by Max Brand
He got up again, dry of throat, and with his eyes burning from constant staring among the trees and the shadows. This time he split the fire into two parts, each a solid mass of wood which should burn steadily without replenishing until close to daylight, and between the two fires he lay down.
It was very hot there. He folded the blanket and lay on top of it. He even opened his shirt so that the air might cool him. But it was better a thousand times to lie in heat than in terror.
That one cry from the mountain lion was all he heard, however, and perhaps it had been hurrying across country on a trail well known to it and leading to certain prey. That was the reason it had been traveling down the wind instead of prowling up it.
This conclusion came like a blessing and the assurance of peace to Tommy. An instant later the stars swam and mingled together in a soft, cool fire above his head. He slept.
It was no nightmare now. Utter weariness of soul and body shut out the possibility of dreams. And out of that dreamless, perfect sleep he was wakened by a horrible knife-stab of sound - the snarl of a wild beast making a kill and biting deep. He stood erect, his heart thundering wildly, his wits astray. Then he heard a groan and a fall.
For the first time he could see. The two fires on which he had counted so certainly had burned to smoldering beds of coals, dusted over with ashes which alone kept the life from completely dying. And from the beds of coals were passed an uncertain glow of light which revealed things not at a glance but by dim degrees, just as the mind works out a problem.
So, what Tommy saw first was a distant, isolated gleam on a polished leaf. Next he saw the pack, a jumbled heap without head or tail to it. And last of all he saw where Billy lay prostrate, and over the poor burro, with fangs sunk in his throat, crouched the mountain lion, a tawny splotch in the darkness - though clearly enough visible for Tommy to make out the long sweep of the tail as it was lashed from side to side.
He cried out in an agony of horror and fear, but the small, choked voice had the power to make the puma leap growling from its kill and face suddenly around. There it saw a man risen from the ground, risen out of the very body of detested fires, so it seemed. The mountain lion spat in fear and rage, then turned and with uncanny speed slunk away. A single stride, and it seemed to melt into nothingness.
But Tommy dared not move. It was not fear of the lion which kept him frozen and still. A danger once confronted and seen naked with the eye becomes only a tithe as terrible as when it existed only behind a wall of darkness. It was not dread of the lion but consciousness of what the death of Billy meant - that he was chained to this place in the valley of the Turnbull River. He could not venture farther away than a single day’s march from his source of supplies, and in this wilderness, how long would it be before men came that way?
CHAPTER IV
LARGE MEANINGS SOMETIMES burst upon the brain with one flash which shows all the corners of their significance. So it was with Tommy. In the horror of that great knowledge, he forgot fear of the monster which had only now crouched in the clearing scarcely more than leaping distance away from him. He forgot the death of the poor burro, though the odd ways and the patient soul of Billy had made him an old and dear friend. Only one soul-crushing thought remained - that he was marooned here in the wilderness as completely as though he were his favorite Robinson Crusoe on the island. Rifle, ammunition, the bundle of traps, clothing, food - all of these were things which he needed to sustain life, and he could not take them with him a single step now that Billy was dead.
But was Billy dead? In an agony of haste, forgetful entirely of all danger of the mountain lion which might still be lurking near the edge of the clearing, he raced to Billy and dropped to his knees. But Billy was dead. His lolling tongue, his torn throat, told plainly that he would never rise again. And Tommy sank back on the ground.
He looked up and saw the cold beginnings of the dawn make the stars fade slowly. Still his brain struggled with the future. He was only twelve. If he had a rest for a rifle, he could shoot and shoot well; and his three years among the mountains had taught him much about them. But, after the ammunition was gone, how could he live? And in this wilderness, would the lonely life be endurable?
No tears came. He had been snatched into the heart of a tragedy so swiftly that he could not weep. And, after all, tears come more quickly when there is a comforter nearby. There in the cold grass he lay, his fists clenched tightly, struggling against the problem. It would be easier and less painful to go back to that fatal place on the brink of the river and cast himself in. But now the light of morning increased rapidly, and to the east he saw the first sunlight glisten on the top of a snowy mountain.
Tommy rose slowly to his feet, and he was no sooner risen than he was touched by that spur which, after all, drives men on to most of their accomplishments - a stab of hunger. And, an instant later, he was busy kindling the fire.
He had begun to slice bacon, but a moment of reflection made him drop the knife. This was food which would keep, and there might well come a time when he would need it bitterly. In the meantime, that spring morning held other life which must feed him. A tree squirrel chattered overhead and told him that he need not hunt far. So he took up the everloaded rifle, dropped upon one knee, with his elbow resting on the other, and took careful aim. The squirrel promptly ducked around to the farther side of the tree trunk.
But Tommy knew squirrel nature. The little creatures are invincibly curious, and, instead of moving around to the farther side of the tree to get in a shot, he watched the same opening among the branches. Presently, as he had expected, the tiny head slipped into view, and that instant his finger closed on the trigger.
He did not miss. When one has a limited supply of ammunition, one dares not miss. The ring of the shot was still in his ears when he heard the little body come rustling through the foliage and drop with a light thud to the ground. He took it up quickly with a strangely savage thrill of satisfaction. Was not all the world now banded against him? John Parks had stood between him and the outside, and now he was stripped naked of help. Every tooth and claw hidden among those tree-clad valleys and lowlands was against him. And he had struck his first blow in self-defense.
The squirrel he cleaned and broiled for his breakfast. It was a big, fat fellow and made enough of a meal, even eaten without bread - for the cornmeal was something which he must scrupulously cherish against a time of need.
And when the meal was ended, his spirits had risen greatly. John Parks, after breakfast, had always sat quietly and smoked a pipe while he arranged all his plans for the day’s work. Tommy imitated that good example by sitting up hugging his knees while he surveyed the situation.
There was one advantage, at least. So long as misfortune had to overtake him, it was the greatest blessing that he had been struck here, where the cumbrous pack was left in such an ideal camping place. Water, wood, and, best of all for a year-round home, a permanent shelter made to his hand, for such the cave, from which the little stream ran, seemed to offer. He went instantly to explore it.
It was far better than he had dared to hope. It opened as a roughly rectangular gap six or seven feet across and about half that height. But almost immediately it expanded to better proportions. It swelled up a dozen feet high and twice that broad, and in the dim light Tommy could see the glimmer of the stream trailing off into indistinguishable darkness.
He went back to the embers of his breakfast fire, picked out a length of resinous pine wood for a torch, lighted it, and with that yellow sputter of flame he advanced again into the cave.
Now he could make out every detail. It drove back into the heart of the mountain nearly a hundred feet, with an arched roof of rock and rough rock walls which seemed to promise that there could never be a cave-in. Toward the rear, the dimensions of the cave steadily shrank until it ended in a little crevice of a hand’s breadth, out of which the water poured.
What could have been more perfect as a natural home? The heart of Tomm
y swelled with the delight of a conqueror. He began to feel that, after all, his might not be a losing fight. There would be ways of making the struggle, and, though it might be bitter, was it not possible that he might stay on there until other men came that way? And surely they must come sooner or later, and when they arrived in the valley they must find signs which would lead them to his cave.
That thought inspired him to a new labor. But first of all he moved some burning embers of the fire to the front of the cave, and a little to the side. That must be his permanent fireplace, and he must never let the fire die lest his supply of matches should be exhausted. That could be managed by a skillful laying of the fire.
Next he brought in all the pack, bit by bit, and distributed the articles on natural shelves of the rock where moisture would not get at them. When all was stowed away, it was a small beginning indeed, and few tools for a twelve-year- old child to use in his battle for life.
There was the body of poor Billy to be disposed of before it should become an offense. And the disposal of it offered a problem. He decided that he would dig a hole just beside the body, so that Billy would slide into it. Then the dead burro could be covered over and the burial properly completed. That work could be done with the shovel which had always been a part of John Parks’ pack. But this could be left until the morrow. Other pressing things remained to be accomplished at once.
First of all, he must not venture out without a weapon. So he tried his father’s big Colt, in its holster, at his hip - it extended clear to his knee - and took the ax. He set out for the river, since it seemed to him that travelers would be most apt to come up or down its course, and as he went he left a blazed trail on the trees, making the marks so close together that they would be sure to catch the eye in a continuous line.
A full four miles he continued until, leg weary from the walk and arm weary from wielding the heavy ax, he came to the edge of the stream. Its course was no longer fenced with steep cliffs here, but the water spread out over a wide, shallow channel, with broad-topped rocks gleaming just beneath the surface. And by the shore he marked half a dozen pools where there must surely be excellent fishing. Here he blazed the trees, hewing off big sections of the bark and the surface wood to catch the eye of any wayfarer.
After that he rested an hour and started back along his own blazed trail. A mile from camp he stumbled across a big mountain grouse. He knocked the bird over with a luckily aimed rock and then wrung its neck, and, as he marched on again with his dinner in his hand, he found himself whistling. He stopped short in wonder at himself.
But, after all, he told himself, it had not been an unhappy morning. That blazed trail was certain to take the eye of some wandering trapper who would follow the sign to Tommy’s camp, and the stranger would lead him back into the world. The new-born hope straightway became a surety. It was a matter of only a few days, a few weeks at the most, before he would be discovered. Surely he could maintain himself that long!
Coming onto the clearing again, he was shocked by the sight of the open entrance to the cave. He hurried in, but all was as he had left it. No prowling beast had taken advantage of his negligence to rob him of his store of food. He broiled the grouse and ate, and afterward he set about blocking the entrance to the cave.
It was not hard to do. There was a profusion of big rocks around the opening, and these he rolled into the entrance, walling it up solidly. Half a dozen stones in the center were of a size which he could easily handle, and these could be moved and removed when he returned to camp at the end of a day’s hunting, or left it in the morning.
By the time this was accomplished, he was tired, but there remained many a stretch of territory which must be explored. So he sallied out with an ax and revolver once more and took the opposite direction, going up the slope toward the higher mountain.
There was far less likelihood of men straying through this region, and therefore he made his blazes fewer and farther between. In time he came out on an open place littered with the rocks of a recent small landslide which had scraped down the hillside beyond and sent a wash of boulders and small rocks across this comparative level.
The sight caused Tommy to pause with concern, and he looked back down the slope in the direction of his camp. Suppose such a slide as this one should start and continue with greater volume down the hill - might he not be buried in his cave?
But he remembered a favorite saying of John Parks: “A man has to take chances of one kind or another.” And he turned to continue on his way. As he did so, however, his eye caught a motion among the rocks. He stopped short again, thrilling with fear. Just what had moved, he could not tell. He had a general impression, a chance-caught glimpse, rather than a definite picture. He jerked out the revolver. It was far too heavy for him, so he dropped down on one knee and supported the gun on the other. When in danger of wild beasts, he had learned long before, one must stand one’s ground, no matter with what fear. Man has no speed of foot to escape, and flight simply invites pursuit.
But his heart was hammering at the base of his throat, filling his whole body with trembling, when he saw it again - a bit of fur stirring behind a rock - the gleam of bright eyes. Suddenly, the whole head of a little bear cub no bigger than a rabbit popped into view, surveyed him intently for an instant, and disappeared again.
There is nothing more intriguing than a new-born cub, but Tommy felt no pleasure. A youngster of that age must be close to its mother, and mother grizzlies are apt to be incarnate fiends if they think that their offspring are in danger.
Where was she now? He recalled a score of stories about the almost human intelligence of grizzlies, how they hide their trails when they are hunted, how they have been known to double back more than once, and hunt the hunter.
Perhaps this old vixen was engaged in that occupation even now. Perhaps she was shielding herself behind one of the boulders just to his rear, creeping up silently - very silently - in spite of all her bulk. It seemed to Tommy that the air was suddenly rank with the odor of bear. He jerked his head around with a low gasp and stared behind him.
He could see nothing, but at the same time, as though she had seen his fear and decided to lurk no longer, the great battle roar of a grizzly flooded around him, deafened him, seemed to pour out of the very ground on which he stood.
He leaped to his feet. He would have fled, if he could, but now he could not stir a muscle. Still that shambling, monstrous form which he expected did not come. The hollow echoes of the roar died off down the hillside, shattering to silence among the more distant trees.
What did it mean? He could not flee, because he might run into the jaws of the great brute or within striking distance of a paw whose lightest stroke might smash his skull or crush his body.
Again the roar burst out at him, but this time, plainly, it was on the farther side of the rock jumble, pouring out of the earth. A furious scratching began at the same time, and a great boulder which leaned against the slope quivered out - then fell back with a jar. At the same instant, two little grizzly cubs jumped into view among the rocks and scurried as fast as their short legs would carry them for the great stone which had just been moved. Around the corner of it they darted and disappeared. The roaring and the scratching ceased at once, and Tommy understood. The grizzly had been blocked in her hole by this monster rock which the landslide had brought down.
CHAPTER V
IN THE LAST few seconds, fear had been so vitally a part of Tommy that he cast it off slowly. He rubbed his faintly corrugated forehead. He dragged in great, consciously taken breaths. Finally, he was able to step forward without trembling but, at the first sound of his coming, another roar came thundering out of the prison of the bear, and again the big boulder shook as she threw herself furiously against it.
The savage threats made him stop short again, but one glance at the boulder reassured him. It must have weighed hundreds and hundreds of pounds, and, though it was so curiously balanced that the grizzly could thrust it back a li
ttle and make it shake, she could never really budge it.
Tommy came to the side of the rock around which the cubs had raced and saw that there was actually an opening a foot and a few inches across, covered with the scratches of the great brute where she had vainly tried to claw out a wider opening.
Her roar had fallen to an ominous growling now, but Tommy, knowing that he was safe, went close and dropped upon his hands and knees to look in. A bears cave is rarely very large, but this one had been made to order for bruin - a shallow place hollowed out of the living rock of the hill. Also, it faced south away from the prevailing winds, which is perfectly in accord with a bears fancy. And the heavy snows of midwinter must have covered the mouth of the cave and given all the necessary warmth. Besides, she had dragged up some brush to close the mouth of the cave.
In a moment, the eyes of Tommy were accustomed to the shadow, and he saw all clearly. There lay the great brute, with the hair worn from hips and flanks. Hair was worn around her shoulders and neck, also, where she had attempted to thrust herself out past the boulder, and there was fresh blood from her attempt of only the moment before. He saw her paws and marked that the claws were broken short or worn away by her efforts to dig through the rock. And her desperate, reddened eyes glared out at him.
As for the cubs, they had regained courage as soon as they returned to the neighborhood of their mother. They began to steal toward the opening from the little cave in order to examine the stranger more carefully, but the mother, with a deep growl, scooped them back with the flip of a forepaw and with a violence that rolled them head over heels. They arose, shaking their heads, whined a little, and then sat up on their haunches, their little forepaws dangling, their sharp ears pricked, and stared at Tommy with insatiable curiosity.