The waning of his courage did not darken ours; for, like all Englishmen, we instantly commenced a political discussion, which terminated, after an hour"s duration, in the British fleet attacking, fatally, the Norwegian gun-boats at Christiansand, nemine contradicente, and the two boors grinning from ear to ear.
At length our guides, by signs, signified that silence was requisite. A quarter of an hour more elapsed when one of them motioned us to keep close, and going down on his hands and feet, intimated the proximity of our game.
We were now five and thirty yards from the brow of the mountain, and, crawling with the stealth and silence of a cat, the princ.i.p.al guide reached the summit, at the same moment levelling his gun, which made us imagine that Bruin was in full view; but gradually lowering his piece, till the b.u.t.t reached the ground, and leaning on it with both hands, the man turned towards us, shook his head, and smiled. We were instantly by his side.
Round a hollow piece of table-land, tending to a swamp, we saw, standing at equal distances from each other, three sheds, constructed of long fir poles driven into the earth and tapering, like a cone, into the air, covered scantily with the branches of the pine or fir, and having an only inlet by which a man, crouching, might reach the interior. In the centre of this swamp the carca.s.s of a horse lay, mangled and scattered in every direction. The trunks of trees, which had been felled for the purpose, were piled on the dead body; and this was done that the bear, finding it too troublesome, for he is economical of labour, to remove the body nearer to his den, would satisfy his hunger on the spot, and offer an opportunity to overtake him at his meals; besides, the bear, being quick of sight and shy, and so sensitive of scent that he can smell a man at the distance of a mile or more if he approaches _with_ the wind, will frequently leave his food and as frequently return to it; and, therefore, the Norwegians conceal themselves in the kind of sheds I have described above, and remain for days and nights under such precarious roofs in order to circ.u.mvent and destroy the animal.
We felt rather disappointed at not having even seen old Bruin, but a good laugh in some degree compensated us for the fatigue we had undergone. For my own part, armed as I was with the rusty horse pistol, and intent on the manufacture of my own bear"s grease, I had heard so many pleasing anecdotes of the bear"s n.o.ble nature, that I did not regret his retreat had been commenced in time. These animals, unless severely pressed by hunger, will never attack any living creature, and will even avoid with much care those parts of the mountains where cattle are wont to feed; and it is beyond the recollection of the oldest inhabitant, or, indeed, the reach of tradition, when a child has been, in the slightest degree, hurt by the Norwegian bear. On the contrary, it is well known that these animals have met children in their track, and, though at the time much oppressed by thirst and famine, have pa.s.sed them harmlessly by.
We sate down on a large rock, about twelve feet square, slightly elevated above the ground, and entirely overgrown with moss. A small fir tree, not ten inches high, grew in its centre, and the symmetry of its diminutive trunk, rendered more beautiful by the regularity with which its little branches sprung forth and drooped around first attracted our notice to the spot as one where we should rest.
It was so situated that we could see for many miles around us in one direction; but were excluded from any prospect at the other points. A bog, filled with animalculae of all forms sporting about in the water, which was black from long stagnation, surrounded three parts of the rock, leaving but one approach to it, which was the side least raised above the level of the earth. The bog, therefore, acted as a moat; and it was with that, or some similar feeling of security, we stretched ourselves at full length on the soft moss, and basked in the sun.
P----, as usual, drew forth his pipe, and soothing himself with its fumes, exemplified absolute comfort and contentment in the placidity of his countenance. R---- dangled his legs over the edges of the rock; and I, a.s.suming the same att.i.tude, gazed with him on the mountains towering and straggling, at a great distance above and beneath us.
"What a bore it is" said R----, "f.a.gging all the way up here, and not getting a shot at that brute."
"Why, yes," I replied, "but bears, you know, are as likely to deceive people now-a-days, as will-o"-the-wisps did monks of yore."
"That"s all very well," observed R----, "but I am no monk, and I think those Norwegians tell a good many lies; and this dead horse has been only pulled about up here by a herd of famished dogs, and no bear. These fellows say there _are_ bears to make their country appear finer than it is."
"No, no," answered P----, "the fact is, we are too late; the day is hot, as you feel, and these animals disliking the heat, feed at daylight, and then retire into the heart of the forest, where they can escape the oppression of the mid-day sun."
"Always?" R---- asked.
"Of course," replied P----.
"Oh! of course;" R---- reiterated, "that may be natural philosophy, but my way of thinking seems as natural; and I take it, that, when animals, like men, know where food is to be found and eat for the mere walking, sunlight and moonlight, heat and cold are alike to them."
"I know," answered P----, "these Norwegian fellows tell enormous crammers; but you may depend upon it, if we wish to get sport we must get up earlier."
"Well," R---- replied, "all I can say to the bears and sporting animals in general is, that if they don"t breakfast a little later, or indulge in luncheons, they won"t hear much of _me_. Fun is fun, and sport is sport; but catch _me_ out of bed at half-past 2 A.M."
"I abide by R----," I said, "I hold his logic in high repute, since its principle is good."
P---- replied not; but, removing the pin from his silk neckcloth, stirred up with its sharp point the smouldering ashes of his pipe. R---- looked in silence at the surrounding scene, and then broke into an exclamation of rapture.
"Is it not beautiful?" concurred P----, turning his eyes in the direction of the mountains. "There is nothing in the world to be compared to the sublimity of this scenery, defined as the outlines are by the clearness of the atmosphere and its deep blue tint." After a short pause he continued, "When we can see at one glance such an immensity of s.p.a.ce, and know that this vast tract of mountain and of valley must be full of animal life, is not this silence awful?"
We made no answer, but tacitly complied with his observation.
The rustling of dried leaves and the sharp crack of a breaking twig now crept upon the ear; and P----, a sportsman at all points and at all times, had already turned in the direction whence the interruption came; and, as I was about to speak, he grasped me convulsively by the arm, and, without any other intimation of danger, began slowly to raise his rifle from the ground. R---- and I immediately started up, utterly at a loss to know the cause of his dismay.
"For G.o.d"s sake!" P---- whispered, without removing his eyes from the quarter where they had been fixed, "don"t speak: here he is!"
"Here is what?" in imitative whispers, breathed R----; but, at the same time, c.o.c.king the trigger of his rifle, "I don"t see him."
"Don"t fire!" again whispered P----; "take your time."
""Don"t fire!" and "take your time,"" said R----; "but _what_ do you see?"
"Look _there_! don"t you see him--close to that old stump?"
"Oh! ah! _now_ I do. By Jove! he"s a wapper!"
"Where are those fellows?" asked P----, glancing round. I guessed to whom he alluded, and beckoned to our guides, who were sitting at some short distance, in ignorance of our plight, but had been watching our actions with all the attention, and listening to our conversation with all the comprehension of persons who did not understand our language. An instant sufficed to range them at our elbows.
P---- pointed to the spot he had already suggested as the focus of attention, and they both saw, with the quick-sightedness of men accustomed to live by the chase, the cause of his excitement.
"Ja! ja!" they exclaimed simultaneously, their countenances radiant with joy, "goot."
P---- bowed his head in the affirmative; and we could not help admiring the courage of the Norwegians, which seemed to merge into enthusiasm, the more imminent the risk and danger of our sport became.
An enormous bear, apparently fatigued by long travel, and panting loudly with protruding tongue, slowly stalked forth from a mound of earth which had acc.u.mulated round the stump of a beech-tree grown to maturity, but now decaying in the midst of rushes and briars of every sort. Bruin, no doubt, overheard our voices, for he stopped on his way, drew in his tongue, ceased his violent respiration; and, raising his head on high, snuffed the air on all sides, and then placing his nose close to the ground, kept it there for some little time. He was eighty or ninety yards from the spot where we stood. As again his head was lifted up, his small tuft of a tail moved quickly from right to left, revealing his turbulence and hesitation.
"Don"t let us all fire together," hinted P----, in an under tone; "but let those Norwegians blaze away first, as we don"t know anything about their skill."
"Then, I"ll follow," said R----.
"And my pistol next," I interceded.
"Very well; and I will try my luck last," said P----. "Are all ready?"
"All right," we both answered, and the two Norwegians a.s.sented with a nod.
The bear kept moving gradually near and nearer to the bait, and approached within a very short s.p.a.ce of the rock where we lay hid, thickly surrounded by the branches of the fir and beech.
"Fire!" breathed P----, lowly.
One guide, elevating his gigantic rifle, pulled the trigger. A tremendous report was one result, and the total disappearance of the Norwegian was the other; the fowling-piece having kicked him completely off the edge of the rock into our natural moat, the bog. We heard the splash of the man"s body below, and thought, at first, he was killed by the bursting of his rifle; but when his companion, who had leaped down to his a.s.sistance, helped him, reeking and muddy, from the dominions of the tadpole, and placed him, uninjured, though stunned, on his legs, we could not resist a burst of merriment at his countenance of unmitigated disgust, as the liquid filth oozed from the tips of his dependent fingers.
The sound of our laughter alarmed Bruin, and revealed us to his sight, and, rising immediately on his hind-legs, he commenced moving towards the Norwegians, and hissing like a hot coal dipped in cold water.
"Hang the mud, jump up!" exclaimed P----.
"Grin and _bear_ it, old fellow," and, saying so, R---- quietly levelled his rifle, with some misgiving, for it was of Norwegian manufacture, and fired at the animal. Poor Bruin received the ball in his left fore-leg; and, with a piteous moan, he instantly a.s.sumed his natural position on all fours, and hissed and growled, and licked the blood which streamed from the wound. The animal, nothing daunted, even in this extremity, still moved towards us with great ferocity; and, as he came within forty feet, P---- lodged a second bullet in his loin. The pain exasperated him to the quick, and he rushed furiously towards the rock.
"Where"s the powder?" shouted P----.
"I don"t know," echoed from every one. No powder could be found; the Norwegian having taken possession of the porter bottle, and placed it in his pocket, had doubtlessly fallen with it into the quagmire; and they had now absconded.
"Don"t let him get up!" continued P---- emphatically.
"Not to my knowledge," R---- replied, a.s.suming a long recognised att.i.tude of great military defence.
I now presented my rusty old horse-pistol at Bruin"s head, at an interval sufficient under the circ.u.mstances, of three yards, and fired it; when, whether from having received its contents, or from alarm at its loud report, the bear rolled over on his back; but, recovering himself in a moment, he made an awkward spring, short of the rock, and received, in commemoration of his false agility, a blow on the head from the b.u.t.t-end of R----"s rifle. The shock removed R----"s glazed cap from his head, and it fell, bounding from the rock, close to Bruin"s nose.
Mistaking, no doubt, this ingenious covering for R----"s especial skull, the bear, infuriated, flew at it impetuously, and seizing it in his mouth, shook it as an angry dog would have shaken a rag.
The blood was now fastly trickling down his tongue, which hung from his mouth, and through his side at every pulsation, spouted, smoking, the warm element of life. Gradually, slowly, yet reluctantly, his head drooped towards the ground, and, faint from loss of blood, the animal, tottering from side to side, sate, weakened as he was, upright on his haunches, showing his teeth, and growling until the coagulated blood, acc.u.mulating in his throat, would make him cough, and threatened suffocation.