fainted, Ireckon. Anyhow, we were all found in a heap, maybe an hour afterwards.Obadiah was dead, and so were the b'ar, and trapper Seth had only asmuch life in his body as saved him from being buried. 'Twere two monthsere I got over that skivering, and I guess I'll bear the marks to mygrave unless I loses both arms and legs afore I goes there."
Little thought Ralph when frankly confessing that he would rather runfrom than fight a grizzly, and listening to the story of old Seth'sadventure, that not two days thereafter he himself would be the subjectof an attack by one of these terrible monsters. But so it turned out,and well was it for him that assistance was at hand, or one of my heroeswould have dropped out of the tale.
They had enjoyed an unusually fine day's sport, principally among theantelope, away up among the plains. I allude, of course, to the NorthAmerican antelope, that saucy little fellow, so sprightly and graceful,yet so curiously impudent withal as to sometimes bring himselfneedlessly into trouble. With the exception of the saddle-back seal ofthe Greenland seas, I know of no wild animal that evinces a largerdegree of inquisitiveness. Perhaps it was this very trait of antelopecharacter that led to the size of our heroes' bag on the day inquestion. They had found the animals principally in spruce and cedarthickets, and here one or two fell to their guns, while others escapedinto the open, across which there was nothing in the world except theirinquisitiveness to prevent their having got clear away, but they mustneeds stop to have a look at their hunters.
"I reckon they hav'n't been shot at all their little lives before," saidSeth. "Now you just creep round behind while I keep their 'ttentionoccupied."
One way or another, Seth had managed to "keep their 'ttention occupied,"and so venison had been the result, and plenty of it too.
It was near evening, the men had already shouldered their game and hadbegun the homeward march; McBain himself, with Allan and Rory, had alsohad enough of hunting for one day, and were preparing to follow. Ralphand Seth were invisible, so was their little companion the Skye terrier.No dog, I daresay, ever enjoyed sport more than did this little morselof canine flesh and fury. Even before the adventure I am going torelate it had been the custom to take him out with the shooting party_almost_ constantly, but after the adventure it was _constantly_,without any almost.
While they were yet wondering where Ralph and his companions were, bangwent a rifle from the wooded gorge beneath them.
"They've got another of some kind," said McBain.
"I expect," said Allan, "it is a black tail, for if it were antelopessome of them would be already seeking the open, and Seth tells me theblack tails prefer hiding when in danger."
[The black-tailed or "mule" deer is one of the largest and mostgracefully beautiful animals to be found in the hunting-grounds of thefar west.]
A few minutes afterwards there came up out of that gorge a sound thatmade our heroes start, and stand to their rifles, while their heartsalmost stood still with the dread of some terrible danger. It was notfor themselves but for Ralph they feared. It was a deep, appalling,coughing roar, or bellow--the bellow of some mighty beast that hasstarted up in anger. A minute more, and Ralph, breathless andbareheaded, with trailing rifle, rushed into the open, closely followedby an immense grizzly bear. He was on his hind legs, and in the veryact of striking Ralph down with his terrible paw.
The danger was painfully imminent, and for either of his friends to firewas out of the question, so close together were bear and man. But lo!at that very moment, when it seemed as if no power on earth could saveRalph, the grizzly emitted a harsh and angry cry, and turned hastilyround to face another assailant. This was no other than Spunkie, theSkye terrier, who had seized on Bruin by the heel. Oh! no meanassailant did the bear find him either. But do not imagine, pray, thatthis little dog meant to allow himself to be caught by the powerfulbrute he had tackled. No; and as soon as he had bitten Bruin he drewoff far enough away to save his own tiny life. You see, in his veryinsignificance lay his strength. A dog of Oscar's size would have beenat once grappled and torn in pieces. Feint after feint did the terriermake of again rushing at the grizzly, but meanwhile Ralph had made goodhis escape, and next minute bullets rained on the grizzly, for Seth'srang out from the thicket, and McBain's and Rory's and Allan's from theopen, so he sank to rise no more.
Ralph determined to learn a lesson from this little adventure; he madeup his mind that he would never follow a wounded deer into a thickjungle without, at all events, previously reloading his rifle.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
RORY POET, DREAMER, AND MERCHANT-MINSTREL--WHO SAYS SHORE?--ALL AMONGTHE BUFFALO--"A BIG SHOOT"--PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER.
"Would you believe it, boys," said McBain one morning, "that we havebeen here just two months to-morrow?"
They were seated at breakfast, and had you cast your eye over thattable, reader, and seen the dainties and delicious dishes "seated"thereon, as Rory called it, you would hardly have believed you were in afar-off foreign land. Here were cold joints of venison, and pasties ofgame, and pies of pigeon, and the most delicious fish that ever smokedon a board, to say nothing of eggs of wild fowl and sea-birds, the verycolours of which were so charming it seemed a sin to crack the shell.But how Seth basted those broiled fish, or what those fish were, onlySeth himself knew. But Seth would be out in a boat in blue water, justas the first breakfast bugle went--and that was Peter and the pipesplaying a pibroch--and in five minutes more he was back with the fish--Arctic salmon, our heroes called them, for want of a better name. Thelife was barely out of them ere they were split down the back, andnailed to a large hard wood board and done before the fire, but Sethhimself served them ready to eat. It was a magic performance, and whenamber tears from a slice of lemon were shed over it, lo! a dish fit fora king.
"How speedily time wings its flight!" said Ralph, looking wise; "and itnever flies more quickly than when people are happy."
"Not that there is anything very original in your remark, my grave oldRalph," said Rory, smiling mischievously.
Ralph pinched Rory's ear, and told him he was always the same--saucy.
"Steward," continued Ralph, "send to Seth for another hot fish; but besure to say it's for the captain."
"That's right, Ralph," said Irish Rory; "salmon and sentiment go welltogether."
"You're wonderfully bright this morning, Rory," Allan put in.
"And it's myself that's glad I look it then, for I feel bright," quothRory. "I feel it all over me, and sure if I'd wings I'd fly."
"You didn't want any wings to help you along," remarked McBain, with hiseyes bent on his plate, "last week when that Cinnamon bear went foryou."
"Be easy now," says Rory; "bother the bear! Sure I feel all of a quiverwhen I think of him. He was Ralph's grizzly's father, I believe. Iought to have had my fiddle with me. You remember what Shakespearesays:
"`Music hath charms to soothe the savage _beast_, A hungry Scotchman or a butcher's dog.'"
"It wasn't Shakespeare at all," said Ralph.
"Och! no more it was. I remember now. It was the fellow who makes thematches; what's his name?"
"Lucifer?" suggested Allan.
"No," cried Rory; "I have it. It was Congreve. But sure I shot thebeast right enough, and it was only his fun chasing me after he wasdead."
Poor Rory could laugh and make light of his adventure now, but it hadbeen a narrow escape for him. There is no animal in the world morefierce than that dweller among rocks, the Cinnamon bear [Ursus ferox],but there is no heart more brave than an Irishman's, and ourlight-hearted boy had followed one up and fired. Then, thoughdesperately wounded, the monster gave chase. He had struck Rory downwithout wounding him. They were both found together, and both seeminglydead. Rory soon came round, and the bear's skin was a beauty.
"What are you going to do with that skin, boy Rory?" asked McBain.
"Indeed, then," replied boy Rory, "it's a mat I'll be after making of itfor Bran's mother."
"Ah! you haven't forgotten the poo
r old hound, then?" said Allan.
"I never forget a dog," said Rory; "but won't the old lady look famouslying on it before the fire of a winter's evening!"
"We'll have quite a cargo of furs," said Allan.
"_Yes_," McBain said, "and a priceless one too. They will more than payfor our trip north."
"What a valuable old fellow that Seth is, to be sure!" Ralph remarked;"I really don't know what we would have done without him."
There was a pause, during which neither the captain nor Ralph, nor Allanwas idle, as the