Jack the Young Explorer: A Boy's Experiances in the Unknown Northwest

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER XIV

  A LYNX VISITS CAMP

  "Well, son," said Hugh, as the two pulled on their shoes in the graylight of the next morning, "I slept mighty well last night and I reckonyour conscience didn't trouble you much, did it?"

  "No," said Jack, "I didn't know what was going on two minutes after Irolled my blanket about me."

  "It's mighty dark this morning," said Hugh. "Either we got up early, orelse there's a big fog;" and when they put their heads out of the tent,sure enough, the mountains were covered with mist and a few flakes ofsnow were falling.

  "Well," said Hugh, "it's no time to climb the mountains to-day, unlessthe weather clears, and it seems to me that it's mighty cold. Maybewe're going to get snowed in here."

  "That wouldn't be very nice," said Jack. "I hope we won't have a bigsnowstorm."

  "Well," said Hugh, "you boys go out and look after the horses. We've gotto keep our eyes on them; it would be pretty bad to be left afoot and,if it does snow, the horses will be wanting to get down to the prairieagain."

  The boys went and did as they were told, and changed the two horses thatwere picketed to fresh grass, saw that the others were all near at hand,and then returned to the fire.

  Meanwhile, the snow began to fall more and more thickly and, afterbreakfast, Hugh said, "Now, boys, I believe we're going to have a realsnowstorm. Let's get these ropes, blankets and saddles covered up aswell as we can, and then we'll go down to the point where we came out ofthe timber and build some sort of a fence there, so as to keep thehorses from going back to the prairie. We'll have to picket them allto-day and they're not likely to pull up their pins, but we'll make itas hard for them to get away as we can."

  The riding saddles and pack riggings were soon piled under a tree, wherethey would be protected from the snow and covered with blankets andmantas, and then Hugh began to cut and sharpen a number of pins, whilethe boys collected lash ropes and lariats enough to tie all the horses.After the animals had been securely picketed, the three men went down tothe end of the valley and, after Hugh had cut some tall, but slender,dead pine and spruce trees, the boys dragged them out of the timber andmade a fence, which sufficiently barricaded the trail and one or twoopen places, where the horses might have gone into the forest.

  By this time the light snow was two or three inches deep and, when theyreturned to camp, they found that all the horses were busily at workpawing away the snow, in order to get at the grass beneath it.

  "There," said Hugh, "I guess they're all right, and this thing is just aflurry. As soon as the sun comes out again, this snow will all melt."

  Joe went into the tent, and covering himself with his blankets, went tosleep, but Jack wanted to be doing something, yet there was not muchthat he could do, unless he went out to hunt, and, as all the foliagewas covered with snow, he could not hunt without also getting wet.

  Now and then he would walk out and look at the horses, which could notbe seen from the camp. They were all standing with their tails to thestorm, each with a crest of wet snow on his mane, a patch on the upperhairs of his tail and, most of them, with a line of white running downthe backbone. They looked quite as miserable as Jack felt.

  On one of Jack's returns to the fire, Hugh looked up and said smilingly,"You're getting pretty tired of doing nothing, son?"

  "Yes," said Jack, "it's pretty slow business, I confess. I've beentrying to think if there was anything that I could do and I can't thinkof anything, unless I go over and take down some of that meat and cut itup for drying."

  "Well," said Hugh, "that's certainly not a bad idea. What do you say ifwe go over there and get a quarter and work on it under a tree where thesnow doesn't fall thick?"

  "I'd like to, Hugh," said Jack. "Of course, nothing would dry to-day andmaybe not to-morrow, but if we could have two or three days of brightweather we could get it so it would keep."

  "We sure could," said Hugh; "and even if we don't have bright weather,we can rig up some kind of a scaffold and half dry and half smoke itwith the fire. Come on, I'll go with you and we'll get down a piece ofmeat and go to work on it."

  It was but a short distance to where the meat hung, and, before long,one of the hind quarters of the elk was on the ground. Hugh stopped infront of it and said, "Now, son, take hold of it and, when I get up,raise it, and we'll pack it into camp."

  The load was too heavy for an ordinary man to carry a great distance,but this did not seem to trouble Hugh. He threw down the ham under aspreading pine tree, that stood not far from the tent, and then Jack andhe removed the skin, and began the work of cutting the flesh into thinflakes, which they piled up on the flesh side of the hide that had beentaken off the elk. They worked at this for some hours and before suppertime had cut out all the meat of the elk.

  "Now, son," said Hugh, "go and get me a sling-rope and we'll hoist thismeat off the ground. If we leave it here, likely some animal will comearound to-night and want to carry it off."

  "Well, Hugh, I don't believe I can climb the tree," said Jack; for thetrunk was very large and without branches for twenty-five or thirty feetabove his head.

  "No," said Hugh, "I don't believe you can and, what's more, we haven'tgot any sling-rope that will reach from the ground to that lowest branchand back again. We'll tie it up to that little tree that stands close tothe tent. Of course, it won't be safe there, but I reckon anything can'tget at it without our hearing it."

  He made a bundle of the meat, lashing it with a sling-rope.

  "There," he said, "that's all right for the present, and we'll put it uphere in this spruce tree. Nothing can knock it down without its hittingthe tent and waking us, but if we should want to dry it to-morrow,someone will have to stop here and look after it, if the others go offon the mountains. Now let's have supper."

  Hugh and Jack washed their hands in the snow, built up the fire, andpresently commenced to cook supper. After things were going well, Jackcalled out, "Get up, Joe, you've been asleep all day, while other peoplehave been working. Supper is nearly ready."

  Joe grunted sleepily in response and, presently, his black shock of hairwas seen poking out of the tent door.

  "I must have been asleep," he said.

  "Asleep?" said Jack "I should say so. It's five or six hours since youturned in and here Hugh and I have been working all that time to supportyou."

  Joe was not wide enough awake to appreciate Jack's joke, but after hehad walked a little way from the fire and given his face and hands agood scrubbing with snow, he brightened up a good deal and seemed towatch the progress of the meal with interest.

  "I tell you what," said Hugh, as they were eating, "let's turn back theflaps of the tent and build a small fire right close in front of it. Ofcourse, we'll have to watch it pretty carefully and put it out when wewant to go to bed, but it will seem a heap more comfortable than to bestanding about the fire out here."

  "Good," said Jack, "let's do it. If you'll wash the dishes I'll cut somesmall wood and we'll get something as near like a lodge as we can."

  When the fire was built and when the three were sitting on their softblankets under the shelter of the tent, it seemed very comfortable.

  "There," said Hugh, "this is lots better than standing out there, boys,ain't it?"

  "Yes," said Joe, "it is."

  "Bully," said Jack. "We couldn't be more comfortable than this, unlesswe had a lodge, and this is plenty good enough."

  "Yes," said Hugh, "I would like to have brought a small lodge, but thenI knew we were coming into a stormy country and very likely often wouldhave to camp high up where we couldn't get lodge poles, and so I thoughtit was better to bring this little tent with the folding poles. Ofcourse, sleeping out on the prairie in this weather one doesn't need atent, but in the mountains here, where you're likely to have ten rain orsnow storms in a day, it's good to keep your blankets dry."

  While he was speaking, Hugh was cutting tobacco, and when he had apipeful, after grinding it up between his palms, he filled the bowl ofthe pipe an
d reaching out took a brand from the fire and lighting hispipe sat there in great comfort, drawing in deep breaths of the fragrantsmoke.

  "Well," he remarked, when his pipe was going well, "I never would advisea young man to begin to smoke, but I don't know of anything in thisworld that has given me more comfort than tobacco, and that is one thingthat the world has got to thank the Indians for."

  "Well, pretty nearly everybody smokes," said Jack, "and I've oftenthought that maybe I'd like to, especially when I see you sitting thereas you do now, Hugh. You seem to take such solid comfort in your pipe."

  "Yes," assented Hugh, "I do; but then, suppose I'd never learned tosmoke; don't you suppose I'd be just as comfortable as I am now? A mandon't miss the things that he's never enjoyed."

  "No, of course not," replied Jack.

  For a long time the three sat there, gazing at the little fire thatflickered before them, Joe occasionally reaching over and carefullylaying on it a stick of wood so that it constantly burned bright andwarm.

  At length Jack spoke up again and said, "Hugh, where were you in 1876,when the Custer massacre took place?"

  "I was up camping with the Piegans, not far from the Sweet Grass Hills.I had been trading the year before with the Piegans, and instead ofgoing into Benton and lying around there during the summer, I juststayed out in camp with the people. But look here, son," he went on,"don't make the mistake that pilgrims do and call that the Custermassacre; call it if you like the Custer fight or the Custer battle. Itwasn't what I understand a massacre to be; it was just a fairup-and-down fight, and the white men got licked and all of them gotkilled off. The white men went into that fight with their eyes wide openand knew what they were doing. They just tackled a job that was too bigfor them, that's all. Now, you might call the Baker fight that I wastelling you about a few days ago a massacre, because it was a surpriseand because the troops attacked the camp, and killed off mostly womenand children and old men. That's my idea of a massacre, but the Custerfight was just a fight, and nothing else."

  "That's so, Hugh," said Jack, "I oughtn't to have called it a massacre,but that's what a good many people do call it, you know."

  "I know they do," said Hugh, "but it's a wrong name to give it, at leastaccording to my idea."

  "Did you ever know General Custer?" asked Jack.

  "Yes," said Hugh, "I knew him some. I worked for him part of one summerout from Lincoln; I was one of the scouts on the Yellowstone expeditionin '73 and again in '74, when he made his trip to the Black Hills."

  "What sort of a man was he?" asked Jack.

  "Well," said Hugh, "he was a nice man. Of course, I never knew him,except in what you may call a business way, to take orders from him andto report. He was always right pleasant, and his wife was an awful nicelady. He was a good soldier, General Custer was, and a great hunter. Hewas just crazy to be hunting all the time. He treated his men well, too;worked them awful hard, breaking camp early in the morning and sometimesmarching away into the night, but they thought a heap of him. I rememberone time, going into the Black Hills, two of the men were caughtstealing canned goods out of one of the wagons. We camped early theafternoon they were caught, and he had them each ride a cannon from thetime we went into camp until after dark. Then he had 'em cut loose andbrought to his tent, and he gave them a good talking to, and a day ortwo afterward he appointed one of them, an old soldier and a pretty goodman, too, his orderly. The other man he gave permission to go huntingthe next day. He was pretty savage with his men when they did wrong, butafter he'd punished a man, he always did something to him to make himfeel that he did not hold the offense up against him. That made the menhave confidence in him, and it made a good many of them careful abouthow they did anything wrong.

  "I haven't told you, have I," he went on, "that Jackson, Billy Jackson,you know, was along with that outfit in 1874."

  "Yes," said Jack, "I think you told me that."

  "I didn't know him then," said Hugh. "He was just a schoolboy. We hadquite a bunch of schoolboys along. They were called scouts, and maybethey thought they were scouts, but, of course, they were just boys outof the Indian schools without experience, and not knowing anything. Theywere mostly Santee Sioux."

  "Well," said Jack, "but Billy is a Piegan, isn't he?"

  "Yes, a Piegan," replied Hugh, "a grandson of old Hugh Monroe's and onhis mother's side a grandson of a great chief that died before my timewith the tribe, a man called Lone Walker. They said he was a great man.An awful big man, brave and rich. He had nineteen wives, and old manMonroe has told me that when he first came with the tribe--that must benearly seventy-five years ago--Lone Walker had two grizzly bears that heused to keep tied up, one on either side of the door of his lodge. Theold man said that the first time he ever went into the lodge, both bearsgot up and growled and started to attack him. He said he was scaredpretty near to death, but Lone Walker spoke to them and they becamequiet and went and lay down again. Old man Monroe lived in Lone Walker'slodge for two or three years after that and, of course, the bears gotused to him right away and never bothered him; in fact, I believe itwasn't very long after that before the bears ran away and were neverseen again."

  "But, Hugh, were they tame bears?" asked Jack.

  "I don't rightly know," responded Hugh. "They were tame to the man thatowned them, I expect, and they say that during the day when the camp wasmoving, the bears used to travel with it, walking along with the dogs.They didn't bother anybody or anything and nothing bothered them; but,finally, I believe, they ran off, and although Lone Walker looked forthem he could not find them."

  "Well," said Jack, "those seem to me like queer pets for a man to have,but after all I don't know that they are any queerer than poor old SwiftFoot that I used to have."

  "No," said Hugh, "any tame wild animal may seem strange to a person whonever has seen a tame one before, but any wild animal can be tamed, andif he's taken young enough he won't have any fear of man. The troubleis, though, to make him stay tame. He's naturally shy, and while he maybe all right when his owner's around, if he gets among strange people,the natural fear that he's inherited from his ancestors will come backto him, and he'll run."

  "That's what happened to poor old Swift Foot, I am afraid," said Jack.

  "What Swift Foot?" said Joe. "I never heard about that."

  "Why, haven't I ever told you about him, Joe?" said Jack. "Four or fiveyears ago, the first year I was in the West, we dug out a den of wolvesand kept the puppies, and some of them became very tame. I took one backEast with me and had him two or three years. He was just like a dogwith me and felt at home with all the other people in the house, but Inever dared let him loose on the streets, for fear he would get lost. Inthe country, when I went there, I'd turn him loose and he wouldrun--Great Scott! you never saw anything so wild to run as he was. Then,when I'd bring him back to the city again I'd have to keep him chainedand give him what little exercise I could on a chain. Of course, he grewawfully fat, and I think if I'd had him much longer he'd have gottencross, too; but finally, one unlucky day, I took him out walking, andover near Third Avenue, a crowded street where there is a great deal ofnoise and the elevated railroad trains are running all the time,something frightened him and he dodged behind me and gave a pull on thechain, and it pulled loose from his collar, and before I could grab himhe got frightened and ran. He ran like a deer, dodging among the trucksand horses and cars, and though I called and whistled he never stopped,and I never saw him again. Father advertised, and we tried our best tohear something of him, but it was no use."

  "I don't wonder he got scared," said Joe. "I guess I'd be scared a wholelot with so many people round me, and no place to get away."

  "You're right," said Hugh, "so would I. It must be something terrible inthose big cities."

  "Well," said Jack, "it is terrible the way the people crowd about. Ofcourse, those who live there are used to it and don't pay any attention,but people that haven't been used to hearing the noises and seeing thecrowds, could easily enou
gh get scared."

  A little later Hugh rose to his feet and stepped out of the tent,saying as he did so, "Boys, I believe we're going to have a nice dayto-morrow. It's stopped snowing, all the stars are out and the moon isjust rising. It feels mighty warm, too. Likely enough to-morrow the sunwill come out hot and take off the heft of this snow. Then we can getround a bit and can dry this meat."

  "Well," said Jack, "I'd like to be able to dry our meat. Of course,there's no trouble killing meat here, but one doesn't want to kill a biganimal for a single meal."

  "No," said Hugh, "you're right about that. Meat is plenty here, butthat's no reason why we should waste it. Now, let's put this fire outand cover it up with snow, so that there'll be no danger of the tent'scatching fire, and then we'll go to bed. What do you say?"

  At once the boys were on their feet, pulling the fire to pieces andextinguishing the burning brands, by throwing them into the snow, andthen bringing a few double handfuls of snow they threw them on to theashes of the fire, and with much smoke and steam the last sparks wereextinguished. A little later the regular breathing of the three men inthe tent showed that all were asleep.

  It must have been in the middle of the night or perhaps toward morning,when Jack was half awakened by hearing a noise, something likescratching, which he did not recognize, but a moment later he wasthoroughly aroused by hearing a loud thump on the ground just outsidethe tent and then the sound of something galloping. His first thoughtwas that one of the horses had come up close to the tent and knockedsomething down, but almost at once he recognized that this could nothave been the cause of the sound, because the footfalls were not heavyenough to have been made by a horse. Rising on his elbow, he lookedabout. It was quite light in the tent, for a brilliant moon was shining,and he could plainly see Hugh get up, walk to the door and look out.

  "What is it, Hugh?" asked Jack.

  For a moment Hugh did not answer, and then said, "Why, something hascarried off that bundle of meat. No, he hasn't either. Here's the meatlying in the snow and there is the thing that knocked it down over thereunder the pine tree, where we were cutting up the elk. I can see itplain in the snow, but I can't make out what it is. It's some animal,because it's moving."

  By this time Jack was on his feet and had his head out of the tent door.He could plainly see some not very large animal crouched in the snow andcould hear faintly the scratching, tearing sound of an animal gnawing abone, and at once said, "Why, Hugh, whatever it is, he's gnawing on thebones of that elk we left over there."

  "So he is," said Hugh. "Let's see what it is," and, reaching down, hetook his rifle and, stepping outside of the tent door, fired at thecreature. It paid no attention whatever, but went on eating. Then Hughfired another shot and then another, and after the fourth shot, theanimal sprang into the air and, turning about, bounded off into theshadow and was not seen again. Hugh picked up the bundle of elk meat andput it in among the branches of the tree, and then he and Jack went backinto the tent.

  "What was it, Hugh?" asked Jack.

  "Well," said Hugh, "I don't know. It was either a mountain lion or alynx or a bob-cat, but whatever it was, it wasn't a bit afraid."

  "No," said Jack, "I could see that. We ought to be glad that it didn'tcome into the tent with us."

  "Well," said Hugh, "we'll know what it is in the morning, when it getslight."

  For the remainder of the night their rest was undisturbed. They roseearly, and while breakfast was being cooked Hugh walked over to wherethe animal had been, and after looking about, came back and told theboys that the disturber of their rest had not been a mountain lion.

  "I wish after we get breakfast you would show me how you know that,Hugh," said Jack.

  "I will," said Hugh, "but I can tell you now. The place where it waslying is too small for a mountain lion. There is no mark anywhere on thesnow of a long tail, such as a lion would have, and then out there Ipicked up this," and he took from his pocket a little tuft of hair,gray, mixed with reddish. "Do you recognize that fur?" he said, as Jacktook it in his hand and looked at it.

  "No," said Jack, "I don't. But then you know I don't know many of themountain animals."

  "No," said Hugh, "you don't, and I don't think Joe does, either. Butunless I'm mightily mistaken that came from a lynx, one of those biganimals like a bob-cat, only a good deal bigger, and gray instead ofred. They've got black tips to their ears and a kind of whiskers aroundtheir necks, and they look awful fierce and savage, but it's all looks.Though they seem to be so big, a man can kill one with a stick and nota very big stick, either."

  "Well," said Jack, "let's go over there as soon as we've eaten."

  After breakfast Hugh and Jack took their rifles and went over to theplace where the animal had been sitting, and Hugh pointed out theanimal's tracks, which looked very large.

  "Now, in this soft snow," observed Hugh, "I can't tell, and I don'tbelieve anybody else can, whether this is a lynx's track or a mountainlion's, but if it was a mountain lion's, every little while as youfollowed it you'd see some place where the lion's tail had made a markin the snow. We don't find anything of that sort here. Now, what do yousay to following up these tracks, and seeing where the critter's gone?"

  "Let's do it," said Jack, eagerly.

  Quietly and slowly they followed the trail, which was very plain, andfound that only about twenty or thirty steps from the place where theanimal had been shot at, it had stopped and lain in the snow for sometime, and that in this bed was a drop or two of blood. Apparently one ofthe shots that Hugh fired had grazed the skin somewhere.

  "Well, Hugh," said Jack, "that beast isn't much frightened and it may beanywhere about here. Let's go ahead, as carefully and quietly as wecan."

  From here the trail led into thick willows, where it wound about, andwhere, owing to the closeness of the willow stems, it was not easy to goquietly. Every few moments Hugh stopped and looked carefully about, andthen went on a little farther. When he had followed the trail for alittle more than a hundred yards, the tracks turned sharply to theright, and just as they turned to follow them, Hugh made a motion withhis hand and stopped. Jack looked under Hugh's arm, and there, nottwenty yards away, saw the animal. A large spruce tree grew among thewillows and at its foot was a little open place. The lynx, for such itwas, was lying in the sun at the foot of this tree, and only its hipswere visible.

  Hugh motioned to Jack to shoot, but before the lad could do so, he wasobliged to creep several yards to the left under the low-spreadingbranches of a willow. At last he got far enough to one side to see theanimal's body almost to the shoulders, and then fired, trying to sendhis ball as close to the tree as possible. At the report the animal gavea spring, and, falling back, stretched itself out in the snow. When Hughand Jack went up to it they could see that it was a Canada lynx of thelargest size, and as it lay there, its thick legs, and huge paws, armedwith long, strong claws, gave it a more ferocious appearance than it wasreally entitled to.

  Those paws were a marvel to Jack on account of their size, and the wayin which they were armed, but when he took hold of the animal to liftit, he appreciated what Hugh had told him about its really small size,and realized that a great deal of its bulk was due to its long, loosefur.

  Hugh took the lynx by the back of the neck and a few minutes broughtthem to the camp.

  Joe was delighted with their capture, and confessed that he had neverbefore seen an animal like this.

  "Now, Hugh," said Jack, "I want to skin this beast, that is, if you willgive me the skin."

  "Sure," replied Hugh, "I'll give you my share in the skin. You killedit, and it seems to me it's yours."

  "Yes," said Jack, "I killed it, of course, since you gave me the shot,but by hunter's law the skin belongs to you. Isn't it true that thefirst shot that draws blood is entitled to half the meat and the hide?"

  "That's so," said Hugh, "that's the old-time law that I used to heardown in Kentucky, before I got big enough to pack a gun. That's whatthey always said down there and I re
ckon that's been the custom eversince this country was a country. But you can have the hide and all themeat. I'll give 'em both to you. Keep them always."

  "Well," said Jack, "I'm mightily obliged to you for the hide, but Idon't feel as if I could rob you of the meat."

  "Well," replied Hugh, "maybe you don't know what you're refusing. Inever did happen to eat bob-cat myself, but I've eaten mountain lion,and that's pretty good meat. A little dry maybe, and tastes a little toomuch like dry roast pork to suit me, but it's good all the same."

  "Well," said Jack, "I'll skin this bob-cat now, I think. How shall I doit, Hugh, split it, or shall I case it?"

  "Why," said Hugh, "if I were you I'd case it. That's the regular way toskin a bob-cat, and while you're skinning it, suppose Joe and I go downand see how the horses are and look after our fence. I reckon we don'twant to stay here much longer, but while we do stay we must watch thehorses."

  "Well," said Jack, "that's for you to say. I'm ready to stay or I'mready to go. I'd like to have a chance to climb up where you went theother day to look down into Belly River. Maybe I can do that to-day or,at least, this afternoon, if I start as soon as I get through my job ofskinning."

  "Yes," said Hugh, "I reckon you could. Go ahead at it now, and Joe andme will go and look at the horses."