aim to find me a squaw and settle down in Fort Smith. I been in these Mountains over eight years. It’s the low land for me boys. Would you be in the mind to trade that mule?”
“No, the mule is not for sale. He’s bred to run, not to the plow.”
“I seed that right off youngster…yes sir, a might fine mule he is too.”
We bid the old trapper goodbye the next morning, “If you see a codger by the name of Wane Stilt up around Fort Bridger, tell him Looper has gone to ground in Fort Smith will you?”
“We will…lets get going Rafe, we got get to Fort Bridger before the snow flies…see you old timer.”
The old man waved as he rode our back trail, and I wondered if we would ever see him again. We wound our way through some of the most beautiful country a man had ever laid eyes on. Hills covered with spruce, and evergreens, silver poplars with small leaves that shivered in the wind. We shot us a Bear that had decided to visit our camp, and that gave us much rich meat laden with fat.
We were camped deep in the mountains in amongst a forest of evergreens. We had us a good fire going with some bacon frying in the pan along with a fat Rabbit to add to that. Rafe was sitting right comfortable across the fire from me when he digs his heals into the dirt, “Good God amighty!” still trying to back away with his heels.
I looks behind me to see what had frightened him so much, and I was face to face with a big silver tip grizzly. I couldn’t get across the big fire we had going, so I turn my rifle on the animal and let loose. The bear just kept a coming, “Shoot dammit!”
Rafe finally remembered he had a rifle, and shot across the fire past my head. The old bear slowed down some, but he kept coming at me. I jerked the pistol out of it’s holster and fired point blank agin his chest hairs. The bare just kind of snuffled down and died up against my quaking legs.
We looked at what teeth the old bear had and figured she was too old to forage for food proper, and the smell of our food drove her to attack us. We just stood there gaping at the huge animal, “What was you waiting to shoot for Rafe?”
“I was so scared I plumb forgot I had a rifle. Wooheee look at the size of that thing! It was your shot what got him, what you aiming to do with him?”
“He’s both of our’n I reckon. We gonna shuck his britches off, and use the hide to cover us with.”
We tried to eat it but it was so tuff we might as well have been trying to eat our old shoes, “This things so tough you would have to boil it a month to Christmas to eat it!” Rafe remarked.
“He were an old’un all right.” We both abandoned the idea of eating the bear, and finished off the bacon, and the Rabbit.”