by Robb White
"Wait a minute," Jonathan called, as he saw them all scrambling down the opposite bank. Then, when Judy stopped to listen, he said, "Let's let this old coon go. He's a pretty good old coon."
"I think so, too. Uncle Dan," Judy said.
"Now that's right funny," Mr. Worth said. "I wasn't going to suggest it since Jonathan put up such a battle to catch him, but if ever a coon deserved to be let loose that one does."
"I got the dogs," Judy said. "Let him go, Jonathan, but
watch he doesn't just jump you as soon as you turn him loose/'
Jonathan swung the coon back and forth twice, then let him go at the top of the third swing.
The coon hit the ground and whirled right around, snarling at Jonathan and ready to fight.
''Beat it!" Jonathan said. ''Scram!'' He got a handful of sand and threw it at the coon.
Then, as though showing them that he \'asn't scared, the coon turned slowlv toward the \'Oods. He looked back at Jonathan with his teeth bared, then walked away into the deep shadows. He never ran a step.
Jonathan waded back across the river.
"I'm sure glad we did that," Mr. Worth said. "The next time we have a race with that coon it'll be one to remember because coons learn fast, and that one learned a heap tonight. He'll be worth chasing next time."
"Did he hurt you?" Judy asked.
"I don't think so," Jonathan said, "but he really slapped the daylights out of me."
"Me, too," Mr. Worth said, starting to laugh. "That was the slappingest coon I ever saw. When I was up in that tree, it was just me and him and mostly him. He came skittering down out of that fork and before I knew it I had a face full of coon feet." He laughed harder. "I remember the Little Bird speaking to me two, three weeks ago about getting a haircut, and now I'm sure glad I forgot to get one because that old coon bit off a chunk of my hair and, had
I had a haircut, he'd have bit him off a chunk of my head.
''So I turned loose, being sort of startled to have so much coon climbing on me, and tried to get him off. Well, sir, from then on it was a messr
Judy laughed. ''I never heard of a coon hunt where the dogs almost ate up the hunters.''
''They couldn't help that now, Judy," Mr. Worth argued. "Old Strive and Slew were all excited after such a race and, when they saw a coon as big as me falling down to 'em, they were too happy to notice the difference."
"Did they hurt you?" Jonathan asked.
"No, they just chawed me up a little." Then Mr. Worth looked at Jonathan. ''Boy," he said, "you couldn't have paid me to jump in the river with that coon. I've seen old boar coons get in the water and stand off a pack of dogs."
"I fell in," Jonathan said. "He did, too."
"Maybe so," Mr. Worth said, "but you went ahead and tangled with him, right there in swimming water, too. Man, if that'd been me I'd've been under water still."
"Me, too/' Judy said. "And I wouldn't have jumped for that coon the way you did. Did you see him, Uncle Dan? He just took off, sailing through the air, and lit right on top of that coon. Ohhhhh," she said, shivering. "You almost had him, too."
"That's when he slapped me," Jonathan said. "I didn't know they could slap so hard."
"And their hands are so cold," Judy said. "I'd rather be slapped by a wet eel than a coon's hand."
Jonathan felt a little cold on the outside, but inside he felt warm and fine to have Judy and Mr. Worth think that he had done all those things beeause he was brave. Jonathan didn't think that he'd been brave at all, but if they wanted to think so, well . . .
''It's past one o'elock,'' Mr. Worth said. ''What do you all want to do? Run another eoon or sleep some?"
Jonathan was sure that he couldn't run another step, but he waited for Judy to answer first, hoping that she would be sensible for once and say she wanted to sleep.
Jonathan let out a sigh when she said, "That was a good race, Uncle Dan. Tm about run down."
"Me, too," Mr. Worth said. "Let's go back up the river and turn in/'
After they had gone a short distance, Judy turned the dogs loose. Jonathan noticed that, although they ran around a good deal, they didn't seem to be hunting anything very hard. He guessed that they were about as tired as he was.
He was wrong. The dogs struck again. Strive first, then Slewfoot.
"Oh, oh," Mr. Worth said. "Doesn't look like we're going to get any sleep tonight. That's a hot one."
The sound of the dogs giving tongue as hard as they could, and then fading slowly away, seemed to wash all the tiredness out of Jonathan. His legs felt springy and alive again and his breath wasn't raw and hot in his throat as he
ran
Mr. Worth stopped for a moment to listen. "He's head-
ing for the flat ground, sounds like. Must be a young and foolish coon/'
Judy nodded. ''The dogs'll eat him up if he goes into those cane reeds. So maybe we'll get some sleep after all.''
The moonlight was clear and bright whenever they came out into little open places in the woods or ran along the sand bars. Jonathan ran beside Judy, while Mr. Worth loped ahead, his legs loose and long.
''If we catch this one, can I have him?" Jonathan asked.
"Sure. What for?"
"Mamie, our cook, wants one—to eat."
"She can have him," Judy said. "I ate some once. I don't like it. Too fat."
Mr. Worth stopped at the edge of a high bluff and waited for them. When Jonathan got there, he was surprised to see how the land lay ahead of them. Stretching out from the foot of the bluff it was flat and level for as far as he could see. The moonlight was strong on it and some sort of tall, thick grass made it look almost like water.
The two hounds were out in it somewhere, close on the coon, their voices loud and excited.
"That coon had better settle down and really run," Mr. Worth said, "because there's no place for him to tree."
"Maybe he knows where there's a hole he can get in," Judy suggested.
"He better find it then."
They climbed down the bluff and waded out into the high grass. It came almost to Jonathan's chest and, as he
watched Mr. Worth and Judy pushing through it, they looked hke boats in the moonhght. The grass closed up again as soon as they went through it, but there was still a wake behind them.
There was no way to see what he was walking on for the moonlight couldn't get down through the grass. Jonathan caught up with Judy. ''Suppose we step on an alligator?'' he asked.
''Step right off him/' Judy said. Then she laughed, panting. "No gators will be this far from the river."
Suddenly the dogs stopped barking. Jonathan waited for them to do as they had with the other coon and start baying, but they didn't make any noise at all for a long time.
"Now what've they run into?" Mr. Worth asked, listening.
"Whate'er it is, they don't like it," Judy decided.
"Maybe that coon slipped into a hole and they can't find it in all this grass."
"Maybe he's running down a possum trail, or even a wildcat's, and they can't make it out."
Then, making the grass wave in two long streaks as they moved through it, the dogs came back to them. Slewfoot was whining a little but Strive didn't make any noise.
"Well, doggone," Mr. Worth said, exasperated. "What happened, Slew?"
Judy sounded exasperated, too. "They don't even seem to care where that coon went."
"Maybe they just wanted to be sure we were still inter-
ested in what they were doing. Come on/' Jonathan said.
As soon as Mr. Worth started off, the dogs did, too, but they didn't go tearing away, barking and running the coon. Instead, they stayed just ahead of Mr. Worth, Slewfoot still whining a little every now and then.
'This beats me," Mr. Worth said, stopping again. "What ails 'em, Judy?''
''I don't know. Maybe the coon ran them across a panther trail."
''Don't see how. There aren't any panthers within twenty, thirty miles of here, if that
close."
"Well," Judy declared, "they ran into something they don't like."
Mr. Worth walked on again. "Who's got the flashlight?"
"I have," Judy said.
"I'm going to find out what kind of critter has upset these dogs," Mr. Worth said, his voice sounding determined. "Whatever it is, it must be over in that clump of bushes."
The grass was higher there and Jonathan couldn't see Judy at all—just the grass waving where she was pushing through it.
Then Jonathan walked into a tangle of roots. He didn't trip and fall, the roots grabbed him by the foot and threw him down so hard he grunted when he hit the ground.
He heard his knife and key chain tinkle and when he sat up and felt in his pocket they weren't there.
He felt around the roots and, when he didn't find them, started to go on. Then he thought of all the explaining he'd
have to do to Mrs. Johnson, so he got down on his knees and really hunted for them.
He finally found them. He put them back in his pocket and looped the chain into his belt and stood up.
Jonathan found himself all alone in an ocean of high grass. It stretched out as far as he could see, flat and pale gold in the moonlight and unbroken except for the clump of bushes rising above it like a dark island.
Mr. Worth and Judy weren't making a sound and he couldn't see any trace of them anywhere.
''Judy!'' Jonathan called, not making it very loud.
She didn't answer, but he thought he heard them moving. The sound was coming from the clump of bushes, so he pushed his way toward it.
When he started to call again, he stopped himself. Maybe, he reasoned, it would be the wrong thing to do. Maybe he wasn't supposed to make any noise. They certainly weren't.
He stopped for a moment to listen. He could still hear the noise of the grass being pushed aside—a sort of soft, swishing noise.
And as he listened, he realized that the sound of it was coming toward him.
Maybe they had missed him and Judy was coming back to find him.
''Here I am," he said quietly, and walked toward the approaching noise.
Because the sound uas between him and the clump of bushes which made a dark background, Jonathan couldn't
see anything above the grass. But the noise was getting closer and closer, so he kept on going.
At last he could see where she was by the way the grass waved around. 'Tm coming, Judy/' he said.
She didn't answer, just kept coming toward him.
Jonathan felt a little angry. Why didn't she say something? Why did she keep on coming? 'Tm coming, Judy!"
He began to plow toward her through the grass, going straight to where he could see it waving around.
They weren't more than five feet apart before Jonathan got suspicious. The moonlight was bright enough for him to see clearly where she was, but he couldn't see her. All he could see was the grass opening and then closing again.
Why was she hiding down below the top of the grass that way? he wondered. Then he thought. Maybe she's trying to scare me or something.
''I see you," he said, a little irritated. ''Come on, stand up and quit fooling around, Judy."
The waving stopped and, slowly, she stood up. Jonathan watched a dark head come up above the pale gold grass.
The head kept on rising, taller and taller. There wasn't any whiteness where Judy's face should have been, and she was either climbing up on something or the ground was much higher.
Then, as she kept rising above the grass, Jonathan knew that that wasn't Judy.
It was a bear.
It was so big and so black it seemed to blot out the moon
and most of the sky. As it stood there on its hind legs not more than five feet from him its huge body waved back and forth across the moon. At first Jonathan couldn't believe it. After all, Mr. Worth
had said that there weren't any bears anywhere around here, so it couldn't be a bear.
But it was a bear!
Jonathan had seen enough pictures of bears, and enough live ones in the zoo to recognize the little ears outlined against the sky, the long black snout, and the short arms sticking out from the massive shoulders.
Jonathan's mind began to race around. He'd better climb a tree. There weren't any trees around there. And, if the bear came up the tree, to kick him on the snout. But there
weren't any trees, and right now the bear's snout was way up above Jonathan's head.
Then he got tangled up \ith what Judy had told him to do the next time a bull chased him. Lie down and curl up so the bull couldn't see him. But this bear was already looking right at him.
Jonathan gulped once and said, ''J^^Y' ' ^^ didn't come out very loud, so he tried again. "'J^uu-dy!"
There was no answer. Except from the bear. It made a sort of low, grunting noise and took a step toward Jonathan, its arms reaching out. Its paws were so close that Jonathan could see the long, curved black claws sticking out from the ends of the five fingers.
Then he was too scared to do anything. Way back in his mind he was still thinking a little, but it wasn't doing him much good. All he knew was that he'd better not run. In the first place, it might make the bear madder. In the second place, he doubted whether he could get his legs to move. His knees felt like cold oatmeal and were knocking together, and his feet felt as though they had roots running down into the ground.
He yelled then, ''Judyf
Jonathan didn't know it, but the yell \as just a little whisper.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
onathan looked at the bear and the bear looked at Jonathan. Then the bear opened its mouth and Jonathan looked at the rows of long teeth, very white in the moonlight.
The bear made another grunting noise and took another step toward Jonathan, its whole body swaying and waving and its arms reaching out.
In the movies, Jonathan remembered, men always had long, shiny knives in sheaths on their belts. When bears grabbed them, they janked out the knives and plunged them into the bear's heart so that the bears always fell down dead just before biting off the men's heads.
All he had was the little gold knife on the chain. If he stuck that into the bear, it would just make the bear really sore.
Slowly, step by step, the bear came toward him. At last, when it was so close Jonathan could even smell it, the bear reached out for him.
This time Jonathan really did yell. It was just a sort of choked gurgling noise, but it was loud.
The bear stepped back a pace and leaned forward, looking at him.
Then, sounding cross, Judy said, "Come on, Jonathan/'
Her voice sounded far, far away to Jonathan.
''Judy,'' he yelled. ''Here's a bear!"
"A what?" she asked.
"A bear."
"You're kidding. Come on."
"Judy," Jonathan said, pleading with her, "here's a real, live bear."
"Well, leave him alone and come on."
Then the bear reached out and put one paw down on Jonathan's shoulder. Then it put the other paw down and stood there, its snout right in Jonathan's face.
The bear's weight almost crumpled Jonathan's knees and his voice was feeble when he called, ''J^^Y? ^^'^ resting on me.
"Oh, come on, Jonathan," she called, really irritated.
Jonathan decided then that Judy Worth Shelley was the most useless girl he'd ever heard of.
"Tell Mr. Worth that there's a bear resting on me," he begged her.
Then Mr. Worth, from farther away, said to Judy, "What's the trouble?"
"Oh, Jonathan's pretending he's caught a bear or something," Judy told him.
"There aren't any bears around here," Mr. Worth said.
"I know that," Judy said. "He's just kidding."
The bear now was feeling the side of Jonathan's head with one paw. The long claws felt like the teeth of a rake across his cheek.
''Mr. Worth/' Jonathan said, ''please come here." And he meant it.
''Go see what's the trouble,
Judy/' Mr. Worth said.
Jonathan could hear Judy coming through the grass then.
The bear was still patting him with the huge black paws. Then it started nosing around with its snout.
The gasp Judy gave when she turned on the flashlight sounded like a bicycle tire blowing out. "Uncle Dan! It is a bear. Hes got Jonathan/"
Mr. Worth came crashing through the bushes, the dogs whining along beside him.
Jonathan got up strength enough to raise his hands and put them against the bear's chest. Then, hoping the bear wouldn't mind, he shoved with all his might.
The bear made a disappointed-sounding noise and stumbled backward a little way.
Judy's hand was shaking so hard the beam of the flashlight was dancing around on the bear as it came slowly back toward Jonathan again.
"Run!" Judy yelled.
"Wait!" Mr. Worth ordered.
He came plowing through the grass right up to the bear. "Teddy," he said.
The bear turned around slowly, shielding its eyes with one arm.
''Come here, Teddy/' Mr. Worth said.
The bear made a pleased noise and wallowed over to Mr. Worth.
*'I be doggone," Mr. Worth said, reaching out and patting the bear. ''This is old Eb Smith's tame bear. You know, Judy, over at Eb's filling station.''
Jonathan sank down into the grass, his legs melting.
"Still got his collar on and a piece of rope." He patted the bear again and rubbed his head. "Poor old bear. Must've gotten loose and then lost out here in the woods. He must've been mighty glad to see you, Jonathan."
"JONATHAN!" Judy yelled, flashing the light around.
"Here I am," Jonathan said, not even trying to stand up.
"I thought maybe something else had you," Judy explained.
"No wonder the dogs quit," Mr. Worth said. "It must have puzzled them to have that old coon run them into a thicket with a bear. Probably first time in their lives they ever smelled a bear."