Friar Tuck Part 19

"This won't be a real bear," sez I; "and anyhow, they'll be a ravine between you and it. You claimed once to be a show actor, and all you'll have to do will be to pertend 'at you're actin'."

"I once was a genuwine amateur actor," sez Eugene, "and if you'll make it clear to me that there ain't no danger, I'll take the job."

Then I explained just what he had to do; and after this me an' Spider, who was now keen for the outcome, went around to d.i.c.ker with ol' man Dort. He was b.u.mpin' around among the clouds, so we didn't have any trouble in buyin' back Eugene's stuff on time. When I asked him what he'd charge for Columbus, the woodchuck, he gave a snort, and said he'd throw him in for good measure; so I told him to just keep him out o' sight for a few days, and we started back to Eugene's.

"What do you want with that dog-gone woodchuck?" asked Spider.

"I want him to take the part of a grizzly bear," sez I.

Spider stopped an' looked at me. "This is goin' too far," sez he.

"It's bad enough to try to fool some one into believin' 'at Eugene's a genuwine trapper; but you couldn't make a rag doll believe 'at Columbus was a grizzly bear."

"You go borrow that squaw dress from Ike Spargle, an' then we'll see how much like a trapper Eugene'll look," sez I.

I went on an' found 'at Eugene had done a master job o' wig makin', even fixin' false eyebrows, an' when he put on ol' man Dort's hair-crop he locked older 'n the human race. As soon as Spider came in with the squaw dress, we put it on Eugene; and while he didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before, he looked more like the first man 'at ever started trappin' than like anything else, an' Spider Kelley nearly had a convulsion.

We bunked with Eugene that night; but he kept us awake bemoanin' his cruel fate until Spider threatened to drown him head first in a bucket o' water and after that we had a little go at slumberin'. I routed 'em out about two an' drilled 'em up to the high ground above Spear Crick, where we waited until sun-up. Eugene was wearin' his trapper riggin', and in the starlight, he sure was a ghastly sight.

Just across from us on the other side o' the crick was Sholte's Knoll, and when the sun rose, I lined us up to be just in a direct line with it across the knoll. Both Eugene, and Spider bothered me with questions and discouragin' kicks; but I felt purty sure my scheme would work, and only told 'em what was really for their good.

The crick ran south in a gorge, and just below us it ran into Rock River, which came from the east and made a sharp turn to the south just where Spear Crick ran into it. After the sun was up, we climbed down a circlin' trail until we came to Rock River. Eugene refused to try to ford it; but Spider and I went across and up to Ivan's Knoll.

Rock River was bigger than Spear Crick, and Ivan's Knoll was bigger than Sholte's Knoll; but not one tenderfoot in a million could have told 'em apart, and Spider got gleeful at the plan-except that he kept at me to know who I was tryin' to land. Back of Ivan's Knoll was a round hole about ten feet across, called the Bottomless Pit, because the' was no bottom to it. After examinin' this place, we went on and crossed Rock River again until we came out at Sholte's Knoll across from where the shootin' was to be done.

"What you are to do, Spider," sez I, "is to be at this place before dawn with Columbus tied by a stout cord. Tie him to the rock at the south end of the knoll by a weak cord, then pa.s.s your stout cord up over that jag o' rock at the top, and just as soon as the sun hits the knoll, pull hard enough to break the weak cord, lead him gently up the slope until he has been shot at several times, then-"

"Is Eugene, that genuwine, ancient trapper goin' to do the shootin'?"

interrupted Spider.

"He is not," sez I. "If Columbus gets shot, all you'll have to do will be to wind around to Boggs and meet me there. If he don't get shot, you can either turn him adrift, kill him yourself, or pack him back to ol' man Dort's, accordin' to the dictates o' your own conscience. I'll bring the party 'at does the shootin' up to Ivan's Knoll, an' make him think the bear has fallen down the Bottomless Pit after he was shot."

"Happy," sez Spider, "hanged if I believe it'll go through; and I won't be a sucker unless you tell me who is to do the shootin'."

"Horace," sez I, "Horace Walpole Bradford."

Spider's face changed expression a half dozen times in two moments; but he didn't have any more kicks; so we went back to Eugene, and took him up to a deserted cabin, where he was to stay until needed. I left him and Spider to fix up the cabin, while I went back to the Dot to fix up Horace. Horace had a lot o' money; but it did go again' me to make him pay for Eugene's outfit by puttin' up a practical joke on him. Still, I felt called upon to square it up with Eugene, and this seemed the fairest way.

When I reached the Dot, Horace came forth to meet me; and he was so glad to see me 'at I purt' nigh gave up the scheme; but I had gone too far to back out now, so I acted cool, and cut him short with my answers.

After supper I got Tank started on bear. He saw I had something up my sleeve, so he talked bear until Horace's mouth began to water. "I'd give a hundred dollars, just to get a shot at a bear," sez Horace.

"This ain't the time o' the year to hunt bear," sez I. "Food's so common at this season that a bear spends most of his time loafin'; and it's hard to get sight o' one. Course, if you was to go to a professional hunter, he'd know where bears were spendin' their vacation; but it might take a month for one of us to root one out."

"Do you know of any professional hunters?" sez he.

I didn't say nothin', and Tank told of some he knew several hundred miles off. After Tank had talked himself out, I mentioned careless like that old Pierre La Blanc was livin' less 'n twenty miles away; but that I doubted if he'd take a bear-huntin' job. I went on to state that he had money saved up, and it would take a sight o' coin to tempt him.

"I'd give five hundred dollars for a shot at a real grizzly," sez Horace.

"Did you ever use a rifle?" sez I.

"Ask Tank," sez Horace.

Tank told about Horace havin' borrowed ol' Cast Steel's forty-five-seventy, and that he had learned to hit a mark with it in able shape. Before we turned in that night, I had let Horace tease me into takin' him over to Pierre's next day.

We reached the old cabin next afternoon, and found it lookin' purty comfortable. Eugene had soiled his hands and what part of his face showed; and he certainly did look outlandish. He could act some, I'll say that for him; and he pertended so natural that it took Tank a half hour to tell who he was. He didn't talk much, but when he did he used broken French, and he made a contract with Horace to get the five hundred as soon as he had showed him the bear, Tank to hold the check.

Eugene couldn't get food through his whiskers; so he said most of his teeth were gone, and et his supper in private. After supper, I stole down the gulch and found Spider waitin'. He promised to be on hand the next mornin' and we turned in early.

Next mornin' we started at three, and took up our place at the mark I had made across from Sholte's Knoll. Horace thought it perfectly wonderful that the old trapper would know exactly where a grizzly bear would be at sun-up; and he chattered constant in a hushed voice. We told him it was a full quarter across to the knoll, and he had a regular ecstasy about how deceivin' the atmosphere was-which was rank libel, the atmosphere bein' about the least deceivin' member o' that party.

Presently, I caught the smell o' dawn, and I told Horace to keep his eyes glued on Chimney Peak, a little over twenty miles to the west. He did so, and in about five minutes, a gob o' rich crimson splashed on it, rippled down the sides, and poured along the foothills at the bottom. Horace gave a gasp. You don't see such a dawn as that with your eyes alone; you see it with somethin' inside your bosom; and when I saw the gleam in Horace's eyes, it made me feel ashamed of what I was up to; but I couldn't stop just for this; so I nudged Eugene, and that h.o.a.ry old trapper growled out to Horace to watch the knoll, or he'd miss his chance.

Horace was surprised to see the east still in a black shadow. He started to speak words about it, but just then the sun, lookin' like an acre of red fire, jumped up from behind Sholte's Knoll like a sacred jack-rabbit.

The knoll was consid'able higher than us, and just as the sun was half-circle behind it, a gigantic form started to walk across it from south to north. I knew, positive, that this was Columbus the woodchuck; but it was just all I could do to believe it, myself, and Horace thought it was the biggest silver-tip in creation. I didn't think the woodchuck ran much risk of gettin' shot; but Horace didn't lose his nerve a particle. He banged away, Columbus gave a lurch, took a snap at his side, and rolled out o' sight behind the knoll, as natural as a fried egg.

Horace jumped up and down, hugged himself, slapped us on the back, and almost knocked the aged trapper's fur off; but if he had, I doubt if he would have noticed it, he was so eager to get to his first bear.

We wound down the path, and he complained about it bein' so much farther 'n he had expected; but I spoke a few words about the atmosphere, and he was soothed. When we struck Rock River, he was surprised to see how much wider it was than it looked from where he'd shot; but he didn't falter none about goin' in; while I purt' nigh had to twist off the seasoned trapper's arm before he'd get his feet wet.

The water was purty high, and Tank and I had our hands full gettin'

'em across.

We climbed the trail on the other side to Ivan's Knoll. This was about a mile south o' Sholte's Knoll, and naturally I didn't expect to find any game on the other side of it; so you can judge my feelin's when we got around to the other side, and saw that woodchuck's carca.s.s, lyin'

flat on its back with its front feet folded across a piece o' paper.

Horace saw it, too; but he wasn't interested at first, and dove all about, lookin' for his bear. He was plumb wild; but finally he picked up the piece o' paper, and read what was wrote on it in scrawly letters, which I knew to be the work o' Spider Kelley: "Before I was shot I was a grizzly bar but it made me feel so small to get shot by a tender-foot that I have shrank to what you see befor you."

That confounded Kelley hadn't been able to resist workin' the joke back on me; so he had toted Columbus down from Sholte's Knoll, and then skipped. I knew I wouldn't see him for some time-but I also knew I wouldn't forget what was comin' to him when I did.

Horace read the note through in silence, then he looked at the remains of the woodchuck, then he read the note again, and his face got like a sunset. He read the note once more, and then he leaped through the air for that veteran trapper, and grabbed him by the beard. The beard and wig came off in his hands, and Eugene started to flee, with Horace a close second, kickin' the seat o' that squaw dress at every jump.

Horace was in able shape, and Eugene was flimsy; so when he tripped and rolled over, Horace got him by the ears, and proceeded to beat his head on a stone, the way Tank had told about doin' to the un.o.bligin'

old miner.

I pulled Horace off to save Eugene's life, and then Horace pulled out a gun and tried to take my life. It took us two solid hours to cool Horace down below the boilin' point; and then he started off alone with his lips set and his eyebrows pulled down to the bridge of his nose. I liked him better 'n ever. He was as game as they made 'em, and had even forgot the check 'at ol' Tank Williams was still holdin'; but I was honestly worried about Eugene.

Part of it may have been due to havin' his head beat mellow on a stone; but still he allus did lack sand when he was losin', and now he sat tuggin' at his real hair an' swearin' he was ruined, and would take his own life the first chance he had. It was partly my fault; so I made Tank help me tote back Eugene's needin's from the deserted cabin to his shop, Eugene goin' along in a stupor and repeatin' to us constant that he intended to drink his own heart's blood.

I sent Tank back to the Dot to see what he could do toward pacifyin'

Horace, and then I returned the squaw dress to Ike Spargle. He broke into a side-split when I stepped into his place, and fairly deluged me with liquor; but I wasn't in no mood for it. Ike told me 'at Spider had gone out to the Dot to notify that he had quit temporary; and then he was goin' out to hunt down Red Erickson for the bounty. Ike was equally willin' to talk about bears or Red Erickson; but I wasn't conversational, so I went back to Eugene's.

He had his door locked, and at first refused me admittance; but finally he let me in, and I told him I would let him have his outfit on time. He wouldn't scarcely listen to me; so the best I could do was to get his promise that he wouldn't slay himself inside the house, as the boys were superst.i.tious again' it, and would burn it down. As it was again' my credit at ol' man Dort's, I felt more agreeable toward payin' for a standin' house, than for just the ashes of one.

"When I'm gone, Happy," sez Eugene, "I want you to send my watch back to Sommersville, Connecticut. That's all I ask of ya. You've been as near a friend to me as any one in this unG.o.dly community has, and I don't bear ya no ill will. If I could just have paid off that mortgage-"

I shook hands with him and went outside, where I settled myself comfortable and made ready to keep watch on him until he started to drink. I felt sure that if he'd once get to elevatin' a bottle, it would take his mind off suicide; but he paced up and down inside his room until I was purt' nigh out o' my own head.

It must have been nine in the evenin' when he stole out his side door with a forty-five under his coat; and started up the ravine which opens west o' town, and I follered like a coyote.

He went up it about a mile, an' then he stopped an' I flattened out an' crept closer an' closer. I knew he would make a few remarks first, even though he was alone, an' I judged I could wriggle up close enough to grab him in the act.