Away in the Wilderness

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  A SAVAGE FAMILY, AND A FIGHT WITH A BEAR.

  About a week after our travellers left the outpost, Arrowhead had anadventure with a bear, which had well-nigh cut short his journey throughthis world, as well as his journey in the wilderness of Rupert's Land.

  It was in the evening of a beautiful day when it happened. The canoehad got among some bad rapids, and, as it advanced very slowly, youngHeywood asked to be put on shore, that he might walk up the banks of theriver, which were very beautiful, and sketch.

  In half an hour he was far ahead of the canoe. Suddenly, on turninground a rocky point, he found himself face to face with a small Indianboy. It is probable that the little fellow had never seen a white manbefore, and it is certain that Heywood had never seen such a specimen ofa brown boy. He was clothed in skin, it is true, but it was the skin inwhich he had been born, for he had not a stitch of clothing on his fatlittle body.

  As the man and the boy stood staring at each other, it would have beendifficult to say which opened his eyes widest with amazement. At firstHeywood fancied the urchin was a wild beast of some sort on two legs,but a second glance convinced him that he was a real boy. The nextthought that occurred to the artist was, that he would try to sketchhim, so he clapped his hand to his pocket, pulled out his book andpencil, and forthwith began to draw.

  This terrified the little fellow so much, that he turned about and fledhowling into the woods. Heywood thought of giving chase, but a noiseattracted his attention at that moment, and, looking across the river,he beheld the boy's father in the same cool dress as his son. The manhad been fishing, but when he saw that strangers were passing, he threwhis blanket round him, jumped into his canoe, and crossed over to meetthem.

  This turned out to be a miserably poor family of Indians, consisting ofthe father, mother, three girls, and a boy, and a few ill-looking dogs.They all lived together in a little tent or wigwam, made partly of skinsand partly of birch-bark. This tent was shaped like a cone. The firewas kindled inside, in the middle of the floor. A hole in the sideserved for a door, and a hole in the top did duty for window andchimney. The family kettle hung above the fire, and the family circlesat around it. A dirtier family and filthier tent one could not wish tosee. The father was a poor weakly man and a bad hunter; the squaw wasthin, wrinkled, and very dirty, and the children were allsickly-looking, except the boy before mentioned, who seemed to enjoymore than his fair share of health and rotundity.

  "Have ye got anything to eat?" inquired Jasper, when the canoe reachedthe place.

  They had not got much, only a few fish and an owl.

  "Poor miserable critters," said Jasper, throwing them a goose and a lumpof venison; "see there--that'll keep the wolf out o' yer insides forsome time. Have ye got anything to smoke?"

  No, they had nothing to smoke but a few dried leaves.

  "Worse and worse," cried Jasper, pulling a large plug of tobacco fromthe breast of his coat; "here, that'll keep you puffin' for a short bit,anyhow."

  Heywood, although no smoker himself, carried a small supply of tobaccojust to give away to Indians, so he added two or three plugs to Jasper'sgift, and Arrowhead gave the father a few charges of powder and shot.They then stepped into their canoe, and pushed off with that feeling oflight hearted happiness which always follows the doing of a kind action.

  "There's bears up the river," said the Indian, as they were leaving.

  "Have ye seen them?" inquired Jasper.

  "Ay, but could not shoot--no powder, no ball. Look out for them!"

  "That will I," replied the hunter, and in another moment the canoe wasout among the rapids again, advancing slowly up the river.

  In about an hour afterwards they came to a part of the river where thebanks were high and steep. Here Jasper landed to look for the tracks ofthe bears. He soon found these, and as they appeared to be fresh, heprepared to follow them up.

  "We may as well encamp here," said he to Arrowhead; "you can go and lookfor the bears. I will land the baggage, and haul up the canoe, and thentake my gun and follow you. I see that our friend Heywood is at workwith his pencil already."

  This was true. The keen artist was so delighted with the scene beforehim, that the moment the canoe touched the land he had jumped out, and,seating himself on the trunk of a fallen tree, with book and pencil,soon forgot everything that was going on around him.

  Arrowhead shouldered his gun and went away up the river. Jasper soonfinished what he had to do, and followed him, leaving Heywood seated onthe fallen tree.

  Now the position which Heywood occupied was rather dangerous. The treelay on the edge of an overhanging bank of clay, about ten feet above thewater, which was deep and rapid at that place. At first the young mansat down on the tree-trunk near its root, but after a time, finding theposition not quite to his mind, he changed it, and went close to theedge of the bank. He was so much occupied with his drawing, that he didnot observe that the ground on which his feet rested actually overhungthe stream. As his weight rested on the fallen tree, however, heremained there safe enough and busy for half an hour.

  At the end of that time he was disturbed by a noise in the bushes.Looking up, he beheld a large brown bear coming straight towards him.Evidently the bear did not see him, for it was coming slowly and lazilyalong, with a quiet meditative expression on its face. The appearanceof the animal was so sudden and unexpected, that poor Heywood's heartalmost leaped into his mouth. His face grew deadly pale, his long hairalmost rose on his head with terror, and he was utterly unable to movehand or foot.

  In another moment the bear was within three yards of him, and, beingtaken by surprise, it immediately rose on its hind legs, which is thecustom of bears when about to make or receive an attack. It stared fora moment at the horrified artist.

  Let not my reader think that Heywood's feelings were due to cowardice.The bravest of men have been panic-stricken when taken by surprise. Theyoung man had never seen a bear before, except in a cage, and thedifference between a caged and a free bear is very great. Besides, whena rough-looking monster of this kind comes unexpectedly on a man who isunarmed, and has no chance of escape, and rises on its hind legs, as ifto let him have a full view of its enormous size, its great strength,and its ugly appearance, he may well be excused for feeling a littleuncomfortable, and looking somewhat uneasy.

  When the bear rose, as I have said, Heywood's courage returned. Hisfirst act was to fling his sketch-book in Bruin's face, and then,uttering a loud yell, he sprang to his feet, intending to run away. Butthe violence of his action broke off the earth under his feet. He droptinto the river like a lump of lead, and was whirled away in a moment!

  What that bear thought when it saw the man vanish from the spot like aghost, of course I cannot tell. It certainly _looked_ surprised, and,if it was a bear of ordinary sensibility, it must undoubtedly have_felt_ astonished. At any rate, after standing there, gazing for nearlya minute in mute amazement at the spot where Heywood had disappeared, itlet itself down on its forelegs, and, turning round, walked slowly backinto the bushes.

  Poor Heywood could not swim, so the river did what it pleased with him.After sweeping him out into the middle of the stream, and rolling himover five or six times, and whirling him round in an eddy close to theland, and dragging him out again into the main current, and sending himstruggling down a rapid, it threw him at last, like a bundle of oldclothes, on a shallow, where he managed to get on his feet, andstaggered to the shore in a most melancholy plight. Thereafter hereturned to the encampment, like a drowned rat, with his long hairplastered to his thin face, and his soaked garments clinging tightly tohis slender body. Had he been able to see himself at that moment, hewould have laughed, but, not being able to see himself, and feeling verymiserable, he sighed and shuddered with cold, and then set to work tokindle a fire and dry himself.

  Meanwhile the bear continued its walk up the river. Arrowhead, after atime, lost the track of the bear he was in search
of, and, believingthat it was too late to follow it up farther that night, he turnedabout, and began to retrace his steps. Not long after that, he and thebear met face to face. Of course, the Indian's gun was levelled in aninstant, but the meeting was so sudden, that the aim was not so true asusual, and, although the ball mortally wounded the animal, it did notkill him outright.

  There was no time to re-load, so Arrowhead dropped his gun and ran. Hedoubled as he ran, and made for the encampment; but the bear ran faster.It was soon at the Indian's heels. Knowing that farther flight wasuseless, Arrowhead drew the hatchet that hung at his belt, and, turninground, faced the infuriated animal, which instantly rose on its hindlegs and closed with him.

  The Indian met it with a tremendous blow of his axe, seized it by thethroat with his left hand, and endeavoured to repeat the blow. [Seefrontispiece.] But brave and powerful though he was, the Indian was likea mere child in the paw of the bear. The axe descended with a crash onthe monster's head, and sank into its skull. But bears are notoriouslyhard to kill. This one scarcely seemed to feel the blow. Next instantArrowhead was down, and, with its claws fixed in the man's back, thebear held him down, while it began to gnaw the fleshy part of his leftshoulder.

  No cry escaped from the prostrate hunter. He determined to lieperfectly still, as if he were dead, that being his only chance ofescape; but the animal was furious, and there is little doubt that theIndian's brave spirit would soon have fled, had not God mercifully sentJasper Derry to his relief.

  That stout hunter had been near at hand when the shot was fired. He atonce ran in the direction whence the sound came, and arrived on thescene of the struggle just as Arrowhead fell. Without a moment'shesitation he dropt on one knee, took a quick but careful aim and fired.The ball entered the bear's head just behind the ear and rolled it overdead!

  Arrowhead's first act on rising was to seize the hand of his deliverer,and in a tone of deep feeling exclaimed, "My brother!"

  "Ay," said Jasper with a quiet smile, as he reloaded his gun; "this isnot the first time that you and I have helped one another in the nick oftime, Arrowhead; we shall be brothers, and good friends to boot, I hope,as long as we live."

  "Good," said the Indian, a smile lighting up for one moment his usuallygrave features.

  "But my brother is wounded, let me see," said Jasper.

  "It will soon be well," said the Indian carelessly, as he took off hiscoat and sat down on the bank, while the white hunter examined hiswounds.

  This was all that was said on the subject by these two men. They wereused to danger in every form, and had often saved each other from suddendeath. The Indian's wounds, though painful, were trifling. Jasperdressed them in silence, and then, drawing his long hunting knife, heskinned and cut up the bear, while his companion lay down on the bank,smoked his pipe, and looked on. Having cut off the best parts of thecarcass for supper, the hunters returned to the canoe, carrying the skinalong with them.