Bruin

To satisfy themselves, they hastened forward to examine the tracks; but their negro guide had antic.i.p.ated them, and now called out, with the whites of his eyes considerably enlarged--

"Golly, young ma.s.s"rs! dat be de tracks ob um ba!"

"A bear!"

"Ya, ya, ma.s.s"rs! a big ba--dis child know um track--see"d um many de time--de ole c.o.o.n he be arter de fish too--all ob dem a-doin" a bit ob fishin" dis mornin"--yaw, yaw, yaw!"

And the darkey laughed at what he appeared to consider an excellent joke.

On closely scrutinising the tracks, Alexis and Ivan saw that they were in reality the tracks of a bear--though much smaller than those they had followed in Lapland. They were quite fresh--in fact, so recently did they appear to have been made, that both at the same time, and by an involuntary impulse, raised their eyes from the ground and glanced around them; as if they expected to see the bear himself.

No such animal was in sight, however. It was quite probable he had been on the ground, at their first coming up to the lake; but the report of Ivan"s gun had alarmed him, and he had made off into the woods. This was quite probable.

"What a pity," reflected Ivan, "that I didn"t leave the eagle alone! We might have got sight of Master Bruin, and given him the shot instead.

And now," added he, "what"s to be done? There"s no snow,--therefore we can"t track the brute. The mud bank ends here, and he"s gone off it, the way he came? Of course he wouldn"t be out yonder among those logs?

He wouldn"t have taken shelter there, would he?"

As Ivan spoke, he pointed to a little peninsula that jutted out into the lake, some twenty or thirty yards beyond the spot where they were standing. It was joined to the mainland by a narrow neck or isthmus of mud; but at the end towards the water there was a s.p.a.ce of several yards covered with dead trees--that had been floated thither in the floods, and now lay high and dry, piled irregularly upon one another.

Alexis looked in the direction of this pile as Ivan pointed it out.

"I"m not so sure of that," he answered, after scrutinising the logs.

"It"s a likely enough place for an animal to lurk. He might be there?"

"Let us go and see, then!" said Ivan. "If he"s there he can"t escape us, without our having a shot at him; and you say that these American bears are much easier killed than ours. The South Americans were so, certainly. I hope their northern brothers may die as easy."

"Not all," rejoined Alexis. "We may expect some tough struggles when we come to the great grizzly, and to him of the polar regions; but the black bears are, as you conjecture, not so difficult to deal with. If wounded, however, they will show fight; and, though their teeth and claws are less dangerous than the others, they can give a man a most uncomfortable hug, I have heard. But let us go, as you say. If not yonder, he must have taken to the woods. In that case there is no way of following him up, except by dogs; and for these we must go back to the house."

As they continued talking, they advanced towards the narrow isthmus that connected the little peninsula with the mainland.

"What a pity," remarked Ivan, "that that great log is there! But for it we might have seen his track in the mud crossing over."

Ivan referred to a prostrate trunk that traversed the isthmus longitudinally--extending from the mainland to the higher ground of the peninsula, to which it formed a kind of bridge or causeway. Certainly, had it not been there, either the bear"s tracks would have been seen in the mud or not; and if not, then no bear could have pa.s.sed over to the peninsula, and their exploration would have been unnecessary. But, although they saw no tracks, they had started to examine the wood pile; and they continued on, climbing up to the log, and walking along its top.

All at once, Alexis was seen to pause and bend his body forward and downward.

"What is it?" inquired Ivan, who was behind, on seeing his brother in the bent att.i.tude, as if he looked at something on the log.

"The bear"s tracks!" answered Alexis, in a low but earnest tone.

"Ha! you think so? Where?"

Alexis pointed to the dead-wood under his eyes--upon the bark of which were visible, not the tracks of a bear, but dabs of mud, that must have been recently deposited there, either by the feet of a bear, or some other animal.

"By the Great Peter!" said Ivan, speaking cautiously, notwithstanding his innocent adjuration; "that must be his tracks? It"s the same sort of mud as that in which we"ve just been tracing him--black as ink nearly. It has come off his great paws--not a doubt of it, brother?"

"I think it is likely," a.s.sented Alexis, at the same time that both looked to the locks of their guns, and saw that the caps were on the nipples.

A little further along the log, the bark was smoother, and there the track was still more conspicuous. The print was better denned, and answered well for the footmark of a bear. There was the naked paw, and the b.a.l.l.s of the five toes, all complete. They no longer doubted that it was the track of a bear.

It was just a question whether the animal had gone over the log and returned again. But this was set at rest, or nearly so, by a closer scrutiny. There was no sign of a return track. True, he might have washed his paws in the interval, or cleaned them on the dead-wood; but that was scarce probable, and our hunters did not think so. They felt perfectly sure that the bear was before them; and, acting upon this belief, they c.o.c.ked their guns, and continued their approach towards the wood pile.

CHAPTER FORTY.

A DARKEY ON BEAR-BACK.

Both the young hunters succeeded in pa.s.sing over the log, and had set foot on the peninsula; while the negro, who was following a little behind, was still upon the prostrate trunk. Just at that moment a noise was heard--very similar to that made by a pig when suddenly started from its bed of straw--a sort of half snort, half grunt; and along with the noise a huge black body was seen springing up from under the loose pile of dead trees, causing several of them to shake and rattle under its weight. Our hunters saw at a glance that it was the bear; and levelled their guns upon it with the intention of firing.

The animal had reared itself on its hind legs--as if to reconnoitre the ground--and while in this att.i.tude both the hunters had sighted it, and were on the eve of pulling their triggers. Before they could do so, however, the bear dropped back on all-fours. So sudden was the movement, that the aim of both was quite disconcerted, and they both lowered their guns to get a fresh one. The delay, however, proved fatal to their intention. Before either had got a satisfactory sight upon the body of the bear, the latter sprang forward with a fierce growl, and rushed right between the two, so near that it was impossible for either of them to fire otherwise than at random. Ivan did fire, but to no purpose; for his bullet went quite wide of the bear, striking the log behind it, and causing the bark to splinter out in all directions. The bear made no attempt to charge towards them, but rushed straight on-- evidently with no other design than to make his escape to the woods.

Alexis wheeled round to fire after him; but, as he was raising his gun, his eye fell upon the negro, who was coming on over the log, and who had just got about halfway across it. The bear had by this time leaped up on the other end, and in a hurried gallop--that had been quickened by the report of Ivan"s piece--was going right in the opposite direction.

The negro, who saw the huge s.h.a.ggy quadruped coming straight towards him, at once set up a loud "hulla-balloo," and, with his eyes almost starting from their sockets, was endeavouring to retreat backwards, and get out of the way.

His efforts proved fruitless: for before he had made three steps to the rear, the bear--more frightened at the two adversaries behind him than the one in front--rushed right on, and in the next instant pushed his snout, head, and neck between the darkey"s legs!

Long before this the negro had lost his senses, but now came the loss of his legs: for as the thick body of the bear pa.s.sed between them, both were lifted clear up from the log, and hung dangling in the air. For several feet along the log was the negro carried upon the bear"s back, his face turned to the tail; and no doubt, had he preserved his equilibrium, he might have continued his ride for some distance further.

But as the darkey had no desire for such a feat of equestrianism, he kept struggling to clear himself from his involuntary mount. His body was at length thrown heavily to one side, and its weight acting like a lever upon the bear, caused the latter to lose his balance, and tumbling off the log, both man and bear fell "slap-dash" into the mud.

For a moment there was a confused scrambling, and spattering, and splashing, through the soft mire--a growling on the part of the bear, and the wildest screeching from the throat of the affrighted negro--all of which came to an end by Bruin--whose body was now bedaubed all over with black mud--once more regaining his feet, and shuffling off up the bank, as fast as his legs could carry him.

Alexis now fired, and hit the bear behind; but the shot, so far from staying his flight, only quickened his pace; and before the darkey had got to his feet, the s.h.a.ggy brute had loped off among the trees, and disappeared from the sight of everybody upon the ground.

The grotesque appearance of the negro, as he rose out of the mire in which he had been wallowing, coated all over with black mud--which was a shade lighter than his natural hue--was too ludicrous for Ivan to resist laughing at; and even the more serious Alexis was compelled to give way to mirth. So overcome were both, that it was some minutes before they thought of reloading their guns, and giving chase to the bear.

After a time, however, they charged again; and crossing back over the log, proceeded in the direction in which Bruin had made his retreat.

They had no idea of being able to follow him without dogs; and it was their intention to send for one or two to the house, when they perceived that the bear"s trace could be made out--at least, for some distance-- without them. The inky water, that had copiously saturated his long fur, had been constantly dripping as he trotted onward in his flight; and this could easily be seen upon the herbage over which he had pa.s.sed.

They determined, therefore, to follow this trail as far as they could; and when it should give out, it would be time enough to send for the dogs.

They had not proceeded more than a hundred yards; when all at once the trail trended up to the bottom of a big tree. They might have examined the ground further, but there was no need; for, on looking up to the trunk, they perceived large blotches of mud, and several scratches upon the bark, evidently made by the claws of a bear. These scratches were, most of them, of old date; but there were one or two of them quite freshly done; besides, the wet mud was of itself sufficient proof that the bear had gone up the tree, and must still be somewhere in its top.

The tree was a sycamore, and therefore only spa.r.s.ely covered with leaves; but from its branches hung long festoons of Spanish moss (_tillandsia usneoides_), that grew in large bunches in the forks--in several of which it was possible even for a bear to have stowed himself away in concealment.

After going round the tree, however, and viewing it from all sides, our hunters perceived that the bear was not anywhere among the moss; but must have taken refuge in a hollow in the trunk--the mouth of which could be seen only from one particular place; since it was hidden on all other sides by two great limbs that led out from it, and between which the cavity had been formed by the decaying of the heart-wood.

There could be no doubt that Bruin had entered this tree-cave; for all around the aperture the bark was sc.r.a.ped and worn; and the wet mud, lately deposited there, was visible from below.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

CUTTING OUT THE BEAR.

The question was, how he was to be got out? Perhaps by making a noise he might issue forth?

This plan was at once tried, but without success. While the negro rasped the bark with a pole, and struck the stick at intervals against the trunk, the hunters stood, with guns c.o.c.ked, watching the hole, and ready to give the bear a reception, the moment he should show himself outside.

It was all to no purpose. Bruin was too cunning for them, and did not protrude even the tip of his snout out of his secure cavity.