"Well, then," began Redwood, "the thing I'm agoin' to tell you about,
happened to me when I war a younker, long afore I ever thought I was a
coming out hyar upon the parairas. I wan't quite growed at the time,
though I was a good chunk for my age.
"It war up thar among the mountains in East Tennessee, whar this child
war raised, upon the head waters of the Tennessee River.
"I war fond o' huntin' from the time that I war knee high to a duck, an'
I can jest remember killin' a black bar afore I war twelve yeer old. As
I growed up, the bar had become scacer in them parts, and it wan't every
day you could scare up such a varmint, but now and then one ud turn up.
"Well, one day as I war poking about the crik bottom (for the shanty
whar my ole mother lived war not on the Tennessee, but on a crik that
runs into it), I diskivered bar sign. There war tracks o' the bar's
paws in this mud, an' I follered them along the water edge for nearly a
mile--then the trail turned into about as thickety a bottom as I ever
seed anywhar. It would a baffled a cat to crawl through it.
"After the trail went out from the crik and towards the edge o' this
thicket, I lost all hopes of follerin' it further, as the ground was
hard, and covered with donicks, and I couldn't make the tracks out no
how. I had my idea that the bar had tuk the thicket, so I went round
the edge of it to see if I could find whar he had entered.
"For a long time I couldn't see a spot whar any critter as big as a bar
could a-got in without makin' some sort o' a hole, and then I begun to
think the bar had gone some other way, either across the crik or further
down it.
"I war agoin' to turn back to the water, when I spied a big log lyin'
half out o' the thicket, with one eend buried in the bushes. I noticed
that the top of this log had a dirty look, as if some animal had tramped
about on it; an' on goin' up and squintin' at it a little closter, I
seed that that guess war the right one.
"I clomb the log, for it war a regular rouster, bigger than that 'n we
had so much useless trouble with, and then I scrammelled along the top
o' it in the direction of the brush. Thar I seed the very hole whar the
bar had got into the thicket, and thar war a regular beaten-path runnin'
through the brake as far as I could see.
"I jumped off o' the log, and squeezed myself through the bramble. It
war a trail easy enough to find, but mighty hard to foller, I can tell
ye. Thar war thistles, and cussed stingin' nettles, and briars as thick
as my wrist, with claws upon them as sharp as fish-hooks. I pushed on,
howsomever, feelin' quite sartin that sich a well-used track must lead
to the bar's den, an' I war safe enough to find it. In coorse I
reckoned that the critter had his nest in some holler tree, and I could
go home for my axe, and come back the next morning--if smoking failed to
git him out.
"Well, I poked on through the thicket a good three hundred yards,
sometimes crouching, and sometimes creeping on my hands and knees. I
war badly scratched, I tell you, and now and then I jest thought to
myself, what would be the consyquince if the bar should meet me in that
narrow passage. We'd a had a tough tussel, I reckon--but I met no bar.
"At last the brash grew thinner, and jest as I was in hopes I might
stumble on the bar tree, what shed I see afore me but the face o' a
rocky bluff, that riz a consid'able height over the crik bottom. I
begun to fear that the varmint had a cave, and so, cuss him! he had--a
great black gulley in the rocks was right close by, and thar was his
den, and no mistake. I could easily tell it by the way the clay and
stones had been pattered over by his paws.
"Of coorse, my tracking for that day war over, and I stood by the mouth
of the cave not knowin' what to do. I didn't feel inclined to go in.
"After a while I bethought me that the bar mout come out, an' I laid
myself squat down among the bushes facing the cave. I had my gun ready
to give him a mouthful of lead, as soon as he should show his snout
outside o' the hole.
"'Twar no go. I guess he had heard me when I first come up, and know'd
I war thar. I laid still until 'twar so dark I thought I would never
find my way back agin to the crik; but, after a good deal of scramblin'
and creepin' I got out at last, and took my way home.
"It warn't likely I war agoin' to give that bar up. I war bound to
fetch him out o' his boots if it cost me a week's hunting. So I
returned the next morning to the place, and lay all day in front o' the
cave. No bar appeared, an' I went back home a cussin'.
"Next day I come again, but this time I didn't intend to stay. I had
fetched my axe with me wi' the intention of riggin' up a log trap near
the mouth o' the cave. I had also fetched a jug o' molasses and some
yeers o' green corn to bait the trap, for I know'd the bar war fond o'
both.
"Well, I got upon the spot, an' makin' as leetle rumpus as possible, I
went to work to build my trap. I found some logs on the ground jest the
scantlin, and in less than an hour I hed the thing rigged an' the
trigger set. 'Twan't no small lift to get up the big log, but I managed
it wi' a lever I had made, though it took every pound o' strength in my
body. If it come down on the bar I knew it would hold him.
"Well, I had all ready except layin' the bait; so I crawled in, and was
fixin' the green yeers and the 'lasses, when, jest at that moment, what
shed I hear behind me but the `sniff' o' the bar!
"I turned suddently to see. I had jest got my eye on the critter
standin' right in the mouth o' his cave, when I feeled myself struck
upon the buttocks, and flattened down to the airth like a pancake!
"At the first stroke I thought somebody had hit me a heavy blow from
behind, and I wish it had been that. It war wusser than that. It war
the log had hit me, and war now lying with all its weight right acrosst
my two leg's. In my hurry to git round I had sprung the trigger, and
down comed the infernal log on my hams.
"At fust I wan't scared, but I war badly hurt. I thought it would be
all right as soon as I had crawled out, and I made an attempt to do so.
It was then that I become scared in airnest; for I found that I couldn't
crawl out. My legs were held in such a way that I couldn't move them,
and the more I pulled the more I hurt them. They were in pain already
with the heavy weight pressin' upon them, and I couldn't bear to move
them. No more could I turn myself. I war flat on my face, and couldn't
slew myself round any way, so as to get my hands at the log. I war
fairly catched in my own trap!
"It war jest about then I began to feel scared. Thar wan't no
settlement in the hul crik bottom but my mother's old shanty, an' that
were two miles higher up. It war as unlikely a thing as could happen
that anybody would be passing that way. And unless some one did I saw
no chance of gettin' clar o' the scrape I war in. I could do nothin'
for myself.
"I hollered as loud as I could, and that frightened the bar into his
cave again. I hollered for an hour, but I could hear no reply, and then
I war still a bit, and then I hollered again, an' kept this up pretty
much for the hul o' that blessed day.
"Thar wan't any answer but the echo o' my own shoutin', and the whoopin'
of the owls that flew about over my head, and appeared as if they war
mockin' me.
"I had no behopes of any relief comin' from home. My ole mother had
nobody but myself, and she wan't like to miss me, as I'd often stayed
out a huntin' for three or four days at a time. The only chance I had,
and I knew it too, war that some neighbour might be strayin' down the
crik, and you may guess what sort o' chance that war, when I tell you
thar wan't a neighbour livin' within less than five mile o' us. If no
one come by I knew I must lay there till I died o' hunger and rotted, or
the bar ate me up.
"Well, night come, and night went. 'Twar about the longest night this
child remembers. I lay all through it, a sufferin' the pain, and
listening to the screechin' owls. I could a screeched as loud as any of
them if that would a done any good. I heerd now and then the snuffin'
o' the bar, and I could see thar war two o' them. I could see thar big
black bodies movin' about like shadows, and they appeared to be gettin'
less afeerd o' me, as they come close at times, and risin' up on their
hind-quarters stood in front o' me like a couple o' black devils.
"I begun to get afeerd they would attack me, and so I guess they would
a-done, had not a circumstance happened that put them out o' the notion.
"It war jest grey day, when one o' them come so clost that I expected to
be attacked by him. Now as luck would have it, my rifle happened to be
lyin' on the ground within reach. I grabbed it without saying a word,
and slewin' up one shoulder as high as I could, I was able to sight the
bar jest behind the fore leg. The brute wan't four feet from the
muzzle, and slap into him went wad and all, and down he tumbled like a
felled ox. I seed he war as dead as a buck.
"Well, badly as I war fixed, I contrived to get loaded again, for I
knowed that bars will fight for each other to the death; and I thought
the other might attack me. It wan't to be seen at the time, but shortly
after it come upon the ground from the direction of the crik.
"I watched it closely as it shambled up, having my rifle ready all the
while. When it first set eyes on its dead comrade it gave a loud snort,
and stopped. It appeared to be considerably surprised. It only halted
a short spell, and then, with a loud roar, it run up to the carcass, and
sniffed at it.
"I hain't the least o' a doubt that in two seconds more it would
a-jumped me, but I war too quick for it, and sent a bullet right plum
into one of its eyes, that come out again near the back o' its neck.
That did the business, and I had the satisfaction to see it cowollop
over nearly on top o' the other 'n.
"Well, I had killed the bars, but what o' that. That wouldn't get me
from under the log; and what wi' the pain I was sufferin', and the poor
prospect o' bein' relieved, I thought I mout as well have let them eat
me.
"But a man don't die so long as he can help it, I b'lieve, and I
detarmined to live it out while I could. At times I had hopes and
shouted, and then I lost hope and lay still again.
"I grew as hungry as a famished wolf. The bars were lying right before
me, but jest beyond reach, as if to tantylise me. I could have ate a
collop raw if I could a-got hold of it, but how to reach it war the
difeeculty.
"Needcesity they say is the mother o' invention; and I set myself to
invent a bit. Thar war a piece o' rope I had brought along to help me
wi' the trap, and that I got my claws on.
"I made a noose on one eend o' it, and after about a score o' trials I
at last flung the noose over the head o' one o' the bars, and drew it
tight. I then sot to work to pull the bar nearer. If that bar's neck
wan't well stretched I don't know what you'd call stretchin', for I
tugged at it about an hour afore I could get it within reach. I did get
it at last, and then with my knife I cut out the bar's tongue, and ate
it raw.
"I had satisfied one appetite, but another as bad, if not wusser,
troubled me. That war thirst--my throat war as dry as a corn cob, and
whar was the water to come from. It grew so bad at last that I thought
I would die of it. I drawed the bar nearer me, and cut his juglar to
see if thar war any relief from that quarter. Thar wan't. The blood
war froze up thick as liver. Not a drop would run.
"I lay coolin' my tongue on the blade o' my knife an' chawin' a bullet,
that I had taken from my pouch. I managed to put in the hul of the next
day this away, now and then shoutin' as hard as I could. Towards the
evenin' I grew hungry again, and ate a cut out o' the cheek o' the bar;
but I thought I would a-choked for want o' water.
"I put in the night the best way I could. I had the owls again for
company, and some varmint came up and smelt at the bars; but was
frightened at my voice, and run away again. I suppose it war a fox or
wolf, or some such thing, and but for me would a-made a meal off o' the
bar's carcass.
"I won't trouble you with my reflexshuns all that night; but I can
assure ye they war anything but pleasant. I thought of my ole mother,
who had nobody but me, and that helped to keep up my spirits. I
detarmined to cut away at the bar, and hold out as long as possible.
"As soon as day broke I set up my shoutin' again, restin' every fifeteen
minutes or so, and then takin' afresh start. About an hour after
sun-up, jest as I had finished a long spell o' screechin', I thought I
heerd a voice. I listened a bit with my heart thumpin' against my ribs.
Thar war no sound; I yelled louder than ever, and then listened. Thar
war a voice.
"`Damn ye! what are ye hollowin' about?' cried the voice.
"I again shouted `Holloa!'
"`Who the hell's thar?' inquired the voice.
"`Casey!' I called back, recognising the voice as that of a neighbour
who lives up the crik; `for God's sake this way.'
"`I'm a-comin',' he replied; `'Taint so easy to get through hyar--that
you, Redwood? What the hell's the matter? Damn this brush!'
"I heard my neighbour breakin' his way through the thicket, and strange
I tell ye all, but true it is, I couldn't believe I war goin' to get
clar even then until I seed Casey standin' in front o' me.
"Well, of coorse, I was now set free again, but couldn't put a foot to
the ground. Casey carried me home to the shanty, whar I lay for well
nigh six weeks, afore I could go about, and damn the thing! I han't got
over it yet."
So ended Redwood's story.