ABOUT BEARS.
Archie’s actions indicated that he had made up his mind to fight
something. He threw off his hat, pushed back his sleeves, and winding
the lash of his whip around his hand, raised the butt, in readiness to
strike.
“If you don’t want a headache for the rest of the day, you had better
look out for yourself,” exclaimed Frank. “You made him very angry.”
“Come in here!” cried Johnny, from the wardrobe. “There’s room enough
for another, with tight squeezing.”
“I sha’n’t run a step,” replied Archie. “I am in no humor for nonsense
this morning, and if Phil comes near me he will wish he hadn’t.”
The door opened at this moment, and in came Mr. Winters, Mr. Harris,
and Mr. Thomas, all booted and spurred, and dusty with fast riding.
The last named gentleman entered the room in a very undignified
manner. The instant the door was opened, a half-grown bear slipped in
between his feet, knocking them out from under him, and causing him to
sit down on the animal’s back very suddenly. To save himself from
falling to the floor, Mr. Thomas seized the bear’s long hair with both
hands, and was brought into the room in triumph.
This bear was the Phil of which Archie had spoken, and the enemy that
had been keeping him and his companions in a state of siege during the
last half hour. Archie had done something Phil did not like; and he
had loitered about in the hall, awaiting an opportunity to be
revenged. Now that he had got into the room, he was fierce for a
fight; and the boys, who had measured strength with him often enough
to know that he was a very unpleasant fellow to have about when he was
angry, thought it best to keep out of his way--all except Archie, who
was in very bad humor, and would have held his ground against a dozen
Phils. The bear, accepting his determined manner and threatening
attitude as a challenge to combat, rushed straight at him, and in a
moment more would have held him in a very loving embrace, had not Dick
seized the chain that was fastened to Phil’s collar, and brought him
to a standstill.
“Put the rascal out of doors,” said Mr. Winters. “The first thing you
know, he will hurt some of you boys.”
But Phil did not give any one a chance to put him out. He raised
himself on his hind legs, tumbling off Mr. Thomas, who measured his
length on the floor, and disregarding the blows which Archie showered
upon him with his whip, sprang upon him and threw him down.
“Pull him off, fellows,” shouted Archie, who knew that the punishment
was coming now.
Frank jumped down from the head-board, Johnny came out of the closet,
and both ran to assist Dick, who still clung manfully to the chain;
but before they could reach him, Phil gave Archie a ringing slap on
each side of his head, and made good his retreat from the room. The
next that was seen of him, he was out in the court trying to start a
fight with Marmion.
[Illustration: THE BEAR’S REVENGE.--PAGE 24.]
Phil was a rough play-fellow, but he was full of his tricks, always
ready for a fight or a frolic, and he held a prominent place in the
affections of the boys, who looked upon him as a great institution;
but by every one else on the rancho he was regarded as an unmitigated
nuisance. One great fault with Phil was, that he was too much like
some young people. He always wanted his own way in every thing, and if
he could not have it, he would grumble and go into the sulks. He would
wander off by himself and pout for hours together, like a foolish boy
who had been denied something his mother thought he ought not to have,
sticking out his lips after the most approved fashion, and growling
and scolding to himself at a wonderful rate. On these occasions it was
not safe to venture near him.
Phil was an expert wrestler and boxer, and as long as he could get the
better of his antagonist he would keep in excellent humor. He would
not growl or scratch him with his claws, and would always wait till
he got a fair hold before he made any attempt to throw him down. But
when he met his match, as he always did whenever he interfered with
Frank, there would be trouble directly. When Phil found that he could
not throw him, he would growl and get mad; and then there was always a
fight or a foot-race. The boys generally thought it best to run when
he was thoroughly aroused, for he was considerably larger than a
Newfoundland dog, his teeth and claws were sharp, his paws heavy, and
he used them in good earnest.
Phil was as treacherous as an Indian. Whenever a stranger visited the
rancho, he would run to meet him, rub himself against his legs, turn
summersaults for his amusement, and try, by every means in his power,
to show that he was glad to see him; and all this while he would be
watching for an opportunity to play a trick upon him. He would sneak
around behind him, and if the visitor did not keep his eyes open, the
first thing he knew his heels would fly up, and he would sit down upon
the ground in a great hurry.
Another bad trait in Phil’s character was, that he never forgot an
injury. He always avenged a wrong done him, and if he could not get at
the guilty party, he would take satisfaction on some one else. Many a
time, when Frank turned him loose in the morning, was he obliged to
stand punishment for something Archie had done to him the night
before. Phil, catching him off his guard, would trip him up, box his
ears, and run off to escape the consequences; and the next time Frank
met him he would be as friendly as ever, unless some one had been
teasing him in the meantime. He seemed to cherish unbounded affection
for Frank (that is, when he was in good humor), but he disliked Archie
as much as Marmion did; and he had good cause to be angry at him on
this particular morning. Archie had been unreasonably cross and ugly
ever since his horse was stolen; and when the bear came up and greeted
him in a friendly manner, by putting his paw on his shoulder, Archie,
by taking some unfair advantage of him, succeeded in throwing him
down, and cramming a handful of grass into his mouth; and that was an
indignity that Phil would not submit to. He flew into a terrible
rage, and the boys, knowing that something unpleasant would happen if
Phil succeeded in getting his paws on any of them, ran into their
room, and fastened all the doors and windows. The bear followed, and
after trying in vain to effect an entrance through one of the
port-holes, took his stand in the hall, and waited for them to come
out. When Mr. Winters and his companions entered the room, he went in
with them, and squared accounts with Archie, by boxing his ears so
soundly that he had a headache all the rest of the day.
Uncle James and Mr. Harris laughed at Mr. Thomas, and the boys smiled
behind their handkerchiefs. Mr. Thomas made some very uncomplimentary
remarks about bears in general, and Phil in particular, and helping
himself to a chair, resumed the conversation which this little
incident had interrupted.
“It will be of no use, Mr. Winters,” said he, “for it has been tried
already. He has been chased with dogs, caught in traps, and shot at
numberless times; but he is to-day as lively and full of mischief as
he was a year ago. He is bound to die a natural death.”
Mr. Thomas was speaking of the bear which had so often robbed Uncle
James’s cow-pen, and after the boys had listened for a few minutes to
the conversation that followed, they learned that this pest had
visited the rancho again during the previous night, and walked off
with a fine calf, for which Mr. Winters had refused a hundred dollars
a few days before. More than that, he had got into a trap which had
been made especially for him, but had succeeded in working his way
out. This same trap had caught and held two good-sized bears, which
had tried their best to escape, but it was not strong enough to
confine him. He had tumbled the logs about in every direction, and
made off with the bait with which the trap was set.
This bear was a well-known character in that section of the
country--as well known as Mr. Winters himself. He was called “Old
Davy;” and this name had been given to him to distinguish him from a
few other old settlers of the same species; but these had been killed
off, one after another, and now Old Davy was left alone. Those who had
seen him, described him as a monster animal, fully as large as two
ordinary bears. He could be recognized by a large bald spot on his
forehead, which was, doubtless, the scar of a wound received during
some of his numerous battles, and his track could be distinguished
from those of other bears by the peculiar shape of the print left by
one of his hind feet. A portion of the foot had either been shot away,
or lost during a conflict with dogs, and the track made by this
wounded member, showed only the claws and the ball of the foot. But
this did not interfere with Old Davy’s traveling, or his fighting,
either. He could wander over a good portion of the county in a night,
and had, more than once, demonstrated his ability to whip all the dogs
that could get around him. Between him and the horse-thieves, the
farmers had lost many a dollar.
When Old Davy and his exploits had been thoroughly discussed, Mr.
Winters told his nephews why he had come in there. He was on the point
of starting for San Diego, to be gone three or four days; and he
wanted the boys to manage affairs during his absence. “There is not
much to be done,” said he, with a laugh, “but if you can manage to
shoot Old Davy and catch those horse-thieves while I am gone, I should
be delighted.”
The boys told themselves that they had not the slightest intention of
going within a mile of Old Davy. If men like Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly,
who had hunted grizzly bears all their lives, could not kill him, they
certainly had no business with him. And as for the horse-thieves, they
were, doubtless, a band of desperadoes, who used their revolvers or
bowie-knives upon any one who came in their way, and the boys were
quite sure that they would let them alone also. But, after all, they
had a good deal to do with the horse-thieves, and with Old Davy also.
Some exciting events happened in the settlement during the next few
hours, and when Uncle James returned from San Diego, he was more
astonished than he was when he listened to Frank’s story of his first
encounter with Pierre Costello.