CHAPTER XVI
SOMETHING ABOUT BEARS
As they began to skin the bear, Jack said, "I want to find out whyI didn't kill this bear, Hugh; I thought I held all right on it,and yet my shot never seemed to faze her."
"Well, I'll tell you what I think, son. I noticed where she seemedto snap at where you hit her, and I reckon you forgot you wereshooting down hill, and shot a little high, and perhaps hit alittle far back. Now, when we get her hide off we'll see."
Jack thought for a moment, and then said, "Hugh, I bet you'reright. She made a kind of a step to one side just as I was pullingthe trigger, and I never thought one thing about holding lowbecause we were above her on the hillside. I guess if we open herwe'll find that that shot of mine went nearer her liver than it didher heart."
"Well," said Hugh, "I wouldn't be surprised. Of course the liveris a pretty deadly shot after a while, but it isn't so good as theheart, and, as I've told you I guess more than forty times, it'salways better to shoot under than over."
"Well," said Jack, "that was a pretty bad blunder. I feel prettybadly about that. I ought to have known better than to have donesuch a thing. I wonder if Joe shot over, too. I hope he'll get hisbear, so that we can know about it."
The work of skinning the bear was long and slow, and Hugh said,when they drew the skin out from under the animal, "Now we've gotit, it ain't worth anything."
It was found that Jack's ball had struck the bear much too farback, and so that it passed just under the spine, yet not quitehigh enough to cut the great vein that passes along close beneaththe vertebrae. The bear might have lived a number of days, or evenhave recovered, with this shot alone. The heavy ball from Hugh'srifle had struck her in the back of the neck, and had smashed twoof the vertebrae, and lay there flattened in the muscles of theneck. As Jack looked at the wound made by Hugh's ball, and then cutthe flattened lead out and held it in his hand, he said, "Well,Hugh, it's mighty sure that you didn't get excited, anyhow. Thatwas an awful good shot, even if it was close, and a mighty hardshot when you think how fast the bear was coming."
"Yes," said Hugh, "of course in a case like that a man's got tofigure close. I took the chance of striking her on the top of thehead, or breaking her neck, or breaking her back right between theshoulders; but I hit just the place I wanted to hit. I don't hearanything of Joe," he went on; "let's walk over to that ridge andsee if we can see him. I'd like to see the trail left by that bear,and maybe call Joe back if he's going too far."
They walked quickly over to the ridge, and had just reached itstop when they saw, a little way below them, the figure of Joebending over something which they knew must be the bear, and goingto him they found that he had nearly finished skinning it; and afew minutes help by Hugh and Jack completed the job.
"That looks like good meat, Hugh," said Jack. "Is it worth whiletaking any of it along?"
"Do as you like," said Hugh. "I don't go much on bear meat, myself.I've had to eat it, but then I've had to eat lots of other thingsthat I didn't hanker after. If you like, we can take those hamsalong. The horse will have all he can carry, with the sheep if anyof it is worth taking, and the bear skins. They've mauled thatanimal a whole lot, I reckon, and it may not be fit to carry tocamp." Folding up the little bear skin, Joe put it on his back,while Hugh cut off the hams of the bear, which he said was ayearling, and he and Jack each taking one, they started back tolook at the sheep. This was found in bad shape, but the greaterpart of both hams was uninjured, and cutting these off, and cuttingaway the part where the bears had gnawed, they were ready to starton their return.
"Jack," said Hugh, "do you suppose you can carry both of theselittle bear hams? If you can, I'll take both the sheep hams, andthen come back here and get the bear skin. But one of you boys'llhave to come back to carry my rifle, for I reckon I can't tote boththe skin and the gun, at least not without a rope to tie the skinup with."
"I guess we've got to make two trips anyhow," said Jack, "there'stoo much to carry, and anyhow it isn't far."
"No," said Hugh, "it isn't far." The two trips were made, and allthe things carried to the edge of the cliff, and then Hugh said:"Now, I'll go and get the horse. I'd rather get him myself, for thesmell of the bears'll maybe scare him, and I may have to fool withhim a little. You boys get these things down; get the bear skinsdown first, and then the meat. We're likely to have some troublepacking that horse. I don't think he'll mind the meat, but thesmell of the bear is likely to scare him."
It proved as Hugh had said, the dun made a great fuss whenapproaching the pile which constituted the hunters' spoils, andafter he was close to it it was necessary for Hugh to take off hiscoat and put it over the animal's head, and tie it there; and thenJoe held the horse's rope, while Hugh and Jack packed the load.After the ropes were all tied, Hugh said.
"Now boys, you want, both of you, to get hold of that rope, for Iexpect when I get this blind off the horse he'll buck plenty, andif he bucks down the hill, he's likely to turn a somersault, androll, and break his neck before he stops rolling."
The boys, having put their guns well up above the horse on thehillside, took the rope, prepared for anything. As Hugh had said,when the coat was taken from the horse's head he partly turned hishead, and giving a frightened snort at the load on his back, beganto buck. If he had gotten his head down the hill he would certainlyhave fallen, but the boys, and with them Hugh, kept his head fromturning down the slope, and he soon tired of bucking, and thoughonce or twice he staggered as if about to fall over, they managedto keep him on his feet. Though he bucked no more that day, he wasstill much alarmed by what he was carrying, and they were obligedto handle him with great discretion while going down some of thesteep places; for, as the load pressed forward toward his neck hewould snort loudly, and roll his eyes, as if he felt that he mustdo something to get rid of the terrifying burden.
They reached camp just before dark, and all were glad to get there.When they stopped before the lodge, Hugh again put his coat overthe horse's head until he was unpacked and unsaddled, and when itwas taken off, the dun threw head and tail into the air and trottedout to the other horses, looking back and snorting fiercely,showing that his alarm was not yet over.
"Well," said Hugh, "I believe if I had that job to do over againI'd rather carry the stuff down on my own back than fool with thathorse. If I'd known we were going to have bear skins to pack, Iwouldn't have taken the horse along."
Before doing anything else, Hugh sent the two boys with the axedown into the timber, and told them to get a slender pole, like alodge pole, and trim it, and bring it up to him. Then resting theends of the pole on the branches of two trees, about six feet fromthe ground, he spread the bear hides over it.
After supper that night the talk turned to what they had seen anddone that day, and from that to bears. Jack had many questions toask about them, some of which Hugh could not answer.
"I thought bears almost always had two cubs," said Jack; "but thisone only had one, and that you say is a yearling."
"Well," said Hugh, "they do 'most always have two cubs, andsometimes three, and sometimes four. I've heard of five, but Inever saw more than four, and those only once. I expect this oldbear started in with two cubs, but that something happened to oneof them. You see, when cubs first come out they are pretty small,and lots of things are likely to happen to them. This old she-bearvery likely lost one of her cubs when it was a little one. Younotice, the one we killed is pretty good size for a yearling, andfat and in good order. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had all hismother's milk now for over a year, and that's maybe what makes himso fat."
"When are the cubs born?" asked Jack.
"Most people think they're born about the middle of the winter,"said Hugh. "I know the Indians think that, and I've had one ortwo men tell me that they've come across bear dens in winter, andkilled the mother, and found the cubs in there mighty small--nobigger than a young pup. Anyhow, by the time they get to travellinground, in May and June, they're still right small, not ne
ar so bigas old Shep, down at the ranch. They say that if you catch theblack-bear cubs when they're right small, they make nice pets fora while; but I never heard of anybody that got very friendly withyoung grizzlies.
"I remember once, years ago, Joe Kipp had a couple on theBlackfoot Reservation, that one of the Indians had caught andbrought in when they were right small. Joe put collars on them, andthen forgot to take them off, and long toward the end of the summerboth bears were like to choke to death, the collars were getting sosmall for them. I helped Joe and Hi Upham take 'em off, one day,and 'twas a regular circus. Those little cubs--they weren't more'na foot or fifteen inches high--were awful mean, and regularly onthe fight. They were hard to catch, too, and if you did get hold ofthem they'd turn quick as a wink and bite or scratch you. Finally,we cornered one of 'em, and Joe grabbed it by the ears and held itbetween his legs, while Hi held the forepaws and I loosened thecollar; but it came pretty near scratching Joe's overalls to pieceswith its hind feet. We did the same thing with the other one. Itell you they were mean little cusses.
"The Indians don't like bears much; ask Joe," continued Hugh.
"No," said Joe, "Indians don't like bears. Afraid of 'em. Bearsare powerful medicine, you know, and some people won't speak abouta bear, or won't sit down on a bear skin, and of course theywon't eat bear meat. There's lots of stories about bears amongthe Piegans. In old times, you know, bears used to kill lots ofIndians; and the Indians had only stone arrows, and couldn't doanything. If a bear took after a man, maybe the man would shootthree or four arrows into him, and they wouldn't much more than gothrough his hide, and just make him madder and madder all the time,and at last he'd just catch the man and tear him to pieces. Onestory my grandfather told me a long time ago, and I heard my uncletell it again last winter. Would you like to hear it, Jack?"