CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
Tad felt a sudden sense of impending peril. Bringing the full forceof his will to bear on the task, he pulled himself to a sittingposture. Not twenty paces from him he saw the she-bear bearing downupon him with jaws wide apart, and uttering growls of rage.
Tad groped for his rifle, but could not find it. As a matter of factit had fallen into a clump of bushes beyond him when he fell from thehorse. His predicament was a dire one and he knew it.
The boy staggered to his feet, tugging at his revolver. With theseconds he was getting back his strength and his nerve.
"At her! At her!" he shouted to the dogs.
Encouraged by his words three of the hounds leaped on the haunches ofthe bear. This retarded her forward progress for the moment. Sheturned, snarling, on her assailants. This gave the dogs in front anopportunity to snap at her legs, which they did, but were put to routwith the sweep of a ferocious paw. The dogs seemed to realize thatthe duty of protecting the Pony Rider Boy rested wholly on them, forthey went at the big she-bear with ferocious growls, their jawssnapping like steel traps. Their efforts seemed to have no effect onthe big beast other than to retard her progress a little.
Again she started for Tad with the pack hanging to her heels. YoungButler, revolver in hand, stood calmly awaiting the nearer approachof the bear. When she had reached a point as close to him as hethought prudent, Tad raised his revolver and fired. The bearslackened her pace. She seemed to be surprised. Otherwise there wasno indication that the boy's bullet had reached her. Surely she hadnot been wounded in a vital spot and Tad wondered if there were anyvital spots in this animal. He could see that his first shot withthe rifle had stirred the rage of the beast. Either he would have tokill her or she would kill him. Butler understood this fully.
It was an inspiring sight to see the freckle-faced boy standing there,bare-headed, revolver aimed at the bear as calmly as if it were aninanimate mark he were shooting at for target practice, with theyelping dogs assailing Mrs. Bruin, she almost neglectful of theirpresence. Yet at any moment one of the faithful hounds might get ina bite that would turn the tide in their favor.
One did get in an effective bite, but it was after Tad Butler hademptied the contents of his revolver into the bear. She turned witha roar as a chunk of flesh was torn from her flank. Thus encouraged,the dogs attacked with renewed fury, and, regardless of their ownsafety, threw themselves upon her. For the first time the oldshe-bear really woke up. She seemed to realize that she must fightand dispose of the dogs before she could go on and finish thefreckle-faced boy.
A dog, breathing its last, was flung at the feet of the Pony RiderBoy.
"Oh, that's too bad," mourned the boy. "I've got to help them! Buthow can I do it? Ah!"
A stick of cane that had been cut off near the base of the stalk hesaw standing against a tree not far from him. This gave the lad anidea. He grabbed up the stick, which was about ten feet long, anddrawing near to the battling dogs, watched his opportunity. Then hegave the beast a poke with it. This served to distract her attentionfor the moment, giving the dogs a fresh hold all around.
The Bear Turned on Tad.]
Delighted with the success of his ruse, Tad kept on poking, leapingback, dodging, thrusting, harrying the bear, assisting the dogs toget fresh and effective holds. The boy sought to poke the animal inthe eye, but she was too wary for this. She managed to chew up theend of the cane pole, tearing it into shreds, and would have jerkedit away from Tad entirely had she not been obliged to drop the poleto attend to the dogs that had just bitten her in the side again.
But this battle could not go on indefinitely. The dogs, one by one,were being either wounded or killed outright. Tad's chances forwinning were lessening with the moments. He was doing his best tohelp and save the dogs and they were doing their desperate best toprotect him from the she-bear.
"I've got to put a stop to this or she'll kill them all," cried theboy.
The bear seemed to have come to a decision at the same time. Withthe hounds clinging to her, she ambled for Tad again. The boy stoodfirm. He held his hunting knife in hand. As the bear reared beforehim, towering higher than his head, the Pony Rider Boy made a swiftjab with the knife. But he was not quick enough. He had got withinreach of those powerful paws. One caught him on the left shoulder.Tad was hurled fully a rod from the bear. He thought the blow hadbroken his shoulder, but he was up instantly and at her again. Thistime the lad was more cautious. Having once felt the strength of thatpaw, he had no desire to feel it again. A blow like that one thehead or the neck would be likely to finish him, after which theshe-bear would have an easy time of disposing of the hounds.
Tad, as soon as he had recovered in a measure from the first blow,began dancing about the beast like a boxer. The dogs were doing muchthe same. Every one of them was bleeding, their jaws were drippingwith the blood of the bear, and their efforts were becoming less andless effective. It appeared to be a matter of but a short timebefore she would have killed them all.
Suddenly, as Mrs. Bruin's attention was attracted to the rear, Butlerleaped forward. He drove the point of his hunting knife fairly intoher body. The bear whirled. Tad leaped back, carrying his knifewith him.
This last act of his was the final straw that broke down the prudenceof the bear. With terrible growls she made straight for him. Tadleaped aside just in time to avoid the sweep of a paw that, had itlanded, no doubt would have killed him. Then he sprang forward anddrove the knife home.
For the next few minutes it would have been hard to say which wasPony Rider Boy, which dog and which bear. Tad's clothes were nearlystripped from his body, his skin scratched, torn and bleeding. Butthe boy was still strong and full of fight. On the other hand, Mrs.Bruin was getting weaker from loss of blood. She had depended toomuch on her strength and skill, but the boy and the wounded dogs hadproved too much for her. She was now fighting both, probably with afull knowledge of this, which made her the more dangerous. TadButler was wholly on the defensive; he was fighting for his life andhe knew it.
The bear suddenly reared on her haunches and staggered towards him.Tad buried the knife in her side, and it stuck. In the brief secondsthat he was trying to recover it the great fore-legs closed about him.Strangely enough the she-bear as suddenly released the grip that wasclosing about Tad, and staggering backwards, collapsed and rolledover on her back with all four feet in the air.
When the bear released him Tad Butler went down in a heap, and laywhere he had fallen, pale and motionless. The dogs, now realizingthat their prey had fallen, attacked her ferociously, to which shereturned only a feeble defense.
Bill Lilly and his party had heard the uproar, and were riding to thescene with all speed. Lilly had heard the report of the rifle whenTad took the first shot, and he knew that Tad Butler was in the thickof the fray. He knew, too, from the continued baying and yelping ofthe dogs, after the revolver shots, that the boy had not killed thebear. Hearing no further shots the guide was genuinely alarmed, forhe read the meaning of these things aright.
When the leader of the party came galloping on the scene his eyesquickly comprehended, and Lilly was off his horse in a twinkling.Giving no heed to the bear, which he saw was nearly dead, he ran tothe fallen Pony Rider Boy. The others of his party came tearing in afew moments later. They saw him down on his knees beside Tad Butler.
"Tad's dead!" wailed Stacy Brown.
Lilly shook his head. Professor Zepplin took Butler's pulse andlistened to his heart.
"I think he is badly hurt. Can't we get him somewhere where we cantreat him?"
"Wait till he comes around," advised Lilly.
It was a full half hour before they succeeded in bringing Tad back toconsciousness, during which time his young companions stood aboutwith faces almost as pale as his own. Stacy kept thrusting his handsin his pockets, then withdrawing them, while the others showed theirnervousness by frequent shiftings
from one foot to the other.
Suddenly Tad opened his eyes, and smiled weakly.
"I--I got her," he whispered, then swooned.
It was fully an hour later that the boy was able to talk. He toldthem, briefly, while the Professor was making a careful diagnosis ofthe patient, what had taken place. The Professor found that besidesthe boy's flesh wounds he had sustained three broken ribs. The uglyshe-bear had crushed them in. Lilly immediately began constructing alitter. Tad insisted that he would ride back to camp, but they wouldnot permit it. They forced him to ride to camp on the litter, whichwas hung between two horses. Never did a boy get better attentionthan did Tad during that never-to-be-forgotten ride, when everymovement gave him agonizing pain. He had insisted that the bear beskinned and the pelt taken along. This consumed some little time,but Lilly did the job as quickly as possible.
Late that night they rode into camp. Tad was in a fever. For threedays they watched over him, then the party started for Jackson withtheir patient, who pluckily protested that he was all right. Tadrode all the way in on the litter. Reaching Jackson, Major Clowneyinsisted that he be taken to the Clowney home, which was done.
In spite of his suffering, the Pony Rider Boy felt that pleasure wasclose akin to pain, for his hospitable hosts surrounded him quietlywith every thoughtful attention.
"I'm sorry to see you in this fix," remarked Lilly, dropping in onTad one afternoon.
"You needn't be," smiled the boy. "Really, I believe I'm having thetime of my life. What are the other fellows really doing, Mr. Lilly?"
"Nothing much," replied the guide. "That is, Mr. Stacy is doingnothing."
"I might have guessed that," smiled Tad.
"And the others are helping him," finished the guide with a grin.
"And I had to be so unfortunate as to spoil our fine hunting trip inthe canebrake," cried Tad reproachfully.
"You didn't spoil anything," Lilly retorted. "I reckon that all theyoung gentlemen had their fill of the canebrake."
"I don't believe it," declared Tad. "I know I wouldn't have hadenough, if it hadn't been for--this."
"Well," assented the guide slowly, "I suppose I could have shown youyoungsters quite a bit more if I had had the chance."
"I'll tell you what I wish you would do, Mr. Lilly."
"Well, I'm listening," observed the guide.
"It will take me a little time yet to get in the best of shape," Tadpursued. "I suggest that while I am laid up here you take the fellowsback into the brake, and show 'em something they've missed so far."
"That might suit me," Lilly replied. "I wanted to show you peopleall I could, and I wish it had been more. But I don't believe yourfellows will consent to go away and leave you here on the laid-upshelf."
"Nonsense!" protested Tad. "It would make me feel a lot worse torealize that I was a spoil-sport."
Lilly tried out his mission, but with no more success than he hadexpected. Tad, his face flushing, sent for his companions. But allhis arguments failed to induce the Pony Rider Boys to leave him. Tadpleaded, and at last commanded.
"I'm afraid we shall have to go back to the brake whether we like itor not," urged Walter Perkins at last. "If Tad feels that he ishindering sport he'll get worse instead of better."
Ned and Stacy still protested, so Tad went at the matter through hisphysician, who advised the boys to go on or Tad would surely frethimself into a relapse, and they consented reluctantly.
On the day following, Mr. Lilly and Professor Zepplin led the otherthree Pony Rider Boys back into the brake.
Tad felt no regrets after they had left. In the sportsman's phrasehe had "filled his own bag," and now he was eager to see the otherlads do something to their own credit.
Before very long he was able to sit up and write in his own firm handto his mother. The receipt of his letter settled all of Mrs.Butler's fears.
Then, at the end of two weeks, the boys returned. Hearing that theywere coming along the road Tad Butler, pallid yet clear-eyed andsteady, strolled down the road to meet them.
"Wow!" yelled Stacy, pointing to a furry object tied over his pony'sback in front of the saddle. It was bear.
"Fine!" grinned Tad. "Do you know who shot it, Chunky?"
"A young man of considerable importance, who just fits into mygarments," replied Stacy Brown, throwing out his chest once more."And I came near having a fearful fight with the critter, too."
It was a small bear, but Brown had really killed it unaided.
Ned, too, rode with a small bear tied to his saddle. Only WalterPerkins returned bootless, but that was to be expected of Walter, whowas an indifferent sportsman. Professor Zepplin had had no intentionof bagging any game.
Two bears, however, did not represent all the fun that had been hadon this second trip into the canebrake. All three of the boys wereas brown as coffee berries and as "hard as nails." They were insplendid shape.
Just a few days more and the Pony Rider Boys were obliged to bidtheir hosts and Lilly good-bye. It seemed as though half theinhabitants of the small town turned out to see the departing boysoff at the railway station.
"Come back again! Come back again--soon," was the chorus that wentup as the train began to move, while the Pony Rider Boys, their headsat the open windows, waved back.
Before leaving they learned through Major Clowney that governmentagents had arrested Alligator Pete Austen, who had tried to be theirguide, and several other men from that section. These men had beenpart of a band of smugglers, smuggling German goods through Mexico.A fishing smack had been bringing the goods across the Gulf of Mexico.The stuff had been hidden on a remote deep bayou, and from theredisposed of for considerable sums of money. The government agentsrecovered a heavy supply of goods of various sorts that, of course,had come in duty free by way of the secret route. Austen, who was incharge, attended to the work of getting the supplies into the brakewhere it was cached in steel cribs in the bayou.
For this, he and others of the gang--ten men in all--were convictedand sent to prison. The Pony Rider Boys had smoked them out withoutrealizing that they were doing their country a great service. Andnow they were on their journey home. Not to remain there for long,however, for the boys had other worlds to conquer, other startlingadventures before them. They will be heard from again, in the nextvolume of this series, which will be published under the title, "THEPONY RIDER BOYS IN ALASKA; Or, The Gold Diggers of Taku Pass." Thisfollowing volume will be found one of the most fascinating of theentire series, with the Pony Riders in the saddle in new surroundings,undergoing experiences different from anything that they had evermet with.
THE END
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