Left On The Prairie Part 9

'I'm awfully skeared of bears,' returned Jack truthfully; 'but I don't believe I'd be skeared of anything much if I were along with you;' and he looked confidently at the stalwart figure of the hunter.

'There's a genuine compliment for you, Joe,' remarked Mr. Stuart, laughing. 'You ought to appreciate that.'

'Aye, so I do,' returned Champion Joe, well pleased at the boy's unfeigned admiration. 'And now, kid, can you tell me whereabouts on the Cochetopa Creek your folks have located themselves?'

Jack shook his head. He had come over two hundred and fifty miles on that one word 'Cochetopa,' and now, when only about sixty miles from the nearest point of the creek, he had not the remotest idea if his parents lived near any town or village. He knew nothing beyond the name of the creek, and said so.

'That's a bit awkward,' said Champion Joe, 'for that 'ere creek runs down from the Range for about forty miles afore it joins the river; so I guess it'll be a trifle hard to find your folks.'

'My dad does freighting where he is,' ventured Jack.

'That's good,' returned Joe hopefully, 'for there's more chance o'

hearin' summat o' him as we get over the Range in some o' the villages we'll pa.s.s through.'

'I think you'd better run off to bed, Jack,' said Mrs. Stuart, 'as you will have to be up early to-morrow morning.

'Yes,' joined in the hunter; 'get all the sleep you can. I start first thing in the mornin', as we ain't got no time to fool away. For all the sky's so bright, I'm mighty sure there's a snowstorm not far off, and I ain't one as enjoys a blizzard on the Range.'

Jack felt too restless to sleep much; and at last, when he dozed off, he dreamt he was being pursued by a bear, and it was just catching him, when Champion Joe came to his rescue and carried him away, while the bear vanished at the sight of the hunter.

CHAPTER XI.

JACK CROSSES THE RANGE WITH CHAMPION JOE.

The next morning there was a small crowd to see the two travellers off, and everyone seemed sorry to say good-bye to Jack. The children gave him little keepsakes, and made him promise to come and see them again.

'Good-bye, Jack,' said Mrs. Stuart kindly. 'I hope you will get safely to your journey's end, and find your father and mother well. We hope we shall hear good news of you later on, and, remember, we shall always be glad to see you here. Next time you must pay us a longer visit.'

'Thank you very much, ma'am, for being so good to me,' said Jack, who was too overcome to say much. The Stuarts had, indeed, treated the little wanderer kindly. That morning he had begged his hostess to take some of his packet of money (which Pedro had already refused), but she declined to accept it.

'My dear child!' she exclaimed, quite horrified at the idea, 'how could you suppose we would dream of taking any money from you?' And when he said good-bye to her husband, the good-natured Englishman slipped a twenty-five dollar bill into his hand, saying, 'There, Jack, my boy!

you're an honest lad, I feel sure, and I'd like to give you this little nest-egg to help you on.'

No wonder Jack was almost speechless; but his new, kind friends understood and appreciated his silent grat.i.tude far more than if he had poured forth volumes of thanks.

Mrs. Stuart had given him a warm blanket and a woollen helmet for his head, and Jack found the comfort of them very soon, as--though the morning was bright and clear when they started--it got intensely cold as they got higher up the mountains. The road was very steep and rocky, and covered with small boulders, so that it was impossible to go faster than at a walk. They quickly left all ranches and signs of civilization behind, and came into a wonderfully wild region. Part of their way lay through a dense forest of pines, where some of the trees had been cut down, and dragged on one side to make a rough road for travellers. It was very lonely, and not a sound to be heard except the noise of the wheels and the mule's feet moving over the rocks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'THROUGH A DENSE FOREST OF PINES.']

Jack looked once or twice at fallen trunks of trees, half fearing that a bear might be concealed behind them; but Joe a.s.sured him there was little chance of their seeing one at that time.

'Most of 'em 'll be hibernating--going to sleep in their dens for the winter,' he said; 'and if we did meet one, he'd be more likely to run away than to face us.'

'Is that so?' asked Jack in surprise.

'Yes,' replied the hunter; 'a bear 'll avoid a man as a rule, unless it's wounded, or it's a she-bear with cubs. Those 'll fight, sure enough, and dangerous things they are to tackle. We'll camp to-night at a log shanty near the top o' timber-line, where a mate of mine nearly lost his life. I'll tell you the story after supper.'

'I'd like that,' cried Jack, pleased at the promise of an adventure story.

Before long they had to get out of the buckboard and walk, to help the mule, which found it hard enough to drag up any weight at all. It was very tiring for all, and none were sorry when they reached the lonely little hut where they were to stay the night. Captain, the mule, was seen after first; he was put into a tiny corral, or yard, close by, and given plenty of baled or compressed hay, which is always carried by people in waggons travelling long distances, when fodder is hard to procure. Captain at once set to work to enjoy his well-earned meal and rest, while Joe and Jack lit a fire and cooked their supper, which they also relished.

After they had finished, Champion Joe got out his pipe and started it; then, seating himself on a clump of wood he had rolled into the hut, he began his story:

'This mate of mine, who got into this trouble with a bear, was a rash young fellow who didn't know what danger meant, and often laughed and said he'd like to meet a bear as could scare him. About four years ago he was mining up here, and living in this very shanty. He was drilling in the rock for ore, and had a fair-sized prospect-hole, when one day as he was comin' back here for his grub, he came face to face with a bear with two cubs. Of course he ought to have run back to his prospect-hole, where he'd have been safe enough till she'd cleared off from the spot, but no--he was that reckless, he went straight for her and attacked her with his pickaxe, which was the only weapon he had.

He'd no chance, however, against her; and many a time has he told me the terrible feeling he had when he struck out at her with all his might and jest missed her. The next moment she sent the pickaxe flying out of his hands, leaving him quite at her mercy. She caught him, and hugged and mangled him terribly. He'd jest sense enough left to remember that he once heard as a bear won't touch a dead man, so he, poor chap, tried it on as a last chance for life. He lay quite stiff and quiet, and lucky for him the trick succeeded. She loosed her grip of him, and sniffed and sniffed round him, until I guess she thought she must have finished him off. Then she went away with her cubs and left him. My mate jest managed to crawl in here and shut the door, and here I found him an hour later, as near dead as any man I ever saw.

The bear had torn him dreadfully and bitten him, and, I tell you, he took some nursing to pull him through; but he did live, and is going still. However, you may be sure as he don't scoff and joke any more about bears.'

'I should think not, indeed,' said Jack. 'What an escape he had! Did the bear come back again?'

'No,' answered Joe. 'I followed her up carefully, and shot her with that 'ere rifle of mine as you see there in the corner. But I didn't fool with her, for I've done more bear-hunting than any man in the States, and know by experience you must be cautious. Yes, I killed her, and the two cubs as well. She was a grizzly, and a fierce un, too.'

'Are there many different kinds of bears on these mountains?' asked Jack, who was very interested in the subject.

'A good many,' returned the hunter. 'We've got the black, brown, and cinnamon bears, which 'll avoid you if they can; and then we've the grizzlies and silver-tipped bears, which are a kind of grizzly. The latter ain't quite so fierce as the real grizzly, but ain't pleasant to face when they're wounded.'

Joe went on to tell how hunters tracked the creatures by the way they tore up ant-holes and rolled over big stones in their clumsy way of walking, and how they were often caught in traps set for them at the time when the wild raspberries and gooseberries were ripe, as then they came wandering down along the creeks, looking for the berries they liked so well.

Next morning, before they started, Joe showed Jack the exact spot where the fight had taken place between the miner and the bear; and then they put Captain into the buckboard, and began the last stage of the ascent.

It was a wonderfully clear day, and as they looked down, the country lay spread out below them like a gigantic map. The ranches, creeks and villages all looked so tiny and scattered to them, gazing as they did over hundreds of miles of prairie land.

Above them the sharp peaks seemed to pierce the keen blue sky, and the snow still lying on the mountain-sides was so dazzling from the sun's rays, that Champion Joe put on a pair of dark blue 'goggles,' and tied a piece of black veiling over Jack's face, to protect their eyes from getting snow-blind.

Higher and higher they went slowly on, and Joe remarked: 'Well, Jack, I guess we're about as near heaven on earth to-day, in one way of speaking, as you've ever been in your life afore, eh? Don't it look close? But, I say, young un, what's up?'

'I don't know,' said Jack very faintly. 'I've gone to feel so queer.

I can hardly breathe, and my head aches as if it were going to burst.'

'Lie down, Jack, for a bit,' said the hunter kindly. 'It's the great height as we're up. This air affects some folks terribly. I've seen strong men helpless and hardly able to move, lower down than we are.

We're close to the top now, so we'll wait till you feel a bit better.'

Jack did feel better after a short rest, and, with Joe's help, managed to creep slowly on, although he felt very ill and confused. At the top they found it bitterly cold, as some clouds had rolled rapidly up and obscured the bright sun. Jack shivered in spite of the blanket Joe wrapped him in. The descent on the other side of the Range was even harder on the mule than the terrible uphill drag, and Joe had to tie the wheels of the buckboard to prevent it running on to Captain. The road was so steep and stony, he could hardly keep his footing at times, and in one place there was nothing but a broad ledge cut out of the side of a rock, with a natural wall on one side and a terrible precipice sloping away on the other.

It made Jack feel so giddy looking down such an awful depth, that Joe, seeing how white he was, advised him to hold on to the back of the buckboard and keep his eyes fixed on the mule.

'Trust yourself to Captain,' he said, 'and I promise you he ain't likely to go over that, if caution is of any account. He ain't the one to lose _his_ head on roads like this, as he knows 'em so well.'

Jack followed the advice given him, and got on much better, and when they had gone down a mile or two his head felt less heavy, and he was soon all right again.

Towards evening they approached a small settlement at the foot of the pa.s.s, called Redwood. As they drove in they found the people in a state of great excitement. A few hours before, the Sheriff of the county had run down and fought a band of horse-thieves just outside the village. The Sheriff and his men had won the fight, captured the thieves, and secured the stolen horses in corrals through the village.

The place was almost in an uproar, and our travellers had some difficulty in finding a place where they could lodge themselves and their mule for the night. The Sheriff and his party seemed to fill the village, and some of the crowd round the gaol, where the horse-thieves were imprisoned, never moved away all night, fearing the robbers might try to break out before morning, when they were to be escorted by a strong body of men to the nearest town, to await their trial. Jack, however, was too tired to enter much into the great excitement going on, and was glad enough, after some supper, to wrap himself up in his blanket, and go to sleep on the floor of a tiny shanty outside the village.

CHAPTER XII.