CORNERED BY A BEAR
The boys passed a dreary, miserable night. There was a heavy dew, and
they were wet, almost as if by a rain. Their fire went out, for in the
darkness they could not find wood enough to keep it going.
How glad they were when morning came! The sun warmed them, and took the
stiffness from their limbs.
"Oh, for something to eat!" cried Will.
"Same here," replied Jed. "But, listen! What's that?"
"Sounds like water running. Queer we didn't hear it before."
"We were too excited, I guess. There must be a stream around here, and
maybe there are fish in it."
They found just below where they had spent the night a swift mountain
stream foaming along over a rocky bed. Jed and Will had not gotten over
the habit, formed while on the farm, of carrying hooks and lines in
their pockets. It was short work to cut poles, adjust their tackle, and,
with bait of worms, dug with their pocket knives, they were soon casting
in. The fish of that stream must have been very hungry, for they took
the bait at once, and soon the lads had several beauties. These they
cleaned, and broiled by holding them in front of the fire on sharp
sticks.
"They'd be better if we had salt," said Will.
"Use gunpowder," suggested Jed, and they did not find it a bad
substitute, when they had taken some of the black grains from a
cartridge, for salt-peter is the principal ingredient of some powders,
and it is very salty.
"Now suppose we get back to camp," suggested Will, after their simple
breakfast. "I suppose Gabe is back by this time, thinking how foolish we
were to disobey him."
"Well, we did it for the best," said Jed. "He can't blame us."
"Of course not. Do you think we can find the way back?"
Jed did not answer. He was looking about him. They were on a totally
unfamiliar trail, and he did not know which way to go. He admitted as
much to his brother.
"But we came up the mountain," said Will, "and naturally, to get to camp
we ought to go down. That's easy."
"Yes, it's easy enough to go down the slope, but where will we come out?
I'm in favor of going up."
"What for?"
"Well, the higher we go the better view we'll have. Then we can size up
the country, and decide which way we'd better travel. No use simply
going down, for we may come out miles and miles from our camp."
Will agreed in this view, and the boys started up the trail again. But
luck was against them. They did not know it, but they were on one of the
wildest mountain ranges in that section of the country. Many travelers
had been lost on it, for the trails, made by wild animals, were
confusing, and there were a number of them.
"We don't seem to be getting anywhere," said Will, at length.
"That's so," admitted Jed. "I'm hungry; aren't you? Those fish weren't
very filling."
"No, indeed, but I don't see how we're going to get anything to eat."
For several hours more the boys wandered on. They were tired, and their
stomachs craved more food. They saw no game, or they might have provided
themselves with food, and they came across no more streams from whence
they could take fish. They were in a sad plight, for night was coming
on, and they were farther than ever from camp--lost in the mountains.
As Jed, who was in the lead, was turning around a big rock, that marked
a shift in the trail, he uttered an exclamation of surprise.
"What's the matter?" asked Will eagerly. "See anything to eat?"
"No; but I see a good place to stay to-night. Here's a big cave."
Before them, opening off from the trail, was the mouth of a large
cavern. It looked inviting, after their night spent in the open, with
the heavy dews soaking them through.
"That's the stuff!" exclaimed Will. "Now if we only had something to
eat!"
"Maybe we will strike another stream around----" began Jed, when his
words were suddenly interrupted by a whirr of wings.
"Partridges!" exclaimed Will, as a number of birds flew up from the
bushes in front of them.
"I don't know whether they're partridges or not," said Jed, "but they
look good to eat. Got any shot cartridges?"
Will had some, and Jed, inserting one in his rifle, which in an
emergency would shoot those shells, hurried forward. He was lucky enough
to kill a couple of the birds, and in a short time the two hungry lads
were roasting them over a fire they quickly kindled at the mouth of the
cave.
As they intended to spend the night in the cavern they decided to
explore it a bit, and, taking several torches, which they made from
white birch bark, that is most excellent for that purpose, they set
forward. They found the cave was a large one, and, having selected a
secluded place, that was nice and dry, and far enough away from the
entrance to insure of their being warm, they stretched out, and went to
sleep, for they were utterly tired out with the day's fruitless tramp.
"Hello, it's morning!" suddenly announced Jed, as he awoke and looked at
his watch, by the light of a match. "It's seven o'clock. Get up, Will."
"Oh, I'm as stiff as a man with the rheumatism. How are you?"
"Well, I have felt better."
"Morning? Did you say it was morning?" asked Will. "Why, it's as black
as midnight."
"I know it. We're quite a way into the cave. The light doesn't come this
far. I'll light a torch, and we'll see if we can't get out and shoot
some more of those birds. They were fine."
He ignited a roll of the birch bark, and leading the way started toward
what he thought was the mouth of the cave. But he was soon convinced
that he was mistaken.
"We didn't come in this far," said Will.
"I guess you're right," admitted his brother. "I must have taken a
wrong turning. Come on back."
They retraced their steps. They came to the place where they had slept,
and an investigation showed them several passageways leading from it.
"I didn't imagine there was more than one," said Jed in bewilderment.
"Me either. Say, Jed, we're lost again!"
"Looks like it, and this is a big cave."
There was no doubt about it. Frantically the boys tried passage after
passage. Some ended at blank walls, and others led so far into the
blackness that they were afraid, and turned back. They could not find
the passage by which they had entered.
"Well, we certainly are up against it," sighed Will despondently, as he
sat down on a rock, and watched his torch slowly burn. "What can we do?"
"Keep on hunting," replied Jed. "I wish we'd stayed in camp, then we
wouldn't have had all this trouble. I wonder where Gabe is?"
"No telling. Maybe he's lost, too. I wish we'd stayed on the farm."
"Oh, don't say that. We'll be all right yet."
"I hope so. What's that?"
Will sprang to his feet. There came a noise from a dark corner of the
cave. It sounded like some one shuffling along. Jed raised his torch
and peered forward into the blackness. As he did so there came a
menacing growl.
"It's a bear! A big bear!" he cried.
At the same moment the savage creature rushed at the two boys, who did
not know which way to run.