CHAPTER XVI
THE TERROR OF THE ROCKIES
"You must know," said Tom, as they climbed over some of the many rockyobstacles in the canyon, left there by the last flood, when somecloud-burst had perhaps filled it dozens of feet high with a ragingflood, "that this grizzly bear hunting is different sport from baggingan ordinary black."
"I'd always understood that," Felix answered. "You see, I've read a lotabout the thing, and I'm pretty well posted on that subject. I know thatthe grizzly is the toughest animal in existence, barring none, and thatmany hunters who have shot big game in other parts of the world give himthe palm, when it comes to being difficult to down."
"And that's why," continued the Western boy, "men who would hardlyhesitate to openly face a panther, or a pack of wolves, and meet them onthe level; will even climb a tree when expecting an attack from a fullgrown grizzly; because it is well known that the old fellow can't climbworth a cent."
"Yes, I've read even that about him," remarked Felix. "He's sure theterror of the Rockies; and the Indians used to always reckon a brave thegreatest ever, when he could show the claws of a grizzly, and prove thathe killed the beast in a square stand-up fight."
"Whew! I should say so, Felix. Why, nothing could tempt me to try such afool game as that. When you see what awful claws the old fellow has, andthe frightful muscle back of them, you'll understand why it's neverlooked on as a piece of cowardice to get up in a tree, and then dare himto come on. Chances are even then, that if the tree is only a sapling,the bear'll drag it down, and get his man."
"Are you trying to throw a scare into me, Tom?" laughed the other.
"Oh! not at all," replied his cousin; "only I wanted you to know that aswe're only a couple of boys after all, we had ought to take as muchprecaution as most old hunters would, when out to stalk a grizzly bear."
"That means climb a tree, I take it, eh, Tom?"
"Well, it would be wise; and my father would say it was the right thingto do," went on the ranch owner's son, firmly.
Felix frowned, as though there was something in the proposition thatsomehow went against his proud soul. And seeing this, his cousin wasonly the more urgent in his appeal.
"Remember, you promised me that you'd do anything I said in this game,Felix!"
"That's right, I did, and I will, Tom; but you don't know how mean itmakes me feel to think of getting up in a tree, and then daring the bearto come on; only to fill him full of lead as he accepts the challenge."
"Oh! I can understand all that, my boy, and it does you credit; butafter you see that monster at the foot of the tree, stretching himself,and shaking it in his mad effort to get at you, after being wounded adozen times, you'll agree with me that anybody would be a fool to tryand meet such an enemy on equal terms, when, if his rifle missed fire itwould all be over with him."
"But this rifle never misses fire!" declared Felix. "All the same, Isuppose I'll have to do it, though under protest. But see here, Tom,weren't you telling me just the other night about seeing some of yourdad's cow punchers having a bully old time throwing ropes over a grizzlythat was caught on the open, and badgering the old fellow every whichway, before they pumped him full of lead? How does that agree with whatyou're saying now? Are cowboys braver than old hunters, that they takesuch chances?"
"Well, you must know that every one of us was mounted on a fleet pony;and that though the bear chased after us in every direction, he couldn'tcatch up. Then they got their ropes to flying, and he was rattled, sothat before you could count fifty he had as many as four lariats holdinghim. When he tried to go one way he was dragged over by the other threeropes. And when they had had all the fun they wanted, they shot the oldMountain Charlie. Oh! no, a cowboy on his bronco is a different sort ofa fellow from the time he's afoot. You just bet he couldn't climb up ina tree any too fast, if ever he met with a grizzly, and wounded him,when in the mountains."
"Oh! well, that makes it easier for me, I suppose," said the reluctantFelix; "but all the same it galls some."
"I don't see why it should," remarked Tom. "Just look back a little, andyou'll see me taking a mean and cowardly advantage of that black I got,stepping up when he was sliding down that tree, and shooting him whilehis back was turned, so to speak."
Then Felix laughed a little, as though he might be convinced.
"I guess you're right, Tom," he observed. "It just occurred to me thatwhen the wounded buck had me held up in the tree a prisoner, I was onlytoo glad to fish up my Marlin, and give him his dose. Of course I didn'tclimb that tree in the beginning; he tossed me up there."
"Well, I don't suppose you could induce the grizzly to try that samething; but if he did, you'd think it all right then to plug him, wouldyou? I rather guess it don't amount to much difference after all, Felix,whether you climb first, or get pushed up a tree. The whole fact of thematter is, that a man isn't in the same class as a big buck or a woundedgrizzly, when it comes to muscle; and he's just got to fall back onguns, and trees, and such, to even things up."
"Consider it settled then, Tom; I'll climb," concluded the Eastern boy;and with this his chum seemed content.
They were getting deeper into the mountains all the while, and Felixcould even see where they had started to climb when heading upwards onthat other occasion at the time they went after bighorns.
And Tom led the way over some of the same ground. It was more familiarto them now, and they did not have the same difficulty as before.Indeed, Felix remembered in many instances just where to place his foot;or to reach up and seize on a projecting knob in order to pull himselfupward.
He began to look curiously ahead, wondering just where it could be thatTom had sighted the head of the grizzly thrust out, as the animalsurveyed the descending hunters, who were bearing fresh meat. Indeed, hereally wondered why Bruin had not seen fit to follow after the scent,and make them drop their packs, or else fight for the spoils on thespot. Tom, upon being asked declared that ordinarily such might havebeen the programme of a grizzly, that fears nothing under the sun, ineither the human or the animal kingdom; but that possibly His Majesty,as he called the beast, may have recently dined; and when one has noappetite, it seems the part of folly to go to any extraordinary exertionto secure food.
"But he may be on edge today, just the same," he added, after givingthis information in answer to the question of his cousin.
"I hope so," replied Felix. "If I just do have to climb a tree, and aska bear to step up and be shot, I want to see him at his worst. That'sthe only thing to give me an easy conscience."
Tom only smiled.
He had a pretty good idea some of these gallant notions would undergo adecided change in his chum before they were done with this business.
Five minutes later he remarked quietly:
"We're nearly there, Felix. Hold up a bit, and get your breath. Look up,and see if you can notice where that seam in the rocks has a blacklook."
"Oh! I get that, all right, Tom; is there where you saw his headsticking out?"
"That's the place; and chances are we'll find a regular trail leading upto the mouth of the den. What I'm going to look for the first thing isthe tree. In hunting a grizzly that's an important part of the game;unless you happen to have a gully in front, that no bear could crossover. I've known of a good many hunters coming out here to get the hideof a grizzly; and they told my father that while the idea of doing sucha thing struck them at first as cowardly, after they'd had a look at themonster they meant to tackle, the only thing that bothered them then wasabout the size of the tree. It seemed to them that they wanted one astall as the redwoods in California."
Felix chuckled at this, but made no further remark. He had noticed thatTom no longer talked in his natural voice, but whispered. Even thiscircumstance seemed to add more or less to the gravity of the occasion.It told of hovering danger, and the need of ordinary caution, if theydid not want to arouse the sleeping dragon, and have him rushing wildlyout to assail them, before they were good and ready to give
him a warmreception.
Tom kept on looking carefully around him every chance he got, as theypushed on slowly. Felix knew the wisdom of this, and that he would bedoing the right thing to also get his surroundings firmly fixed in hismind, before the grand circus began. There could be no telling how muchneed of this there might be before the little mountain drama closed inthe death of the bear.
He discovered in the first place that there was an occasional tree insight, not of any great size, but with a trunk that would baffle anyordinary animal to bend down, Felix thought.
As the grizzly could not climb, a perch in one of these would place thehunters out of danger, and they could proceed to accomplish their workas they felt inclined.
How the bear was to be coaxed out, and to the tree, Felix of course didnot as yet know; but he was quite willing to leave this to his chum. Tomunderstood all about the ways of grizzlies; he had heard them discussedsince childhood, and seen many of the species brought in by hunters; forsince they are a serious menace to the raising of cattle, there is aprice on the head of every grizzly known to have his haunt within milesof a ranch.
Tom was moving about now, and appeared to be scanning the rock at hisfeet eagerly. Undoubtedly he was looking for the well worn trail which,he had told his chum, he expected to discover, leading upward towardthat dark spot in the rocky wall, where, according to his figuring, theanimal's den had its yawning mouth, although as yet they had notactually looked into it.
So Felix stood there, waiting, and holding his gun in his hands,wondering what he might be expected to do should the grizzly appearunexpectedly from some other quarter, heading toward his den.
And possibly because Tom had impressed the necessity of a tree sostrongly on his mind Felix even made sure that there was one of thesegrowing close at hand which he believed might be scaled in a hurry ifthere arose any need.
He saw that his companion was now examining the ground more closely thanever; and there was that about his manner to tell that he must have madea discovery of some sort.
A few seconds later the Western lad arose to his feet, and his faceshone with satisfaction as he turned toward his friend.
"It's here, just as I said, Felix," he whispered; "and from the signsI'm pretty sure the old fellow is right now squatted in his den. Thingslook all right to me, and the next thing is to coax him out. Like you, Ionly hope he's hungry; but no matter whether he is or not, he's just gotto come, and that's all there is to it."
Rocky Mountain Boys; Or, Camping in the Big Game Country Page 16