling down the ravine and floated
all the fellows off. I guided a party of scientific chaps one time that
did just that. The ravine was dry when they went to sleep, and they
were washed away during the night, and the next morning the ravine was
pretty nearly dry again, but they spent two or three days traveling
down that gulch, picking up their things that had been carried away by
the water and digging them out of the mud and sand. Some of the men
might easily enough have got drowned if the storm had lasted a little
longer."
"Well, Hugh," said Jack, "why did you not tell them not to camp in such
a place."
"I did," said Hugh, "but they laughed at me, and thought that because
there wasn't any water there then, and hadn't been for a long time,
there never would be any. I took my blankets and slept on a little
point eight or ten feet above the bottom of the ravine and the water
never got to me, but I had to laugh at two or three of the young
fellows who waded out close to my bed. Of course, it was dark and
they didn't know where they were, nor what had happened. I heard them
calling and shouting to each other, and before that I had heard the
water coming, so that I knew what was taking place, but I could not do
anything to help any of them."
"Well, after that, Hugh, I expect those men had more respect for your
advice, didn't they?" said Jack.
"Well," said Hugh, "I don't know but they did."