. . . . , ..
BEARS OF
BLUE RIVE
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
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THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER
The
Bears of Blue River
BY
CHARLES MAJOR
AUTHOR OF "WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER," ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ET A. S. FROST
AND OTHERS
Nefor
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1908
All rightt rttirvtd
COPYWGHT, 1900, 1901,
BY CURTIS PUBLISHING Co. BY JOHN WANAMAKBX.
COPYRIGHT, 1901,
BY CHARLES MAJOR.
First published elsewhere. Reprinted November, 1902 ;
March, 1904 ; October, 1908.
New edition September, 1906.
Nortooofc $rm
3. S. Gushing k Co. Berwick ft Smith
Norwood Man. U.S.A.
PS
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
MSB
The Big Bear 3
CHAPTER II.
How Balser got a Gun 31
CHAPTER III.
Lost in a Forest 53
CHAPTER IV.
The One-eared Bear 79
CHAPTER V.
The Wolf Hunt . .104
CHAPTER VI.
Borrowed Fire 140
CHAPTER VII.
The Fire Bear 171
v
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
FACE
The Black Gully 190
CHAPTER IX.
On the Stroke of Nine 217
CHAPTER X.
A Castle on Brandywine 238
ILLUSTRATIONS.
" Balser was more fortunate in his aim, and gave the
bear a mortal wound " . . . . Frontispiece
FACT
Bass and sunfish and big-mouthed redeye ... 4
" A wildcat almost as big as a cow " . . 14
" Little Balser noticed fresh bear tracks, and his breath
began to come quickly " 15
" Fresh bear tracks " 17
" Imagine ... his consternation when he saw upon the
bank, quietly watching him, a huge black bear " . 19
" The bear had a peculiar, determined expression about
him" 21
" When the bear got within a few feet of Balser . . . the
boy grew desperate with fear, and struck at the
beast with the only weapon he had his string of
fish" 25
" The bear had caught the fish, and again had climbed
upon the log " 29
" He could hear the bear growling right at his heels,
and it made him just fly " . . . . facing 44
"Tige was told to go into the cave" . . . " 48
" Ea'ch with a saucy little bear cub " . . " 52
" Down came Tom and Jerry from the roof" . " 60
Tige and Prince swimming about the canoe . . " 74
'Lordy, Balser! It's the one-eared bear '" . " 88
vii
viii ILLUSTRATIONS.
PACK
" ' Let's get out of here '" . . . . facing 94
" Balser rushed into the fight " . . . . " 102
" Mischief ! they never thought of anything else " . 108
" Balser turned in time to see a great, lank, gray wolf
emerge from the water, carrying a gander by the
neck" 109
" Bangj went Balser's gun, and the wolf . . . paid for
his feast with his life " 117
" Caught them by the back of the neck " . . .123
" The boys tied together the legs of the old wolves and
swung them over the pole . . . and started home
leading the pups " 127
" These hives were called ' gums ' " . . . 135
" The cubs went every way but the right way " facing 146
" The bear rose to climb after the boy " . " 160
" Liney thrust the burning torch into the bear's face
and held it there despite its rage and growls " " 168
"'Help! help!' came the cry" . . . . " 178
" < Now, hold up the torch, Polly ' " . . " 204
" Polly continued slowly toward the bear" . . " 212
" Imagine his consternation when he recognized the
forms of Liney Fox and her brother Tom " . . 229
"He fell a distance of ten or twelve feet, . . . and lay
half stunned " 233
En route for the castle 244
The castle on the Brandywine 252
" Balser hesitated to fire, fearing that he might kill Tom
or one of the dogs " 263
" Espied a doe and a fawn, standing upon the oppo
site side of the creek " 273
I.
THE BIG BEAR.
THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
CHAPTER L
THE BIG BEAR.
A WAY back in the "twenties," when Indiana
was a baby state, and great forests of tall trees
and tangled underbrush darkened what are
now her bright plains and sunny hills, there
stood upon the east bank of Big Blue River,
a mile or two north of the point where that
stream crosses the Michigan road, a cozy log
cabin of two rooms one front and one back.
The house faced the west, and stretching
off toward the river for a distance equal to
twice the width of an ordinary street, was a
blue-grass lawn, upon which stood a dozen or
more elm and sycamore trees, with a few
honey-locusts scattered here and there. Im
mediately at the water's edge was a steep
slope of ten or twelve feet. Back of the
3
4 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
house, mile upon mile, stretched the deep
dark forest, inhabited by deer and bears,
wolves and wildcats, squirrels and birds,
without number.
In the river the fish were so numerous
that they seemed to entreat the boys to
BASS AND SUNFISH AND THE BIG-MOUTHED REDEYB.
catch them, and to take them out of their
crowded quarters. There were bass and
black suckers, sunfish and catfish, to say
nothing of the sweetest of all, the big-
mouthed redeye.
South of the house stood a log barn, with
room in it for three horses and two cows;
and enclosing this barn, together with a piece
THE BIG BEAR. 7
of ground, five or six acres in extent, was a
palisade fence, eight or ten feet high, made
by driving poles into the ground close to
gether. In this enclosure the farmer kept
his stock, consisting of a few sheep and
cattle, and here also the chickens, geese, and
ducks were driven at nightfall to save them
from "varmints," as all prowling animals
were called by the settlers.
The man who had built this log hut, and
who lived in it and owned the adjoining land
at the time of which I write, bore the name
of Balser Brent. " Balser " is probably a cor
ruption of Baltzer, but, however that may be,
Balser was his name, and Balser was also the
name of his boy, who was the hero of the
bear stories which I am about to tell you.
Mr. Brent and his young wife had moved
to the Blue River settlement from North
Carolina, when young Balser was a little
boy five or six years of age. They had pur
chased the " eighty " upon which they lived,
from the United States, at a sale of public
land held in the town of Brookville on
8 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Whitewater, and had paid for it what was
then considered a good round sum one
dollar per acre. They had received a deed
for their " eighty " from no less a person than
James Monroe, then President of the United
States. This deed, which is called a patent,
was written on sheepskin, signed by the
President's own hand, and is still preserved
by the descendants of Mr. Brent as one of
the title-deeds to the land it conveyed. The
house, as I have told you, consisted of two
large rooms, or buildings, separated by a
passageway six or eight feet broad which
was roofed over, but open at both ends on
the north and south. The back room was
the kitchen, and the front room was parlour,
bedroom, sitting room and library all in one.
At the time when my story opens Little
Balser, as he was called to distinguish him
from his father, was thirteen or fourteen
years of age, and was the happy possessor of
a younger brother, Jim, aged nine, and a lit
tle sister one year old, of whom he was very
proud indeed.
THE BIG BEAR. 9
On the south side of the front room was
a large fireplace. The chimney was built of
sticks, thickly covered with clay. The fire
place was almost as large as a small room in
one of our cramped modern houses, and was
broad and deep enough to take in backlogs
which were so large and heavy that they
could not be lifted, but were drawn in at the
door and rolled over the floor to the fireplace.
The prudent father usually kept two extra
backlogs, one on each side of the fireplace,
ready to be rolled in as the blaze died down ;
and on these logs the children would sit at
night, with a rough slate made from a flat
stone, and do their " ciphering," as the study
of arithmetic was then called. The fire
usually furnished all the light they had, for
candles and "dips," being expensive lux
uries, were used only when company was
present.
The fire, however, gave sufficient light, and
its blaze upon a cold night extended halfway
up the chimney, sending a ruddy, cozy glow
to every nook and corner of the room.
io THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
The back room was the storehouse and
kitchen; and from the beams and along
the walls hung rich hams and juicy side-
meat, jerked venison, dried apples, onions,
and other provisions for the winter. There
was a glorious fireplace in this room also,
and a crane upon which to hang pots and
cooking utensils.
The floor of the front room was made of
logs split in halves with the flat, hewn side
up ; but the floor of the kitchen was of clay,
packed hard and smooth.
The settlers had no stoves, but did their
cooking in round pots called Dutch ovens.
They roasted their meats on a spit or steel
bar like the ramrod of a gun. The spit was
kept turning before the fire, presenting first
one side of the meat and then the other,
until it was thoroughly cooked. Turning
the spit was the children's work.
South of the palisade enclosing the barn
was the clearing a tract of twenty or thirty
acres of land, from which Mr. Brent had
cut and burned the trees. On this clearing
THE BIG BEAR. 11
the stumps stood thick as the hair on an
angry dog's back; but the hard-working
farmer ploughed between and around them,
and each year raised upon the fertile soil
enough wheat and corn to supply the wants
of his family and his stock, and still had a
little grain left to take to Brookville, sixty
miles away, where he had bought his land,
there to exchange for such necessities of life
as could not be grown upon the farm or
found in the forests.
The daily food of the family all came from
the farm, the forest, or the creek. Their
sugar was obtained from the sap of the
sugar-trees; their meat was supplied in the
greatest abundance by a few hogs, and by
the inexhaustible game of which the forests
were full. In the woods were found deer
just for the shooting ; and squirrels, rabbits,
wild turkeys, pheasants, and quails, so nu
merous that a few hours' hunting would
supply the table for days. The fish in the
river, as I told you, fairly longed to be
caught
12 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
One day Mrs. Brent took down the din
ner horn and blew upon it two strong blasts.
This was a signal that Little Balser, who
was helping his father down in the clearing,
should come to the house. Balser was glad
enough to drop his hoe and to run home.
When he reached the house his mother
said :
" Balser, go up to the drift and catch a
mess of fish for dinner. Your father is tired
of deer meat three times a day, and I know
he would like a nice dish of fried redeyes at
noon."
" All right, mother," said Balser. And he
immediately took down his fishing-pole and
line, and got the spade to dig bait. When
he had collected a small gourdful of angle
worms, his mother called to him :
"You had better take a gun. You may
meet a bear ; your father loaded the gun this
morning, and you must be careful in han
dling it."
Balser took the gun, which was a heavy
rifle considerably longer than himself, and
THE BIG BEAR. 13
started up the river toward the drift, about
a quarter of a mile away.
There had been rain during the night and
the ground near the drift was soft.
Here, Little Balser noticed fresh bear
tracks, and his breath began to come quickly.
You may be sure he peered closely into
every dark thicket, and looked behind all
the large trees and logs, and had his eyes
wide open lest perchance " Mr. Bear " should
step out and surprise him with an affection
ate hug, and thereby put an end to Little
Balser forever.
So he walked on cautiously, and, if the
truth must be told, somewhat tremblingly,
until he reached the drift.
Balser was but a little fellow, yet the stern
necessities of a settler's life had compelled
his father to teach him the use of a gun;
and although Balser had never killed a bear,
he had shot several deer, and upon one
occasion had killed a wildcat, " almost as big
as a cow," he said.
I have no doubt the wildcat seemed
14 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
" almost as big as a cow '* to Balser when he
killed it, for it must have frightened him
greatly, as wildcats were sometimes danger
ous animals for children to encounter.
"A WILDCAT ALMOST AS BIG AS A COW."
Although Balser had never met a bear face
to face and alone, yet he felt, and many a
time had said, that there wasn't a bear in
the world big enough to frighten him, if he
but had his gun.
He had often imagined and minutely
detailed to his parents and little brother just
what he would do if he should meet a bear.
He would wait calmly and quietly until his
bearship should come within a few yards of
him, and then he would slowly lift his gun.
"LITTLE BALSER NOTICED FRESH BEAR TRACKS, AND HIS
BREATH BEGAN TO COME QUICKLY."
THE BIG BEAR.
Bang! and Mr. Bear would be dead with a
bullet in his heart.
But when he saw the fresh bear tracks,
and began to realize that he would probably
have an opportunity to put his theories
about bear killing into practice, he began to
after all, he would
frightened and miss
Then he thought of
bear, in that case,
wonder if,
become
his aim.
how the
would be calm
and deliber
ate, and would
put his theories JT
4
into practice by
walking very
politely up to him, and making a very satis
factory dinner of a certain boy whom he
could name. But as he walked on and no
bear appeared, his courage grew stronger as
the prospect of meeting the enemy grew less,
and he again began saying to himself that
no bear could frighten him, because he had
his gun and he could and wduld kill it.
"FRESH BEAR TRACKS."
1 8 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
So Balser reached the drift; and having
looked carefully about him, leaned his gun
against a tree, unwound his fishing-line from
the pole, and walked out to the end of a
log which extended into the river some
twenty or thirty feet.
Here he threw in his line, and soon was
so busily engaged drawing out sunfish and
redeyes, and now and then a bass, which
was hungry enough to bite at a worm, that
all thought of the bear went out of his mind.
After he had caught enough fish for a
sumptuous dinner he bethought him of going
home, and as he turned toward the shore,
imagine, if you can, his consternation when
he saw upon the bank, quietly watching
him, a huge black bear.
If the wildcat had seemed as large as a
cow to Balser, of what size do you suppose
that bear appeared ? A cow ! An elephant,
surely, was small compared with the huge
black fellow standing upon the bank.
It is true Balser had never seen an ele
phant, but his father had, and so had his
THE BIG BEAR. 21
friend Tom Fox, who lived down the river;
and they all agreed that an elephant was
" purt nigh as big as all outdoors."
The bear had a peculiar, determined ex
pression about him that seemed to say:
" That boy can't get away ; he's out on
the log where the water is deep, and if he
" THE BEAR HAD A PECULIAR, DETERMINED EXPRESSION ABOUT HIM."
jumps into the river I can easily jump in
after him and catch him before he can swim
a dozen strokes. He'll have to come off
the log in a short time, and then I'll proceed
to devour him."
About the same train of thought had
also been rapidly passing through Balser's
mind. His gun was on the bank where he
22 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
had left it, and in order to reach it he would
have to pass the bear. He dared not jump
into the water, for any attempt to escape on
his part would bring the bear upon him
instantly. He was very much frightened,
but, after all, was a cool-headed little fellow
for his age ; so he concluded that he would
not press matters, as the bear did not seem
inclined to do so, but so long as the bear
remained watching him on the bank would
stay upon the log where he was, and allow
the enemy to eye him to his heart's con
tent.
There they stood, the boy and the bear,
each eying the other as though they were
the best of friends, and would like to eat
each other, which, in fact, was literally true.
Time sped very slowly for one of them,
you may be sure; and it seemed to Balser
that he had been standing almost an age
in the middle of Blue River on that wretched
shaking log, when he heard his mother's
dinner horn, reminding him that it was time
to go home.
THE BIG BEAR. 23
Balser quite agreed with his mother, and
gladly would he have gone, I need not tell
you ; but there stood the bear, patient, deter
mined, and fierce ; and Little Balser soon was
convinced in his own mind that his time
had come to die.
He hoped that when his father should go
home to dinner and find him still absent,
he would come up the river in search of
him, and frighten away the bear. Hardly
had this hope sprung up in his mind, when
it seemed that the same thought had also
occurred to the bear, for he began to move
down toward the shore end of the log upon
which Balser was standing.
Slowly came the bear until he reached the
end of the log, which for a moment he exam
ined suspiciously, and then, to Balser's great
alarm, cautiously stepped out upon it and
began to walk toward him.
Balser thought of the folks at home, and,
above all, of his baby sister; and when he
felt that he should never see them again,
and that they would in all probability never
24 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
know of his fate, he began to grow heavy-
hearted and was almost paralyzed with fear.
On came the bear, putting one great paw
in front of the other, and watching Balser
intently with his little black eyes. His
tongue hung out, and his great red mouth
was open to its widest, showing the sharp,
long, glittering teeth that would soon be
feasting on a first-class boy dinner.
When the bear got within a few feet of
Balser so close he could almost feel the
animal's hot breath as it slowly approached
the boy grew desperate with fear, and
struck at the bear with the only weapon he
had his string of fish.
Now, bears love fish and blackberries
above all other food ; so when Balser's
string of fish struck the bear in the mouth,
he grabbed at them, and in doing so lost his
foothold on the slippery log and fell into the
water with a great splash and plunge.
This was Balser's chance for life, so he
flung the fish to the bear, and ran for the
bank with a speed worthy of the cause.
THE BIG BEAR. 27
When he reached the bank his self-confi
dence returned, and he remembered all the
things he had said he would do if he should
meet a bear.
The bear had caught the fish, and again
had climbed upon the log, where he was
deliberately devouring them.
This was Little Balser's chance for death
to the bear. Quickly snatching up the
gun, he rested it in the fork of a small tree
near by, took deliberate aim at the bear,
which was not five yards away, and shot
him through the heart. The bear dropped
into the water dead, and floated downstream
a little way, where he lodged at a ripple a
short distance below.
Balser, after he had killed the bear, be
came more frightened than he had been
at any time during the adventure, and ran
home screaming. That afternoon his father
went to the scene of battle and took the bear
out of the water. It was very fat and large,
and weighed, so Mr. Brent said, over six
hundred pounds.
28 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Balser was firmly of the opinion that he
himself was also very fat and large, and
weighed at least as much as the bear. He
was certainly entitled to feel " big " ; for he
had got himself out of an ugly scrape in a
brave, manly, and cool-headed manner, and
had achieved a victory of which a man might
have been proud.
The news of Balser's adventure soon
spread among the neighbours and he became
quite a hero ; for the bear he had killed was
one of the largest that had ever been seen in
that neighbourhood, and, besides the gallons
of rich bear oil it yielded, there were three
or four hundred pounds of bear meat; and
no other food is more strengthening for
winter diet.
There was also the soft, furry skin, which
Balser's mother tanned, and with it made a
coverlid for Balser's bed, under which he and
his little brother lay many a cold night, cozy
and " snug as a bug in a rug."
I
CHAPTER II.
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN.
FOR many years after the killing of the
big bear, as told in the preceding chapter,
time was reckoned by Balser as beginning
with that event. It was, if I may say it, his
" Anno Domini." In speaking of occurrences,
events, and dates, he always fixed them in a
general way by saying, " That happened be
fore I killed the big bear ; " or, " That took
place after I killed the big bear." The great
immeasurable eternity of time was divided
into two parts: that large unoccupied portion
preceding the death of the big bear, and the
part, full to overflowing with satisfaction and
pride, after that momentous event.
Balser's adventure had raised him vastly
in the estimation of his friends and neigh
bours, and, what was quite as good, had
3
32 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
increased his respect for himself, and had
given him confidence, which is one of the
most valuable qualities for boy or man.
Frequently when Balser met strangers, and
the story of the big bear was told, they
would pat the boy on the shoulder and call
him a little man, and would sometimes ask
him if he owned a gun. Much to Balser's
sorrow, he was compelled to admit that he
did not. The questions as to whether or not
he owned a gun had put into his mind the
thought of how delightful life would be if he
but possessed one ; and his favourite visions
by day and his sweetest dreams by night
were all about a gun ; one not so long nor
so heavy as his father's, but of the shorter,
lighter pattern known as a smooth-bore
carbine. He had heard his father speak of
this gun, and of its effectiveness at short
range ; and although at long distances it was
not so true of aim as his father's gun, still he
felt confident that, if he but possessed the
coveted carbine he could, single-handed and
alone, exterminate all the races of bears,
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 33
wolves and wildcats that inhabited the for
ests round about, and "pestered" the farmers
with their depredations.
But how to get the gun! That was the
question. Raiser's father had received a gun
as a present from his father when Balser Sr.
had reached the advanced age of twenty-one,
and it was considered a rich gift. The cost
of a gun for Balser would equal half of the
sum total that his father could make during
an entire year; and^ although Little Balser
looked forward in fond expectation to the
time when he should be twenty-one and
should receive a gun from his father, yet he
did not even hope that he would have one
before then, however much he might dream
about it. Dreams cost nothing, and guns
were expensive ; too expensive even to be
hoped for. So Balser contented himself
with inexpensive dreams, and was willing,
though not content, to wait.
But the unexpected usually happens, at
an unexpected time, and in an unexpected
manner.
34 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
About the beginning of the summer after
the killing of the big bear, when Balser's
father had " laid by " his corn, and the little
patch of wheat had just begun to take on a
golden brown as due notice that it was
nearly ready to be harvested, there came a
few days of idleness for the busy farmer.
Upon one of those rare idle days Mr. Brent
and Balser went down the river on a fishing
and hunting expedition. There was but one
gun in the family, therefore Balser could not
hunt when his father was with him, so he
took his fishing-rod, and did great execution
among the finny tribe, while his father watched
along the river for game, as it came down
to drink.
Upon the day mentioned Balser and his
father had wandered down the river as far
as the Michigan road, and Mr. Brent had
left the boy near the road fishing, after tell
ing him to go home in an hour or two, and
that he, Mr. Brent, would go by another
route and be home in time for supper.
So Balser was left by himself, fishing at a
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 35
deep hole perhaps a hundred yards north of
the road. This was at a time when the river
was in flood, and the ford where travellers
usually crossed was too deep for passage.
Balser had been fishing for an hour or
more, and had concluded to go home, when
he saw approaching along the road from the
east a man and woman on horseback. They
soon reached the ford and stopped, believing
it to be impassable. They were mud-stained
and travel-worn, and their horses, covered
with froth, were panting as if they had been
urged to their greatest speed. After a little
time the gentleman saw Balser, and called
to him. The boy immediately went to the
travellers, and the gentleman said:
" My little man, can you tell me if it is safe
to attempt the ford at this time ? "
" It will swim your horses," answered
Balser.
" I knew it would," said the lady, in
evident distress. She was young and pretty,
and seemed to be greatly fatigued and fright
ened. The gentleman was very attentive,
36 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and tried to soothe her, but in a moment or
two she began to weep, and said :
" They will catch us, I know. They will
catch us. They cannot be more than a mile
behind us now, and we have no place to turn."
" Is some one trying to catch you ? " asked
Balser.
The gentleman looked down at the little
fellow for a moment, and was struck by his
bright, manly air. The thought occurred to
him that Balser might suspect them of being
fugitives from justice, so he explained :
" Yes, my little fellow, a gentleman is try
ing to catch us. He is this lady's father.
He has with him a dozen men, and if they
overtake us they will certainly kill me and
take this lady home. Do you know of any
place where we may hide ? "
" Yes, sir," answered Balser, quickly ; " help
me on behind you, and I'll take you to my
father's house. There's no path up the
river, and if they attempt to follow they'll
get lost in the woods."
Balser climbed on the horse behind the
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 37
gentleman, and soon they plunged into the
deep forest, and rode up the river toward
Balser's home. The boy knew the forest
well, and in a short time the little party of
three was standing at the hospitable cabin
door. Matters were soon explained to Bal
ser's mother, and she, with true hospitality,
welcomed the travellers to her home. Dur
ing the conversation Balser learned that the
gentleman and lady were running away that
they might be married, and, hoping to finish
a good job, the boy volunteered the advice
that they should be married that same even
ing under his father's roof. He also offered
to go in quest of a preacher who made his
home some two miles to the east.
The advice and the offer of services were
eagerly accepted, and the lady and gentle
man were married that night, and remained
a few days at the home of Mr. Brent until
the river was low enough to cross.
The strangers felt grateful to the boy who
had given them such timely help, and asked
him what they could do for him in return.
38 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Balser hesitated a moment, and said,
" There's only one thing I want very bad,
but that would cost so much there's no use
to speak of it."
" What is it, Balser ? Speak up, and if it
is anything I can buy, you shall have it."
" A gun ! A gun ! A smooth-bore car
bine. I'd rather have it than anything else
in the world."
"You 1 shall have it if there's one to be
bought in Indianapolis. We are going there,
and will return within a week or ten days,
and you shall have your carbine if I can
find one."
Within two weeks after this conversation
Balser was the happiest boy in Indiana, for
he owned a carbine, ten pounds of fine
powder, and lead enough to kill every living
creature within a radius of five miles.
Of course the carbine had to be tested at
once. So the day after he received it Balser
started out with his father on a hunting
expedition, fully determined in his own mind
to kill a bear twice as large as his first one.
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 39
They took with them corn-bread and dried
venison for dinner, and started east toward
Conn's Creek, where the houses of the set
tlers were thinly scattered and game plentiful.
They had with them two faithful dogs,
" Tige " and " Prince." Balser considered
these dogs the most intelligent animals that
walked on four feet. They were deer-
hounds with a cross of bulldog, and were
swift of foot and very strong.
Our hunters had travelled perhaps three
or four miles into the forest when they
started a deer, in pursuit of which the dogs
bounded off with their peculiar bark, and
soon deer and dogs were lost to sight. Bal
ser and his father listened carefully for the
voices of the dogs, for should the deer turn
at bay, the dogs, instead of the quick bark,
to which they gave voice in the chase, would
utter a long-drawn-out note half howl, half
yelp.
The bay of the hounds had died away in
the distance, and Balser and his father had
heard nothing of them for two or three hours.
40 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
The hunters had seen other deer as they
walked along, but they had been unable to
obtain a shot Smaller game was plentiful,
but Balser and his father did not care to
frighten away large game by shooting at
squirrels or birds. So they continued their
walk until they reached the bank of Conn's
Creek, near the hour of noon ; by that time
Balser's appetite was beginning to call loudly
for dinner, and he could not resist the temp
tation to shoot a squirrel, which he saw
upon a limb of a neighbouring tree. The
squirrel fell to the ground and was soon
skinned and cleaned. Balser then kindled a
fire, and cutting several green twigs, sharp
ened the ends and fastened small pieces of
the squirrel upon them. He next stuck the
twigs in the ground so that they leaned
toward the fire, with the meat hanging
directly over the blaze. Soon the squirrel
was roasted to a delicious brown, and then
Balser served dinner to his father, who was
sitting on a rock near by. The squirrel,
the corn-bread, and the venison quickly dis-
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 41
appeared, and Balser, if permitted to do so,
would have found another squirrel and would
have cooked it. Just as dinner was finished,
there came from a long way up-stream the
howling bark of Tige and Prince, telling,
plainly as if they had spoken English, that
the deer was at bay.
Thereupon Balser quickly loaded his gun,
and he and his father looked carefully to
their primings. Then Mr. Brent directed
Balser to climb down the cliff and move
toward the dogs through the thicket in the
bottom, while he went by another route,
along the bluff. Should the hunters be
separated, they were to meet at an agreed
place in the forest. Balser climbed cautiously
down the cliff and was soon deep in a dark
thicket of tangled underbrush near the creek.
Now and then the deep bay of the dogs
reached his ears from the direction whence
he had first heard it, and he walked as
rapidly as the tangled briers and under
growth would permit toward his faithful
fellow-hunters.
42 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
He was so intent on the game which he
knew the dogs held at bay, that he did not
look about him with his accustomed caution,
and the result of his unwatchfulness was
that he found himself within ten feet of two
huge bears before he was at all aware of
their presence. They were evidently male
and female, and upon seeing him the great
he-bear gave forth a growl that frightened
Balser to the depths of his soul. Retreat
seemed almost impossible; and should he
fire at one of the bears, his gun would be
empty and he would be at the mercy of the
other. To attempt to outrun a bear, even
on level ground, would be almost a hopeless
undertaking; for the bear, though an awk
ward-looking creature, is capable of great
speed when it comes to a foot-race. But
there, where the tangled underbrush was so
dense that even walking through it was a
matter of great difficulty, running was out of
the question, for the thicket which would
greatly impede Balser would be but small
hindrance to the bears.
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 43
After Balser had killed the big bear at the
drift, he felt that he never again would suffer
from what hunters call " buck ager " ; but
when he found himself confronted by those
black monsters, he began to tremble in
every limb, and for the life of him could not
at first lift his gun. The he-bear was the
first to move. He raised himself on his
haunches, and with a deep growl started for
poor Balser. Balser should have shot the
bear as he came toward him, but acting
solely from an instinct of self-preservation
he started to run. He made better headway
than he had thought possible, and soon came
to a small open space of ground where the
undergrowth was not so thick, and where
the bright light of the sun dispelled the
darkness. The light restored Balser's confi
dence, and the few moments of retreat gave
him time to think and to pull himself to
gether. So, turning quickly, he lifted his
gun to his shoulder and fired at the bear,
which was not two yards behind him. Un
fortunately, his aim was unsteady, and his
44 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
shot wounded the bear in the neck, but did
not kill him.
Balser saw the disastrous failure he had
made, and felt that the bear would be much
surer in his attack upon him than he had
been in his attack upon the bear. The boy
then threw away his gun, and again began a
hasty retreat.
He called for his father, and cried, " Tige !
Prince ! Tige ! Tige ! " not so much with a
hope that either the dogs or his father would
hear, but because he knew not what else to
do. Balser ran as fast as he could, still the
bear was at his heels, and the frightened boy
expected every moment to feel a stroke from
the brute's huge rough paw. Soon it came,
with a stunning force that threw Balser to
the ground, upon his back. The bear was
over him in an instant, and caught his left
arm between his mighty jaws. It seemed
then that the light of the world went out for
a moment, and he remembered nothing but
the huge, blood-red mouth of the bear, his
hot breath almost burning his cheeks, and
V
~
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 45
his deep, terrible growls nearly deafening his
ears. Balser's whole past life came up before
him like a picture, and he remembered every
thing that had ever happened to him. He
thought of how deeply his dear father and
mother would grieve, and for the only time
in his life regretted having received the car
bine, for it was the gun, after all, that had
got him into this trouble. All this happened
in less time than it takes you to read ten
lines of this page, but it seemed very, very
long to Balser, lying there with the huge
body of the bear over him.
Suddenly a note of hope struck his ear
the sweetest sound he had ever heard. It
was the yelp of dear old Tige, who had
heard his call and had come to the rescue.
If there is any creature on earth that a bear
thoroughly hates, it is a dog. Tige wasted
not a moment's time, but was soon biting
and pulling at the bear's hind legs. The
bear immediately turned upon the dog, and
gave Balser an opportunity to rise. Of this
opportunity he quickly took advantage, you
46 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
may be sure. Soon Prince came up also,
and in these two strong dogs the bear had
foemen worthy of his steel.
Balser's great danger and narrow escape
had quickened all his faculties, so he at once
ran back to the place where he had dropped
his gun, and although his left arm had been
terribly bitten, he succeeded in loading, and
soon came back to the help of the dogs, who
had given him such timely assistance.
The fight between the dogs and the bear
was going on at a merry rate, when Balser
returned to the scene of action. With Prince
on one side and Tige on the other, both so
strong and savage, and each quick and nim
ble as a cat, the bear had all he could do to
defend himself, and continually turned first
one way and then another in his effort to
keep their fangs away from his legs or throat.
This enabled Balser to approach within a
short distance of the bear, which he cau
tiously did. Taking care not to wound
either of his faithful friends, he was more
fortunate in his aim than he had been the
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 47
first time, and gave the bear a mortal
wound.
The wounded animal made a hasty re
treat back into the thicket, followed closely
by the dogs ; but Balser had seen more than
enough of bear society in the thicket, and
prudently concluded not to follow. He then
loaded his gun with a heavy charge of
powder only, and fired it to attract his
father's attention. This he repeated several
times, until at last he saw the welcome form
of his father hurrying toward him from the
bluff. When his father reached him and
saw that he had been wounded, Mr. Brent
was naturally greatly troubled; but Balser
said: "I'll tell you all about it soon. Let's
go in after the bears. Two of them are in
the thicket up there next to the cliff, and
the dogs have followed them. If Tige had
not come up just in time, one of the bears
would have killed me ; but I think the shot
I gave him must have killed him by this
time."
So without another word, Balser having
48 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
loaded his gun, they started into the dark
thicket toward the cliff, in the direction
whence came the voices of the dogs.
They had not proceeded farther than a
hundred yards when they found the bear
which Balser had shot, lying dead in the
path over which Balser had so recently
made his desperate retreat. The dogs were
farther in, toward the cliff, where the vines,
trees, and brush grew so thick that it was
almost dark.
The two hunters, however, did not stop,
but hurried on to the help of their dogs.
Soon they saw through the gloom of the
thicket the she-bear, and about her the dogs
were prancing, barking, and snapping most
furiously.
Carefully Balser and his father took their
position within a few yards of the bear, and
Balser, upon a signal from his father, called
off the dogs so that a shot might be made
at the bear without danger of killing either
Tige or Prince.
Soon the report of two guns echoed
r.
: Tige was told to go into the cave."
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 49
through the forest, almost at the same in
stant, and the great she-bear fell over on
her side, quivered for a moment, and died.
This last battle took place close by the stone
cliff, which rose from the bottom-land to a
height of fifty or sixty feet.
Balser and his father soon worked their
way through the underbrush to where the
she-bear lay dead. After having examined
the bear, Balser's attention was attracted to
a small opening in the cliff, evidently the
mouth of a cave which had probably been
the home of the bear family that he and his
father had just exterminated. The she-bear
had taken her stand at the door of her home,
and in defending it had lost her life. Balser
examined the opening in the cliff, and con
cluded to enter ; but his father said :
"You don't know what's in there. Let's
first send in one of the dogs."
So Tige was called and told to go into the
cave. Immediately after he had entered he
gave forth a series of sharp yelps which told
plainly enough that he had found something
50 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
worth barking at. Then Balser called the
dog out, and Mr. Brent collected pieces of
dry wood, and made a fire in front of the
cave, hoping to drive out any animal that
might be on the inside.
He more than suspected that he would
find a pair of cubs.
As the smoke brought nothing forth, he
concluded to enter the cave himself and
learn what was there.
Dropping upon his knees, he began to
crawl in at the narrow opening, and the boy
and the two dogs followed closely. Mr.
Brent had taken with him a lighted torch,
and when he had gone but a short distance
into the cave he saw in a remote corner
a pair of gray-black, frowzy little cubs, as fat
and round as a roll of butter. They were
lying upon a soft bed of leaves and grass,
which had been collected by their father and
mother.
Balser's delight knew no bounds, for, next
to his gun, what he wanted above all things
was a bear cub, and here were two of them.
HOW BALSER GOT A GUN. 51
Quickly he and his father each picked up a
cub and made their way out of the cave.
The cubs, not more than one-half larger
than a cat, were round and very fat, and
wore a coat of fur, soft and sleek as the finest
silk. Young bears usually are gray until
after they are a year old, but these were an
exception to the rule, for they were almost
black.
Leaving the old bears dead upon the
ground, Balser and his father hurried down
to the creek, where Mr. Brent washed and
dressed his son's wounded arm. They then
marked several trees upon the bank of the
creek by breaking twigs, so that they might
be able to find the bears when they returned
that evening with the horses to take home
the meat and skins.
All this, which has taken so long to tell,
occurred within the space of a few minutes;
but the work while it lasted was hard and
tiresome, and, although it was but a short
time past noon, Balser and his father were
only too glad to turn their faces homeward,
52 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
each with a saucy little bear cub under his
arm.
"As we have killed their mother," said
Balser, referring to the cubs, " we must take
care of her children and give them plenty of
milk, and bring them up to be good, honest
bears."
The evening of the same day Mr. Brent
and a few of his neighbours brought home
the bear meat and skins. Balser did not go
with his father because his arm was too sore.
He was, however, very proud of his wound,
and thought that the glory of the day and
the two bear cubs were purchased cheaply
enough after all.
i
" Each with a saucy little cub."
CHAPTER III.
LOST IN THE FOREST.
BALSER'S arm mended slowly, for it had
been terribly bitten by the bear. The
heavy sleeve of his buckskin jacket had
saved him from a wound which might have
crippled him for life ; but the hurt was bad
enough as it was, and Balser passed through
many days and nights of pain before it was
healed. He bore the suffering like a little
man, however, and felt very "big" as he
walked about with his arm in a buckskin
sling.
Balser was impatient that he could not
hunt; but he spent his time more or less
satisfactorily in cleaning and polishing his
gun and playing with the bear cubs, which his
little brother Jim had named " Tom " and
" Jerry." The cubs soon became wonder-
53
54 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
fully tame, and drank eagerly from a pan of
milk. They were too small to know how to
lap, so the boys put their hands in the pan
and held up a finger, at which the cubs
sucked lustily. It was very laughable to
see the little round black fellows nosing in
the milk for the finger. And sometimes
they would bite, too, until the boys would
snatch away their hands and soundly box
the cubs on the ears. A large panful of
milk would disappear before you could say
" Christmas," and the bears' silky sides would
stand out as big and round as a pippin.
The boys were always playing pranks upon
the cubs, and the cubs soon learned to
retaliate. They would climb everywhere
about the premises, up the trees, on the
roofs of the barn and house, and over the
fence. Their great delight was the milk-
house and kitchen, where they had their
noses into everything, and made life miser
able for Mrs. Brent. She would run after
them with her broomstick if they but showed
their sharp little snouts in the doorway.
LOST IN THE FOREST. 55
Then off they would scamper, yelping as
though they were nearly killed, and ponder
upon new mischief. They made themselves
perfectly at home, and would play with each
other like a pair of frisky kittens, rolling over
and over on the sod, pretending to fight, and
whining and growling as if they were angry
in real earnest. One day Balser and his
little brother Jim were sitting on a log, which
answered the purpose of a settee, under the
eaves in front of the house. The boys were
wondering what had become of Tom and
Jerry, as they had not seen them for an hour
or more, and their quietness looked suspi
cious.
" I wonder if those cubs have run away,"
said Balser.
" No," said Jim, " bet they won't run away ;
they've got things too comfortable here to
run away. Like as not they're off some
place plannin' to get even with us because
we ducked them in the water trough awhile
ago. They looked awful sheepish when they
got out, and as they went off together I jus'
56 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
thought to myself they were goin' away to
think up some trick on us."
Balser and Jim were each busily engaged
eating the half of a blackberry pie. The
eave of the house was not very high, per
haps seven or eight feet from the ground,
and Balser and Jim were sitting under it,
holding the baby and eating their pie.
Hardly had Jim spoken when the boys
heard a scraping sound from above, then a
couple of sharp little yelps ; and down came
Tom and Jerry from the roof, striking the
boys squarely on the head.
To say that the boys were frightened
does not half tell it. They did not know
what had happened. They fell over, and
the baby dropped to the ground with a
cry that brought her mother to the scene
of action in a moment. The blackberry
pie had in some way managed to spread
itself all over the baby's face, and she was
a very comical sight when her mother picked
her up.
The bears had retaliated upon the boys
LOST IN THE FOREST. 57
sooner than even Jim had anticipated, and
they all had a great laugh over it; the
bears seeming to enjoy it more than any
body else. The boys were ready to admit
that the joke was on them, so they took
the cubs back to the milk-house, and gave
them a pan of rich milk as a peace-offer
ing.
The scrapes these cubs got themselves
and the boys into would fill a large vol
ume; but I cannot tell you any more
about them now, as I want to relate an
adventure having no fun in it, which befell
Balser and some of his friends soon after
his arm was well.
It was blackberry time, and several chil
dren had come to Balser's home for the
purpose of making a raid upon a large
patch of wild blackberries that grew on the
other side of the river, a half-hour's walk
from Mr. Brent's cabin.
Soon after daybreak one morning, the
little party, consisting of Balser and Jim,
Tom Fox and his sister Liney (which is
58 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
"short" for Pau-/z-ne), and three children
from the family of Mr. Neigh, paddled across
the river in a canoe which Balser and his
father had made from a large gum log,
and started westward for the blackberry
patch.
Tom and Jerry had noticed the prepara
tions for the journey with considerable
curiosity, and felt very much hurt that
they were not to be taken along. But
they were left behind, imprisoned in a pen
which the boys had built for them, and
their whines and howls of complaint at
such base treatment could be heard until the
children were well out of sight of the house.
The party hurried along merrily, little
thinking that their journey home would be
one of sadness; and soon they were in the
midst of the blackberries, picking as rapidly
as possible, and filling their gourds with
the delicious fruit.
They worked hard all the morning, and
the deerskin sacks which they had brought
with them were nearly full.
LOST IN THE FOREST. 59
Toward noon the children became hun
gry, and without a dissenting voice agreed
to eat dinner.
They had taken with them for lunch a
loaf of bread and a piece of cold venison,
but Balser suggested that he should go into
the woods and find a squirrel or two to help
out their meal. In the meantime Tom Fox
had started out upon a voyage of discovery,
hoping that he, too, might contribute to the
larder.
In a few minutes Balser's gun was heard
at a distance, and then again and again,
and soon he was back in camp with three
fat squirrels.
Almost immediately after him came Tom
Fox carrying something in his coonskin
cap.
" What have you there, Limpy ? " cried
Liney.
The children called Tom " Limpy " be
cause he always had a sore toe or a stone
bruise on his heel.
" You'll never guess," answered Tom,
60 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
All the children took a turn at guessing,
and then gave it up.
"Turkey eggs," said Tom. "We'll have
eggs as well as squirrel for dinner to-day."
" How will you cook them ? " asked one
of the Neigh children.
" I'll show you," answered Tom.
So now they were guessing how Limpy
would cook the eggs, but he would not tell
them, and they had to give it up.
The boys then lighted a fire from the
flint-lock on the gun, and Balser, having
dressed the squirrel, cut twigs as he had
done when he and his father dined on
Conn's Creek, and soon pieces of tender
squirrel were roasting near the flame, giving
forth a most tempting odour.
In the meantime Limpy had gone away,
and none of the children knew where he was,
or what he was doing.
Soon, however, he returned bearing a
large flat rock eight or ten inches in diame
ter, and two or three inches thick. This
rock he carefully washed and scrubbed in
Down came Tom and Jerry from the roof."
LOST IN THE FOREST. 61
a spring, until it was perfectly clean. He
then took coals from the fire which Balser
had kindled, and soon had a great fire of
his own, in the midst of which was the stone.
After the blaze had died down, he made a
bed of hot coals on which, by means of a
couple of sticks, he placed the rock, and then
dusted away the ashes.
44 Now do you know how I'm going to
cook the eggs ? " he asked.
They, of course, all knew ; and the girls
greased the rock with the fat of the squirrel,
broke the eggs, and allowed them to fall upon
the hot stone, where they were soon thor
oughly roasted, and the children had a deli
cious meal. After dinner they sat in the cool
shade of the tree under which they dined,
and told stories and asked riddles for an
hour or two before they again began berry-
picking. Then they worked until about six
o'clock, and stopped to have another play
before returning home.
They played 4t Ring around a rosey,"
44 Squat where ye be," 44 Wolf," 44 Dirty dog/ 1
62 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and then wound up with the only never-
grow-old, " Hide-and-seek."
The children hid behind logs and trees,
and in dense clumps of bushes. The boys
would often climb trees, when, if "caught,"
the one who was "it" was sure to run
"home" before the hider could slide half
way down his tree. Now and then a hol
low tree was found, and that, of course, was
the best hiding-place of all.
Beautiful little Liney Fox found one hol
low tree too many; and as long as they
lived all the children of the party remem
bered it and the terrible events that followed
her discovery. She was seeking a place to
hide, and had hurried across a small open
space to conceal herself behind a huge syca
more tree. When she reached the tree and
went around it to hide upon the opposite
side, she found it was hollow at the root.
Balser was " it," and with his eyes " hid "
was counting one hundred as rapidly and
loudly as he could. He had got to sixty,
he afterward said, when a shriek reached
LOST IN THE FOREST. 63
his ears. This was when Liney found the
hollow tree. Balser at once knew that it
was Liney 's voice ; for, although he was but
a little fellow, he was quite old enough to
have admired Liney's exquisite beauty, and
to have observed that she was as kind and
gentle and good as she was pretty.
So what wonder that Balser, whom she
openly claimed as her best friend, should
share not only in the general praise, but
should have a boy's admiration for her all
his own ?
In persons accustomed to exercise the
alertness which is necessary for a good
hunter, the sense of locating the direction
and position from which a sound proceeds
becomes highly developed, and as Balser
had been hunting almost ever since he was
large enough to walk, he knew instantly
where Liney was.
He hurriedly pushed his way through the
bushes, and in a moment reached the open
space of ground, perhaps one hundred yards
across, on the opposite side of which stood
64 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
the tree that Liney had found. Some twenty
or thirty yards beyond the tree stood Liney.
She was so frightened that she could not
move, and apparently had become powerless
to scream.
Balser hastened toward her at his utmost
speed, and when he reached a point from
which he could see the hollow side of the
tree, imagine his horror and fright upon
beholding an enormous bear emerging from
the opening. The bear started slowly toward
the girl, who seemed unable to move.
" Run, Liney ! run for your life ! " screamed
Balser, who fearlessly rushed toward the
bear to attract its attention from the girl,
and if possible to bring it in pursuit of
himself.
" I just felt," said Balser afterward, " that I
wanted to lie down and let the bear eat me
at once if I could only keep it away from
Liney. I shouted and threw clods and
sticks at it, but on it went toward her. I
reckon it thought she was the nicest and
preferred her to me. It was right, too, for
LOST IN THE FOREST. 65
she was a heap the nicest, and I didn't blame
the bear for wanting her.
" Again I shouted, ' Run, Liney ! run ! '
My voice seemed to waken her, and she
started to run as fast as she could go, with
the bear after her, and I after the bear as fast
as I could go. I was shouting and doing my
best to make the bear run after me instead
of Liney ; but it kept right on after her, and
she kept on running faster and faster into the
dark woods. In a short time I caught up
with the bear, and kicked it on the side as
hard as I could kick. That made it mad,
and it turned upon me with a furious growl,
as much as to say that it would settle with
me pretty quick and then get Liney. After
I had kicked it I started to run toward my
gun, which was over by the blackberry
patch. For a while I could hear the bear
growling and puffing right at my heels, and
it made me just fly, you may be sure. I
never ran so fast in all my life, for I knew
that I could not hold out long against the
bear, and that if I didn't get my gun quick
66 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
he would surely get me. I did not care
as much as you might think, nor was I
very badly frightened, for I was so glad I
had saved Liney. But naturally I wanted to
save myself too, if possible, so, as I have said,
I ran as I never ran before or since, for
that matter.
" Soon the growls of the bear began to
grow indistinct, and presently they ceased
and I thought I had left it behind. So I
kept on running toward my gun, and never
stopped to look back until I heard another
scream from Liney. Then I looked behind
me, and saw that the bear had turned and
was again after her, although she was quite
a distance ahead of it.
" I thought at first that I should turn back
and kick the bear again, and just lie down
and let it eat me if nothing else would
satisfy it; but I was so near my gun that
I concluded to get it and then hurry back
and shoot the bear instead of kicking it.
" I heard Liney scream again and heard
her call ' B-a-1-s-e-r,' and that made me run
LOST IN THE FOREST. 67
even faster than the bear had made me go.
It was but a few seconds until I had my gun
and had started back to help Liney.
" Soon I was at the hollow sycamore, but
the bushes into which Liney had run were
so thick and dark that I could see neither
her nor the bear. I quickly ran into the
woods where I thought Liney had gone,
and when I was a little way into the thicket
I called to her, but she did not answer.
I then went on, following the track of
the bear as well as I could. Bears, you
know, have long flat feet that do not sink
into the ground and leave a distinct track
like a deer's foot does, so I soon lost the
bear tracks and did not know which way
to go.
" I kept going, however, calling loudly
for Liney every now and then, and soon
I was so deep into the forest that it seemed
almost night. I could not see far in any
direction on account of the thick under
brush, and at a little distance objects ap
peared indistinct. On I went, knowing
68 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
not where, calling * Liney ! Liney ! ' at nearly
every step; but I heard no answer, and
it seemed that I liked Liney Fox better
than anybody in all the world, and would
have given my life to save her."
After Balser had gone into the woods
to help Liney the other children gathered
in a frightened group about the tree under
which they had eaten dinner. There they
waited in the greatest anxiety and fear until
the sun had almost sunk below the hori
zon, but Balser and Liney did not return.
Shortly before dark the children started
homeward, very heavy-hearted and sorrow
ful, you may be sure. When they reached
the river they paddled across and told Mr.
Brent that Balser and Liney were lost in the
woods, and that when last seen a huge bear
was in pursuit of Liney. Balser's father
lost not a moment, but ran to a hill near
the house, upon the top of which stood a
large stack of dry grass, leaves, and wood,
placed there for the purpose of signalling
the neighbours in case of distress. He at
LOST IN THE FOREST. 69
once put fire to the dry grass, and soon
there was a blaze, the light from which
could be seen for miles around.
Mr. Brent immediately crossed the river,
and leaving Tom Fox behind to guide the
neighbours, walked rapidly in the direction of
the place where Balser and Liney had last
been seen. He took with him the dogs, and
a number of torches which he intended to
light from a tinder-box if he should need
them.
The neighbours soon hurried to the Brent
home in response to the fire signal, and
several of them started out to rescue the
children, if possible. If help were to be
given, it must be done at once. A night in
the woods meant almost certain death to the
boy and girl ; for, besides bears and wolves,
there had been for several weeks a strolling
band of Indians in the neighbourhood.
Although the Indians were not brave
enough to attack a settlement, they would
be only too ready to steal the children, did
they but have the opportunity.
70 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
These Indians slept all day in dark,
secluded spots, and roamed about at night,
visiting the houses of the settlers under
cover of darkness, for the purpose of carrying
off anything of value upon which they could
lay their hands. Recently several houses
had been burned, and some twenty miles up
the river a woman had been found murdered
near the bank. Two children were missing
from another house, and a man while out
hunting had been shot by an unseen enemy.
These outrages were all justly attributed to
the Indians; and if they should meet Balser
and Liney in the lonely forest, Heaven itself
only knew what might become of the chil
dren, a bear would be a more merciful
enemy.
All night Mr. Brent and the neighbours
searched the forest far and near.
Afterward Balser told the story of that
terrible night, and I will let him speak :
" I think it was after six o'clock when I
went into the woods in pursuit of Liney and
/ the bear. It was almost dark at that time in
LOST IN THE FOREST. 71
the forest, and a little later, when the sun had
gone down and a fine drizzle of rain had
begun to fall, the forest was so black that
once I ran against a small tree because I did
not see it.
" I wandered about for what seemed a very
long time, calling for Liney; then I grew
hopeless and began to realize that I was lost.
I could not tell from which direction I had
come, nor where I was going. Everything
looked alike all about me a deep, black bank
of nothing, and a nameless fear stole over me.
I had my gun, but of what use was it, when
I could not see my hand before me ? Now
and then I heard wolves howling, and it
seemed that their voices came from every
direction. Once a black shadow ran by me
with a snarl and a snap, and I expected every
moment to have the hungry pack upon me,
and to be torn into pieces. What if they
should attack Liney ? The thought almost
drove me wild.
" I do not know how long I had wandered
through the forest, but it must have been
72 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
eight or nine hours, when I came to the
river. I went to the water's edge and
put my hand in the stream to learn which
way the current ran, for I was so confused
and so entirely lost that I did not know
which direction was down-stream. I found
that the water was running toward my right,
and then I climbed back to the bank and
stood in helpless confusion for a few minutes.
" Nothing could be gained by standing
there watching the water, like a fish-hawk, so
I walked slowly down the river. I had been
going down-stream for perhaps twenty min
utes, when I saw a tall man come out of
the woods, a few yards ahead of me, and
walk rapidly toward the river bank. He
carried something on his shoulder, as a man
would carry a sack of wheat, and when he
had reached the river bank, where there was
more light, I could see from his dress that
he was an Indian. I could not tell what it
was he carried, but in a moment I thought
of Liney and ran toward him. I reached
the place where he had gone down the bank
LOST IN THE FOREST. 73
just in time to see him place his burden in
a canoe. He himself was on the point of
stepping in when I called to him to stop,
and told him I would shoot him if he did
not. My fright was gone in an instant, and
I would not have feared all the lions, bears,
and Indians that roamed the wilderness.
I had but one thought to save Liney, and
something told me that she lay at the other
end of the canoe.
" The open space of the river made it light
enough for me to see the Indian, and I was
so close to him that even in the darkness
I could not miss my aim. In place of an
swering my call, he glanced hurriedly at me,
in surprise, and quickly lifted his gun to
shoot me. But I was quicker than he, and
I fired first. The Indian dropped his gun
and plunged into the river. I did not know
whether he had jumped or fallen in, but he
immediately sank. I thought I saw his head
a moment afterward above the surface of the
water near the opposite bank, and I do not
know to this day whether or not I killed
74 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
him. At the time I did not care, for the
one thing on my mind was to rescue Liney.
"I did not take long to climb into the
canoe, and sure enough there she was at the
other end. I had not taken the precaution
to tie the boat to the bank, and I was so
overjoyed at finding Liney, and was so eager
in my effort to lift her, and to learn if she
were dead or alive, that I upset the unsteady
thing. I thought we should both drown
before we could get out, for Liney was as
helpless as if she were dead, which I thought
was really the case.
" After a hard struggle I reached shallow
water and carried Liney to the top of the
bank. I laid her on the ground, and took
away the piece of wood which the Indian
had tied between her teeth to keep her from
crying out. Then I rubbed her hands and
face and rolled her over and over until she
came to. After a while she raised her head
and opened her eyes, and looked about her
as if she were in a dream.
* " Oh, Balser ! ' she cried, and then fainted
Tige and Prince swimming about the Canoe.
LOST IN THE FOREST. 75
away again. I thought she was dead this
time sure, and was in such agony that I
could not even feel. Hardly knowing what
I was doing, I picked her up to carry her
home, dead as I supposed. I had carried
her for perhaps half an hour, when, becom
ing very tired, I stopped to rest. Then
Liney wakened up again, and I put her
down. But she could not stand, and, of
course, could not walk.
" She told me that after she had run into
the woods away from the bear, she became
frightened and was soon lost. She had
wandered aimlessly about for a long time,
how long she did not know, but it seemed
ages. She had been so terrified by the
wolves and by the darkness, that she was
almost unconscious, and hardly knew what
she was doing. She said that every now
and then she had called my name, for she
knew that I would try to follow her. Her
calling for me had evidently attracted the
Indian, whom she had met after she had
been in the woods a very long time.
76 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
"The Indian seized her, and placed the
piece of wood between her teeth to keep her
from screaming. He then threw her over
his shoulder, and she remembered very little
of what happened after that until she was
awakened in the canoe by the flash and the
report of my gun. She said that she knew
at once I had come, and then she knew noth
ing more until she awakened on the bank.
She did not know of <the upsetting of the
canoe, nor of my struggle in the water, but
when I told her about it, she said :
" ' Balser, you've saved my life three times
in one night.'
" Then I told her that I would carry her
home. She did not want me too, though,
and tried to walk, but could not; so I
picked her up and started homeward.
"Just then I happened to look toward the
river and saw the Indian's canoe floating
down-stream, bottom upward. I saw at
once that here was an opportunity for us to
ride home, so I put Liney down, took off my
wet jacket and moccasins, and swam out to
LOST IN THE FOREST. 77
the canoe. After I had drawn it to the bank
and had turned out the water, I laid Liney
at the bow, found a pole with which to guide
the canoe, climbed in myself, and pushed off.
We floated very slowly, but, slow as it was,
it was a great deal better than having to
walk.
"It was just beginning to be daylight when
I heard the barking of dogs. I would
have known their voices among ten thou
sand, for they were as familiar to me
as the voice of my mother. It was dear
old Tige and Prince, and never in my life
was any voice more welcome to my ears
than that sweet sound. I whistled shrilly
between my fingers, and soon the faithful
animals came rushing out of the woods and
plunged into the water, swimming about us
as if they knew as well as a man could have
known what they and their master had been
looking for all night." Balser's father had
followed closely upon the dogs, and within
an hour the children were home amid the
wildest rejoicing you ever heard.
78 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
When Liney became stronger she told
how she had seen the hollow in the syca
more tree, and had hurried toward it to
hide; and how, just as she was about to
enter the hollow tree, a huge bear raised
upon its haunches and thrust its nose al
most in her face. She said that the bear haa
followed her for a short distance, and then
for some reason had given up the chase.
Her recollection of everything that had
happened was confused and indistinct, but
one little fact she remembered with a clear
ness that was very curious : the bear, she
said, had but one ear.
When Balser heard this, he arose to his
feet, and gave notice to all persons present
that there would soon be a bear funeral,
and that a one-eared bear would be at the
head of the procession. He would have
the other ear of that bear if he had to
roam the forest until he was an old man
to find it.
How he got it, and how it got him, I
will tell you in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ONE-EARED BEAR.
" You, Tom ! You, Jerry ! come here ! "
called Balser one morning, while he and
Jim were sitting in the shade near the
river in front of the house, overseeing the
baby.
" You, Tom ! You, Jerry ! " called Balser
a second time with emphasis. The cubs,
snoozing in the sun a couple of paces away,
rolled lazily over two or three times in an
effort to get upon their feet, and then trotted
to their masters with a comical, waddling
gait that always set the boys laughing, it
was such a swagger.
When they had come, Balser said,
" Stop right there ! " and the cubs, being
always tired, gladly enough sat upon their
haunches, and blinked sleepily into Balser's
79
80 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
face, with a greedy expression upon their
own, as if to say, " Well, where 's the milk ? "
" Milk, is it ? " asked Balser. " You're al
ways hungry. You're nothing but a pair
of gluttons. Eat, eat, from morning until
night. Well, this time you'll get nothing.
There's no milk for you."
The cubs looked disgusted, so Jim said,
and no doubt he was right, for Jim and
the cubs were great friends and understood
each other thoroughly.
" Now, I've been a good father to you,"
said Balser. " I've always given you as
much milk as you could hold, without
bursting, and have tried to bring you up
to be good respectable bears, and to do
my duty by you. I have whipped you
whenever you needed it, although it often
hurt me worse than it did you."
The bears grunted, as if to say : " But
not in the same place."
" Now what I want," continued Balser,
regardless of the interruption, " is, that
you tell me what you know, if anything,
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 81
concerning a big one-eared bear that lives
hereabouts. Have you ever heard of him ? "
Tom gave a grunt, and Jim, who had
been studying bear language, said he meant
" Yes."
Jerry then put his nose to Tom's ear,
and whined something in a low voice.
" What does he say, Jim ? " asked Balser.
" He says for Tom not to tell you any
thing until you promise to give them milk,"
answered Jim, seriously.
"Jerry, you're the greatest glutton alive,
I do believe," said Balser ; " but if you'll
tell me anything worth knowing about the
one-eared bear, I'll give you the biggest
pan of milk you ever saw."
Jerry in his glee took two or three fancy
steps, awkwardly fell over himself a couple
of times, got up, and grunted to Tom to go
ahead. Jim was the interpreter, and Tom
grunted and whined away, in a mighty effort
to earn the milk.
"The one-eared bear," said he, "is my
uncle. Used to hear dad and mother talk
82 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
about him. Dad bit his ear off. That's
how he came to have only one. Dad and
he fought about mother, and when dad
bit uncle's ear off mother went with dad
and wouldn't have anything to do with the
other fellow. Couldn't abide a one-eared
husband, she said."
" That's interesting," answered Balser.
"Where does he live?"
Tom pointed his nose toward the north
west, and opened his mouth very wide.
" Up that way in a cave," interpreted Jim,
pointing as the cub had indicated.
" How far is it ? " asked Balser.
Jerry lay down and rolled over twice.
"Two hours' walk," said Jim.
" How shall I find the place ? " asked
Balser.
Tom stood upon his hind legs, and
scratched the bark of a tree with his fore
paws as high as he could reach.
"Of course," said Balser, "by the bear
scratches on the trees. I understand."
Jerry grunted "milk," so Jim said, and
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 83
the whole party, boys, bears, and babyi
moved off to the milk-house, where the
cubs had a great feast.
After the milk had disappeared, Jerry
grew talkative, and grunted away like the
satisfied little pig that he was.
Again Jim, with a serious face, acted as
interpreter.
" Mighty bad bear," said Jerry. " Soured
on the world since mother threw him over.
Won't have anything to do with anybody.
He's as big and strong as a horse, fierce
as a lion, and meaner than an Injun. He's
bewitched, too, with an evil spirit, and
nobody can ever kill him."
" That's the name he has among white
folks," remarked Balser.
" Better be careful when you hunt him,
for he's killed more men and boys than
you have fingers and toes," said Tom. Then
the cubs, being full of milk and drowsy,
stretched themselves out in the sun, and
no amount of persuasion could induce them
to utter another grunt.
84 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
The bears had told the truth that is, if
they had told anything; for since it had
been learned throughout the settlement that
it was a one-eared bear which had pursued
Liney, many stories had been told of hair
breadth escapes and thrilling adventures with
that same fierce prowler of the woods.
One hunter said that he had shot at him
as many as twenty times, at short range, but
for all he knew, had never even wounded
him.
The one-eared bear could not be caught
by any means whatsoever. He had broken
many traps, and had stolen bait so frequently
from others, that he was considered alto
gether too knowing for a natural bear; and
it was thought that he was inhabited by an
evil spirit which gave him supernatural
powers.
He certainly was a very shrewd old fellow,
and very strong and fierce ; and even among
those of the settlers who were not supersti
tious enough to believe that he was inhab
ited by an evil spirit, he was looked upon as
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 85
a " rogue " bear ; that is, a sullen, morose old
fellow, who lived by himself, as old bachelors
live. The bachelors, though, being men,
should know better and act more wisely.
Notwithstanding all these evil reports con
cerning the one-eared bear, Balser clung to
his resolution to hunt the bear, to kill him
if possible, and to give Liney the remaining
ear as a keepsake.
Balser's father knew that it was a perilous
undertaking, and tried to persuade the boy
to hunt some less dangerous game ; but he
would not listen to any of the warnings, and
day by day longed more ardently for the
blood of the one-eared bear.
So one morning shortly after the conver
sation with the cubs, Balser shouldered
his gun and set out toward the northwest,
accompanied by Limpy Fox and the dogs.
In truth, the expedition had been delayed
that Limpy 's sore toe might heal. That was
one of Liney's jokes.
Limpy had no gun, but he fairly bristled
with knives and a hatchet, which for several
86 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
days he had been grinding and whetting
until they were almost as sharp as a razor.
The boys roamed through the forest all
day long, but found no trace of the one-eared
bear, nor of any other, for that matter. So
toward evening they turned their faces home
ward, where they arrived soon after sunset,
very tired and hungry.
Liney had walked over to Balser's house
to learn the fate of the one-eared bear, and
fully expected to hear that he had been
slaughtered, for she looked upon Balser as
a second Saint Hubert, who, as you know,
is the patron saint of hunters.
One failure, however, did not shake her
faith in Balser, nor did it affect his resolution
to kill the one-eared bear.
Next day the boys again went hunting,
and again failed to find the bear they sought.
They then rested for a few days, and tried
again, with still another failure.
After several days of fruitless tramping
through the forests, their friends began to
laugh at them.
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 87
" If he ever catches sight of Tom," said
Liney, " he'll certainly die, for Tom's knives
and hatchet would frighten any bear to death."
Balser also made sport of Tom's arma
ment, but Tom, a little "miffed," said:
" You needn't be so smart ; it hasn't been
long since you had nothing but a hatchet.
You think because you've got a gun you're
very big and cute. I'll bet the time will
come when you'll be glad enough that I
have a hatchet."
Tom was a truer prophet than he thought,
for the day soon came when the hatchet
proved itself true steel.
The boys had started out before sun-up
one morning, and were deep into the forest
when daylight was fairly abroad. Tige and
Prince were with them, and were trotting
lazily along at the boys' heels, for the day
was very warm, and there was no breeze in
the forest. They had been walking for
several hours, and had almost lost hope,
when suddenly a deep growl seemed to come
from the ground almost at their feet. The
88 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
boys sprang back in a hurry, for right in
their path stood an enormous bear, where a
moment before there had been nothing.
" Lordy ! it's the one-eared bear," cried
Tom, and the hairs on his head fairly
stood on end.
My! what a monster of fierceness the
bear was. His head, throat, and paws, were
covered with blood, evidently from some
animal that he had been eating, and his
great red mouth, sharp white teeth, and
cropped ear gave him a most ferocious and
terrifying appearance.
Balser's first impulse, now that he had
found the long-sought one-eared bear, I am
sorry to say, was to retreat. That was Tom's
first impulse also, and, notwithstanding his
knives and hatchet, he acted upon it quicker
than a circus clown can turn a somersault.
Balser also started to run, but thought
better of it, and turned to give battle to the
bear, fully determined to act slowly and
deliberately, and to make no mistake about
his aim.
" < Lordy, Balser! It's the one-eared bear.' "
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 89
He knew that a false aim would end his
own days, and would add one more victim
to the already long list of the one-eared bear.
The dogs barked furiously at the bear, and
did not give Balser an opportunity to shoot.
The bear and dogs were gradually moving
farther away from Balser, and almost before
he knew it the three had disappeared in the
thicket. Balser was loath to follow until
Tom should return, so he called in an under
tone :
"Tom! Limpy!"
Soon Tom cautiously came back, peering
fearfully about him, hatchet in hand, ready
to do great execution upon the bear he
afterward said.
" You're a pretty hunter, you are. You'd
better go home and get an ax. The bear
has got away just because I had to wait for
you," said Balser, only too glad to have some
one to blame for the bear's escape.
The boys still heard the dogs barking, and
hurried on after them as rapidly as the
tangle of undergrowth would permit. Now
90 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and then they caught a glimpse of the bear,
only to lose it again as he ran down a ravine
or through a dense thicket. The dogs, how
ever, kept in close pursuit, and loudly called
to their master to notify him of their where
abouts.
The boys and bears played at this exciting
game of hide-and-seek for two or three hours,
but Balser had no opportunity for a good
shot, and Tom found no chance to use his
deadly hatchet.
When the bear showed a disposition to
run away rather than to fight, Limpy grew
brave, and talked himself into a high state of
heroism.
It was an hour past noon and the boys
were laboriously climbing a steep ascent in
pursuit of the bear and dogs, which they
could distinctly see a few yards ahead of
them, at the top of a hill. The underbrush
had become thinner, although the shadow
of the trees was deep and dark, and Balser
thought that at last the bear was his. He
repeated over and over to himself his father's
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 91
advice : " When you attack a bear, be slow
and deliberate. Do nothing in a hurry.
Don't shoot until you're sure of your aim."
He remembered vividly his hasty shot
when he wounded the bear on Conn's Creek,
and his narrow escape from death at that
time had so impressed upon him the sound
ness of his father's advice, that he repeated it
night and morning with his prayers.
When he saw the bear at the top of the
hill, so close to him, he raised his gun to his
shoulder and held it there for a moment,
awaiting a chance for a sure shot. But dis
appointment, instead of the bear, was his, for
while he held his gun ready to fire, the bear
suddenly disappeared, as if the earth had
opened and swallowed him.
It all happened so quickly that even the
dogs looked astonished. Surely, this was a
demon bear.
The boys hurried to the spot where they
had last seen the animal, and, although they
carefully searched for the mouth of a cave,
or burrow, through which the bear might
92 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
have escaped, they saw none, but found the
earth everywhere solid and firm. They
extended their search for a hundred feet or
more about them, but still with the same re
sult. They could find no hole or opening into
which the bear could possibly have entered.
His mysterious disappearance right before
their eyes seemed terribly uncanny.
There was certainly something wrong with
the one-eared bear. He had sprung from the
ground, just at their feet, where a moment
before there had been nothing; and now
he had as mysteriously disappeared into the
solid earth, and had left no trace behind him.
Balser and Tom stood for a moment in the
greatest amazement, and all they had heard
about the evil spirit which inhabited the one-
eared bear quickly flashed through their
minds.
"We'd better let him go, Balser," said
Tom, "for we'll never kill him, that's sure.
He's been leading us a wild-goose chase all
the morning only to get us up here to kill us.
I never saw such an awful place for darkness.
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 93
The bushes and trees don't seem natural.
They all have thorns and great knots on
them, and their limbs and twigs look like
huge bony arms and ringers reaching out
after us. I tell you this ain't a natural
place, and that bear is an evil spirit, as sure
as you live. Lordy! let's get out of here,
for I never was so scared in my life."
Balser was also afraid, but Tom's words
had made him wish to appear brave, and
he said:
" Shucks ! Limpy ; I hope you ain't afraid
when you have your hatchet."
" For goodness' sake, don't joke in such
a place as this, Balser," said Tom, with
chattering teeth. " I'm not afraid of any
natural bear when I have my hatchet, but a
bewitched bear is too much for me, and I'm
not ashamed to own it"
" How do you know he's bewitched ? "
asked Balser, trying to talk himself out of his
own fears.
" Bewitched ? Didn't he come right out
of the ground just at our very feet, and didn't
94 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
he sink into the solid earth right here before
our eyes? What more do you want, I'd like
to know? Just you try to sink into the
ground and see if you can. Nobody can,
unless he's bewitched."
Balser felt in his heart that Tom told
the truth, and, as even the dogs seemed
anxious to get away from the dark, mysteri
ous place, they all descended the hill on the
side opposite to that by which they had
ascended. When they reached the bottom.
of the hill they unexpectedly found that they
were at the river's edge, and after taking a
drink they turned their faces toward home.
They thought of dinner, but their appetite
had been frightened away by the mysterious
disappearance of the bear, and they did not
care to eat. So they fed the dogs and again
started homeward down the river.
After a few minutes' walking they came to
a bluff several hundred feet long, and per
haps fifty feet high, which at that time, the
water being low, was separated from the river
by a narrow strip of rocky, muddy ground.
' Let's get out of here.'
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 95
This strip of ground was overgrown with
reeds and willows, and the bluff was covered
with vines and bushes which clung in green
masses to its steep sides and completely hid
the rocks and earth. Tom was in front,
Balser came next, and the dogs, dead tired,
were trailing along some distance behind.
Suddenly Tom threw up his hands and
jumped frantically backward, exclaiming in
terrified tones :
" Oh, Lord ! the one-eared bear again."
When Tom jumped backward his foot
caught in a vine, and he fell violently against
Balser, throwing them both to the ground.
In falling, Tom dropped his hatchet, which
he had snatched from his belt, and Balser
dropped his gun, the lock of which struck a
stone and caused the charge to explode.
Thus the boys were on their backs and
weaponless, while the one-eared bear stood
almost within arm's length, growling in a
voice like distant thunder, and looking so
horrid and fierce that he seemed a very
demon in a bear's skin.
96 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Tom and Balser were so frightened that
for a moment they could not move ; but the
deep growls which terrified them also brought
the dogs, who came quickly to the rescue,
barking furiously.
The bear sprang upon the boys just as
the dogs came up, and Balser received the
full force of a great flat horny paw upon his
back, and was almost stunned. The long
sharp claws of the bear tore through the
buckskin jacket as if it were paper, and cut
deep gashes in Balser's flesh. The pain
seemed to revive him from the benumbing
effect of the stroke, and when the bear's
attention was attracted by the dogs, Balser
crawled out from beneath the monster and
arose to his feet, wounded, bloody, and dizzy.
Tom also felt the force of the bear's great
paw, and was lying a few feet from Balser,
with his head in a tangle of vines and reeds.
Balser, having escaped from under the
bear, the brute turned upon Tom, who was
lying prostrate in the bushes.
The dogs were still vigorously fighting
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 97
the bear, and every second or two a stroke
from the powerful paw brought a sharp
yelp of pain from either Tige or Prince,
and left its mark in deep, red gashes upon
their bodies. The pain, however, did not
deter the faithful animals from their efforts
to rescue the boys; and while the bear was
making for Tom it was kept busy in defend
ing itself from the dogs.
In an instant the bear reached Tom, who
would have been torn in pieces at once, had
not Balser quickly unsheathed his long hunt
ing knife and rushed into the fight. He
sprang for the bear and landed on his back,
clinging to him with one arm about his
neck, while with the other he thrust his
sharp hunting knife almost to the hilt into
the brute's side.
This turned the attack from Tom, and
brought it upon Balser, who soon had his
hands full again.
The bear rose upon his hind feet, and
before Balser could take a step in retreat,
caught him in his mighty arms for the
98 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
purpose of hugging him to death, which is
a bear's favourite method of doing battle.
The hunting knife was still sticking in the
rough black side of the bear, where Balser
had thrust it, and blood flowed from the
wound in a great stream.
The dogs were biting at the bear's hind
legs, but so intent was the infuriated mon
ster upon killing Balser that he paid no atten
tion to them, but permitted them to work
their pleasure upon him, while he was hav
ing the satisfaction of squeezing the life out
of the boy.
In the meantime Tom recovered and rose
to his feet. He at once realized that Balser
would be a dead boy if something were not
done immediately. Luckily, Tom saw his
hatchet, lying a few feet away, and snatch
ing it up he attacked the bear, chopping
away at his great back as if it were a tree.
At the third or fourth stroke from Tom's
hatchet, the bear loosened his grip upon
Balser and fell in a great black heap to the
ground, growling and clawing in all direc-
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 99
tions as if he were frantic with rage and pain.
He bit at the rocks and bushes, gnashed his
teeth, and dug into the ground with his
claws.
Balser, when released from the bear, fell in
a half conscious condition, close to the
river's edge. Tom ran to him, and, hardly
knowing what he did, dashed water in his
face to remove the blood-stains and to wash
the wounds. The water soon revived Balser,
who rose to his feet ; and, Tom helping his
friend, the boys started to run, or rather to
walk away as fast as their wounds and
bruises would permit, while the dogs con
tinued to bark and the bear to growl.
As the boys were retreating, Tom, turned
his head to see if the bear was following, but
as it was still lying on the ground, growling
and biting at the rocks and scratching the
earth, he thought perhaps that the danger
was over, and that the bear was so badly
wounded that he could not rise, or he cer
tainly would have been on his feet fighting
Tige and Prince, who gave him not one
ioo THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
moment's peace. Balser and Tom paused
for an instant, and were soon convinced that
the bear was helpless.
" I believe he can't get up," said Balser.
" Of course he can't," answered Tom, pom
pously. " I cut his old backbone in two
with my hatchet. When he was hugging
you I chopped away at him hard enough to
cut down a hickory sapling."
The boys limped back to the scene of con
flict, and found that they were right. The
bear could not rise to his feet, but lay in a
huge struggling black heap on the ground.
Balser then cautiously went over to where
his gun lay, picked it up, and ran back to
Tom. He tried to load the gun, but his
arms were so bruised and torn that he
could not; so he handed it to Tom, who
loaded it with a large bullet and a heavy
charge of powder.
Balser then called off the dogs, and Tom,
as proud as the President of the United
States, held the gun within a yard of the
bear's head and pulled the trigger. The
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 101
great brute rolled over on his side, his
mighty limbs quivered, he uttered a last
despairing growl which was piteous for it
was almost a groan and his fierce, turbu
lent spirit fled forever. Balser then drew
his hunting knife from the bear's body, cut
off the remaining ear, and put it in the
pocket of his buckskin coat.
The boys were sorely wounded, and Bal
ser said that the bear had squeezed his
"insides" out of place. This proved to be
true to a certain extent, for when he got home
it was found that two of his ribs were broken.
The young hunters were only too glad to
start homeward, for they had seen quite
enough of the one-eared bear for one day.
After walking in silence a short distance
down the river, Balser said to Tom:
" I'll never again say anything bad about
your hatchet. It saved my life to-day, and
was worth all the guns in the world in such
a fight as we have just gone through."
Tom laughed, but was kind-hearted enough
not to say, " I told you so."
102 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
You may imagine the fright the boys
gave their parents when they arrived home
wounded, limping, and blood-stained ; but
soon all was told, and Balser and Tom were
the heroes of the settlement.
They had killed the most dangerous ani
mal that had ever lived on Blue River, and
had conquered where old and experienced
hunters had failed.
The huge carcass of the bear was brought
home that evening, and when the skin was
removed, his backbone was found to have
been cut almost through by Tom's hatchet.
When they cut the bear open somebody
said he had two galls, and that fact, it was
claimed, accounted for his fierceness.
Where the bear had sprung from when
the boys first saw him in the forest, or how
he had managed to disappear into the ground
at the top of the hill was never satisfactorily
explained. Some settlers insisted that he
had not been inhabited by an evil spirit,
else the boys could not have killed him, but
others clung to the belief with even greater
faith and persistency.
Balser rushed into the fight."
THE ONE-EARED BEAR. 103
Liney went every day to see Balser, who
was confined to his bed for a fortnight.
One day, while she was sitting by him,
and no one else was in the room, he asked
her to hand him his buckskin jacket; the
one he had worn on the day of the bear
fight. The jacket was almost in shreds
from the frightful claws of the bear, and
tears came to the girl's eyes as she placed
it on the bed.
Balser put his hand into one of the deep
pockets, and, drawing out the bear's ear,
handed it to Liney, saying:
" I cut this off for you because I like
you."
The girl took the bear's ear, blushed a
deep red, thanked him, and murmured :
"And I will keep it, ugly as it is, because
I because I like you."
CHAPTER V.
THE WOLF HUNT.
IT was a bright day in August. The
whispering rustle of the leaves as they
turned their white sides to the soft breath
of the southwest wind, the buzzing of the
ostentatiously busy bees, the lapping of
the river as it gurgled happily along on its
everlasting travels, the half-drowsy note of
a thrush, and the peevish cry of a catbird
seemed only to accentuate the Sabbath hush
that was upon all nature.
The day was very warm, but the deep
shade of the elms in front of the cabin
afforded a delightful retreat, almost as cool
as a cellar.
Tom and Liney Fox had walked over to
visit Balser and Jim ; and Sukey Yates, with
her two brothers, had dropped in to stay a
104
THE WOLF HUNT. 107
moment or two, but finding such good com
pany, had remained for the day.
The children were seated at the top of the
slope that descended to the river, and the
weather being too warm to play any game
more vigorous than " thumbs up," they were
occupying the time with drowsy yawns and
still more drowsy conversation, the burden
of which was borne by Tom.
Balser often said that he didn't mind
" talking parties," if he could only keep Tom
Fox from telling the story of the time when
he went to Cincinnati with his father and
saw a live elephant. But that could never
be done; and Tom had told it twice upon
the afternoon in question, and there is no
knowing how often he would have inflicted
it upon his small audience, had it not been
for an interruption which effectually disposed
of " Cincinnati " and the live elephant for
that day.
A bustling old hen with her brood of
downy chicks was peevishly clucking about,
now and then lazily scratching the earth,
io8 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and calling up her ever-hungry family when
ever she was lucky enough to find a deli
cious worm or racy bug.
The cubs were stretched at full length in
the bright blaze of the sun, snoring away
like a pair of grampuses, their black silky
sides rising and falling with every breath.
They looked so pretty and so innocent that
you would have supposed a thought of mis-
"MISCHIEF! THEY NEVER THOUGHT OF ANYTHING ELSE."
chief could never have entered their heads.
(Mischief! They never thought of anything
else. From morning until night, and from
night until morning, they studied, planned,
and executed deeds of mischief that would
have done credit to the most freckle-faced
boy in the settlement. Will you tell me why
THE WOLF HUNT. in
it is that the boy most plentifully supplied
with freckles and warts is the most fruitful
in schemes of mischief?) A flock of gray
geese and snowy ganders were floating on
the placid surface of the river, opposite the
children, where a projection of the bank had
caused the water to back, making a little
pool of listless eddies.
Suddenly from among the noiseless flock
of geese came a mighty squawking and a
sound of flapping wings, and the flock, half
flying, half swimming, came struggling at
their utmost speed toward home.
" Look, Balser ! Look ! " said Liney in a
whisper. " A wolf ! "
Balser turned in time to see a great, lank,
gray wolf emerge from the water, carrying a
gander by the neck.
The bird could not squawk, but he flapped
his wings violently, thereby retarding some
what the speed of Mr. Wolf.
Balser hurried to the house for his gun,
and with Tom Fox quickly paddled across
the river in pursuit of the wolf. The boys
112 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
entered the forest at the place the wolf had
chosen. White feathers from the gander
furnished a distinct spoor, and Balser had no
difficulty in keeping on the wolf's track.
The boys had been walking rapidly for thirty
or forty minutes, when they found that the
tracks left by the wolf and the scattered
feathers of the gander led toward a thick
clump of pawpaw bushes and vines, which
grew at the foot of a small rocky hill. Into
this thicket the boys cautiously worked their
way, and, after careful examination, they
found, ingeniously concealed by dense foli
age, a small hole or cleft in the rocks at the
base of the hill, and they at once knew that
THE WOLF HUNT. 113
the wolf had gone to earth, and that this was
his den.
Foxes make for themselves and their fami
lies the snuggest, most ingenious home in
the ground you can possibly imagine. They
seek a place at the base of a hill or
bluff, and dig what we would call in our
houses a narrow hallway, straight into the
hill. They loosen the dirt with their front
feet, and throw it back of them ; then with
their hind feet they keep pushing it farther
toward the opening of the hole, until they
have cast it all out. When they have re
moved the loose dirt, they at once scatter it
over the ground and carefully cover it with
leaves and vines, to avoid attracting unwel
come visitors to their home.
When the hallway is finished, the fox
digs upward into the hill, and there he
makes his real home. His reason for do
ing this is to prevent water from flowing
through his hall into his living apartment
The latter is often quite a cave in the earth,
and furnishes as roomy and cozy a home for
114 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their children as you
could find in the world. It is cool in sum
mer and warm in winter. It is softly car
peted with leaves, grass, and feathers, and
the foxes lie there snugly enough when the
winter comes on, with its freezing and snow
ing and blowing.
When the fox gets hungry he slips out of
his cozy home, and briskly trots to some
well-known chicken roost; or perhaps he
finds a covey of quails huddled under a
bunch of straw. In either case he carries
home with him a dainty dinner, and after he
has feasted, he cares not how the wind
blows, nor how the river freezes, nor how the
snow falls, for he is housed like a king, and
is as warm and comfortable and happy as if
he owned the earth and lived in a palace.
Wolves also make their dens in the earth,
but they usually hunt for a place where the
hallway, at least, is already made for them.
They seek a hill with a rocky base, and find
a cave partially made, the entrance to which
is a small opening between the rocks. With
THE WOLF HUNT. 115
this for a commencement, they dig out the
interior and make their home, somewhat
upon the plan of the fox.
The old wolf which Balser and Tom
had chased to earth had found a fine
dinner for his youngsters, and while the
boys were watching the hole, no doubt the
wolf family was having a glorious feast upon
the gander.
The boys, of course, were at their rope's
end. The dogs were not with them, and,
even had they been, they were too large to
enter the hole leading to the wolf's den.
So the boys seated themselves upon a
rock a short distance from the opening,
and after a little time adopted the follow
ing plan of action.
Balser was to lie upon his breast on the
hillside, a few yards above the opening of
the wolf den, while Tom was to conceal him
self in the dense foliage, close to the
mouth of the cave, and they took their posi
tions accordingly. Both were entirely hid
den by vines and bushes, and remained
ii6 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
silent as the tomb. They had agreed that
they should lie entirely motionless until
the shadow of a certain tree should fall
across Tom's face, which they thought
would occur within an hour. Then Tom,
who could mimic the calls and cries of
many birds and beasts, was to squawk like
a goose, and tempt the wolf from his den
so that Balser could shoot him.
It was a harder task than you may imagine
to lie on the ground amid the bushes and
leaves ; for it seemed, at least so Tom said,
that all the ants and bugs and worms
in the woods had met at that particular
place, and at that exact time, for the sole
purpose of "drilling" up and down, and
over and around, his body, and to bite him
at every step. He dared not move to
frighten away the torments, nor to scratch.
He could not even grumble, which to Tom
was the sorest trial of all.
The moment the shadow of the tree fell
upon his face Tom squawked like a goose,
so naturally, that Balser could hardly believe
iklh
teliiMf
AV.',', . , '-X. i-*3.-. \\ I . ' i*
THE WOLF HUNT. 119
it was Tom, and not a real goose. Soon
he uttered another squawk, and almost at
the same instant Mr. Wolf came out of
his hall door, doubtless thinking to him
self that that was his lucky day, for he
would have two ganders, one for dinner
and one for supper, and plenty of cold
goose for breakfast and dinner the next
day. But he was mistaken, for it was the
unluckiest day of the poor wolf's life.
Bang! went Balser's gun, and the wolf,
who had simply done his duty as a father,
by providing a dinner for his family, paid
for his feast with his life.
"We'll drag the body a short distance
away from the den," said Balser, "and you
lie down again, and this time whine like a
wolf. Then the old she-wolf will come out
and we'll get her too."
Tom objected.
" I wouldn't lie there another hour and
let them ants and bugs chaw over me as
they did, for all the wolves in the state."
" But just think, Tom," answered Balser,
120 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
"when the wagons go to Brookville this
fall we can get a shilling apiece for the
wolfskins ! Think of it ! A shilling ! One
for you and one for me. I'll furnish the
powder and shot if you'll squawk and
whine. Squawks and whines don't cost
anything, but powder and lead does. Now
that's a good fellow, just lie down and
whine a little. She'll come out pretty
quick."
Tom still refused, and Balser still insisted.
Soon Balser grew angry and called Tom a
fool. Tom answered in kind, and in a
moment the boys clinched for a fight.
They scuffled and fought awhile, and soon
stumbled over the dead wolf and fell to
the ground. Balser was lucky enough to
fall on top, and proceeded to pound Tom
at a great rate.
" Now will you whine ? " demanded
Balser.
" No," answered Tom.
" Then take that, and that, and that.
Now will you whine ? "
THE WOLF HUNT. 121
" No," cried Tom, determined not to
yield.
So Balser went at it again, but there was
no give up to stubborn Tom, even if he
was on the under side.
At last Balser wiped the perspiration
from his face, and, sitting astride of his
stubborn foe, said :
" Tom, if you'll whine I'll lend you my
gun for a whole day."
" And powder and bullets ? " asked Tom.
"Well, I guess not," answered Balser.
" I'll lick you twenty times first."
" If you'll lend me your gun and give
me ten full loads, I'll whine till I fetch
every wolf in the woods, if the bugs do eat
me up."
" That's a go," said Balser, glad enough
to compromise with a boy who didn't
know when he was whipped.
Then they got up, and were as good
friends as if no trouble had occurred between
them.
Balser at once lay down upon the hill-
122 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
side above the wolf den, and Tom took
his place to whine.
The boys understood their job thoroughly,
and Tom's whines soon brought out the old
she-wolf. She looked cautiously about her
for a moment, stole softly over to her dead
mate, and dropped by his side with a bullet
through her heart.
Tom was about to rise, but Balser said :
" Whine again ; whine again, and the
young ones will come out."
Tom whined, and sure enough, out came
two scrawny, long-legged wolf whelps.
The boys rushed upon them, and caught
them by the back of the neck, to avoid
being bitten, for the little teeth of the pups
were as sharp as needles and could inflict
an ugly wound. Balser handed the whelp
he had caught to Tom, and proceeded to
cut two forked sticks from a tough bush,
which the children called " Indian arrow."
These forked branches the boys tied about
the necks of the pups, with which to lead
them home.
"CAUGHT THEM BY THE BACK OF THE NECK."
THE WOLF HUNT. 125
Tom then cut a strong limb from a tree
with his pocket-knife. This was quite an
undertaking, but in time he cut it through,
and trimmed off the smaller branches.
The boys tied together the legs of the old
wolves and swung them over the pole, which
they took upon their shoulders, and started
home leading the pups. They arrived home
an hour or two before sunset, and found
that Liney and Sukey had arranged supper
under the elms.
The boys scoured their faces and hands
with soft soap, for that was the only soap
they had, and sat down to supper with
cheeks shining, and hair pasted to their
heads slick and tight.
" When a fellow gets washed up this way,
and has his hair combed so slick, it makes
him feel like it was Sunday," said Tom, who
was uneasily clean.
" Tom, I wouldn't let people know how
seldom I washed my face if I were you,"
said Liney, with a slight blush. " They'll
think you clean up only on Sunday."
126 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Tom, however, did not allow Liney's re
marks to interrupt his supper, but continued
to make sad havoc among the good things
on the log.
There was white bread made from wheat
flour, so snowy and light that it beat cake
"all holler!" the boys "allowed." Wheat
bread was a luxury to the settler folks in
those days, for the mill nearest to the Blue
River settlement was over on Whitewater,
at Brookville, fifty miles away. Wheat and
the skins of wild animals were the only
products that the farmers could easily turn
into cash, so the small crops were too
precious to be used daily, and wheat flour
bread was used only for special occasions,
such as Christmas, or New Year's, or com
pany dinner.
Usually three or four of the farmers joined
in a little caravan, and went in their wagons
to Brookville twice a year. They would go
in the spring with the hides of animals killed
during the winter, that being the hunting
season, and the hides then taken being of
THE WOLF HUNT. 129
superior quality to those taken at any other
time.
Early in the fall they would go again to
Brookville, to market their summer crop of
wheat.
Mr. Fox and a few neighbours had returned
from an early trip to market only a day or
two before the children's party at Balser's
home, and had brought with them a few
packages of a fine new drink called coffee.
That is, it was new to the Western settler, at
the time of which I write, milk sweetened
with "tree sugar" being the usual table drink.
Liney had brought over a small gourd-
ful of coffee as a present to Mrs. Brent, and
a pot of the brown beverage had been pre
pared for the supper under the elms.
The Yates children and Tom were frank
enough to admit that the coffee was bitter,
and not fit to drink ; but Liney had made
it, and Balser drank it, declaring it was very
good indeed. Liney knew he told a story,
but she thanked him for it, nevertheless, and
said that the Yates children and Tom were
130 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
so thoroughly "country" and green that
she couldn't expect them to like a civilized
drink.
This would have made trouble with Tom,
but Balser, who saw it coming, said :
" Now you shut up, Tom Fox." And
Balser had so recently whipped Tom that
his word bore the weight of authority.
Besides the coffee and the white bread
there was a great gourd full of milk with
the cream mixed in, just from the spring-
house, delicious and cold. There was a cold
loin of venison, which had been spitted and
roasted over a bed of hot coals in the
kitchen fireplace that morning. There was
a gourd full of quail eggs, which had been
boiled hard and then cooled in the spring-
house. There were heaping plates of fried
chicken, and rolls of glorious yellow butter
just from the churn, rich with the genuine
butter taste, that makes one long to eat it
by the spoonful ; then there was a delicious
apple pie, sweet and crusty, floating in cream
almost as thick as molasses in winter.
THE WOLF HUNT. 131
They were backwoods, homely children;
but the supper to which they sat down
under the elms was fit for a king, and the
appetite with which they ate it was too
good for any king.
During the supper the bear cubs had
been nosing about the log table, begging
each one by turns for a bite to eat. They
were so troublesome that Jim got a long
stick, and whenever they came within reach
he gave them a sharp rap upon the head,
and soon they waddled away in a pet of
indignant disgust.
For quite a while after Jim had driven
them off there had been a season of suspi
cious quietude on the part of the cubs.
Suddenly a chorus of yelps, howls, growls,
and whines came from the direction of the
wolf pups. The attention of all at the table
was, of course, at once attracted by the
noise, and those who looked beheld prob
ably the most comical battle ever fought.
Tom and Jerry, with their everlasting de
sire to have their noses into everything that
132 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
did not concern them, had gone to investi
gate the wolf pups, and in the course of
the investigation a fight ensued, whereby the
wolves were liberated. The cubs were the
stronger, but the wolves were more active,
thus the battle was quite even. The bears,
being awkward, of course, were in each
other's way most of the time, and would
fall over themselves and roll upon the
ground for a second or two, before they
could again get upon their clumsy feet.
The consequence was that the wolves soon
had the best of the fight, and, being once
free from the cubs, scampered off to the
woods and were never seen again.
When the wolves had gone the cubs
turned round and round, looking for their
late antagonists; but, failing to find them,
sat down upon their haunches, grinned at
each other in a very silly manner, and then
began to growl and grumble in the worst
bear language any one had ever heard.
Balser scolded the cubs roundly, and told
them he had taught them better than to
THE WOLF HUNT. 133
swear, even in bear talk. He then switched
them for having liberated the wolves, and
went back to supper.
The switching quieted the bears for a
short time, but soon their spirit of mischief
again asserted itself.
After another period of suspicious silence
on the part of the cubs, Jim put a general
inquiry to the company :
" What do you s'pose they're up to this
time?"
" Goodness only knows," responded Balser.
" But if I hear another grunt out of them,
I'll take a stick to them that'll hurt, and
off they'll go to their pen for the night."
The settlers frequently caught swarms
of bees in the woods, and Balser's father
had several hives near the house. These
hives were called "gums," because they
were made from sections of a hollow gum
tree, that being the best wood for the home
of the bees. These hollow gums were
placed on end upon small slanting platforms,
and were covered with clapboards, which
134 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
were held tightly in their places by heavy
stones. There was a small hole, perhaps
as large as the end of your finger, cut in
the wood at the base, through which the
bees entered, and upon the inside of the
hive they constructed their comb and stored
their honey.
I told you once before how bears delight
to eat fish and blackberries. They are
also very fond of honey. In fact, bears
seem to have a general appetite and enjoy
everything, from boys to blackberries.
Hardly had Balser spoken his threat
when another duet of howls and yelps
reached his ears.
" Now what on earth is it ? " he asked,
and immediately started around the house
in the direction whence the howls had
come.
" Geminy ! I believe they've upset the
bee-gum," said Jim.
" Don't you know they have ? " asked
Balser. By that time the boys were in
sight of the bears.
"THESE HIVES WERE CALLED 'GUMS.'"
THE WOLF HUNT. 137
" Well, I know now they have, if that
suits you any better. Golly! Look at
them paw and scratch, and rub their eyes
when the bees sting. Good enough for
you. Give it to 'em, bees ! " And Jim
threw back his head and almost split his
sides with daughter.
Sure enough, the bears had got to nosing
about the bee-gums, and in their ever
hungry greediness had upset one. This,
of course, made the bees very angry, and
they attacked the cubs in a buzzing, sting
ing swarm that set them yelping, growling,
and snapping, in a most desperate and comi
cal manner. All their snapping and growl
ing, however, did no good, for the bees
continued to buzz and sting without any
indication of being merciful. A little of
this sort of thing went a long way with
the black mischief-makers, and they soon
ran to Balser and Jim for help. The bees,
of course, followed, and when the boys and
girls saw the bees coming toward them they
broke helter-skelter in all directions, and
138 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
ran as fast as they could go. The bears
then ran to the river, and plunged in to
escape their tormentors.
When the gum had been placed in posi
tion again and the bees had become quiet,
the cubs, thinking the field clear, came out
of the water dripping wet. Then they wad
dled up close to the girls, and out of pure
mischief shook themselves and sprinkled
the dainty clean frocks with a shower from
their frowzy hides.
That sealed the fate of the cubs for the
day, and when Balser marched them off
to their pen they looked so meek and inno
cent that one would have thought that they
had been attending bear Sunday-school all
their lives, and were entirely lacking in all
unwarrantable and facetious instincts.
They went to bed supperless that evening,
but had their revenge, for their yelps and
whines kept the whole family awake most
of the night.
By the time the bears had been put to
bed, darkness was near at hand, so the sup-
THE WOLF HUNT.
139
per dishes and gourds were washed and
carried to the kitchen. Then the visitors
said good night and left for home.
CHAPTER VI.
BORROWED FIRE.
ONE day Tom Fox was told by his mother
to kindle the fire, which had been allowed
to grow so dim that only a smouldering bed
of embers was left upon the hearth. Hang
ing from the crane was a large kettle, almost
full of water. Now, in addition to his repu
tation for freckles, Tom was also believed to
be the awkwardest boy in the Blue River
settlement. Upon the day above referred
to, he did all in his power to live up to his
reputation, by upsetting the kettle of water
upon the fire, thereby extinguishing the last
spark of that necessary element in the Fox
household.
Of course there was not a lucifer match
on all Blue River, from its source to its
mouth ; and as Mr. Fox had taken the tinder-
140
BORROWED FIRE. 141
box with him on a hunting expedition, and
would not return till night, Limpy received
a sound thrashing, and was sent to the
house loft, there to ponder for the rest of
the day over his misdeeds.
Mrs. Fox then sent Liney over to Mrs.
Brent's to borrow fire. Limpy would have
been glad to go, had his mother seen fit
to send him, but the task would have been
a reward rather than a punishment. Liney
was delighted to have an opportunity to visit
the Brent cabin, so away she went, very will
ingly indeed. Before the day was finished
she was doubly glad she had gone, and the
help she was able to give to a friend in
need made her devoutly thankful to the kind
fate which, operating through Mrs. Fox, had
sent her on her errand. The terrible adven
ture, which befell her, and the frightful but
I am telling my story before I come to it.
When Balser was a boy, each season
brought its separate work and recreation
on the farm, as it does now. But especially
was this true in the time of the early settlers.
142 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
The winter was the hunting season. The
occupation of hunting, which was looked
upon as sport and recreation combined, was
also a business with the men who cleared
the land and felled the forests of Indiana;
for a wagon-load of good pelts, taken during
the winter season when the fur is at its best,
was no inconsiderable matter, and brought
at market more money than the same wagon
filled with wheat would have been worth.
So the settler of Balser's time worked quite
as hard in the winter with his rifle, as he did
with his hoe and plough in the fields during
the months of summer.
Spring, of course, was the time for break
ing up and ploughing. Summer was the
wheat harvest. Then, also, the various
kinds of wild berries were gathered, and
dried or preserved. In the summer casks
of rich blackberry wine were made, to warm
the cold hunter upon his return from the
chase during the cold days to come, or to
regale company upon long winter evenings
before the blazing fire. Blackberries could
BORROWED FIRE. 143
be had by the bushel for the mere gather
ing, and the wine could be made so cheaply
that almost every house was well stocked
with the delicious beverage.
Then came the corn gathering, and bring
ing in the fodder. The latter was brought
in by wagon-loads, and was stacked against
the sides of the barn and of the cow shed.
It answered a double purpose : it made the
barn and sheds warm and cozy homes for
the stock during the cold bleak winter, and
furnished food for the cattle and the horses,
so that by spring they had eaten part of their
houses. The wheat straw was stacked in the
barnyard.; and into this the sheep and calves
burrowed little caves, wherein they would
lie so snug and warm that it made no dif
ference to them how much the wind blew,
or the snow and rain fell, or how hard it
froze outside ; for the bad weather made their
cozy shelter seem all the more comfortable
by contrast.
The fall also had its duties, part task, and
part play. The woods abounded in hickory
144 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
nuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts, and a supply
of all these had to be gathered, for they fur
nished no small part of the winter food.
Preparation was always made for this work
by the boys of Mr. Brent's family long be
fore a hickory nut had thought of falling.
Shortly after the wolf hunt which I de
scribed to you in the last chapter, Balser
and Jim began to make ready for the nut
campaign. Their first task was to build a
small wagon, for the purpose of carrying
home the nuts. They found a tree twelve
or fourteen inches in diameter, which they
felled. They then sawed off four round
sections of the tree, each about one inch
thick, to serve as wheels. From the outer
edge of these wheels they removed the
bark, and bound them with tires made from
the iron hoops of a barrel. They then cut
round holes in the centre in which to insert
the axles of the wagon. With their hatchets
they split clapboards, which they made
smooth, and of the clapboards they made
the bottom, sides, and ends. The boys
BORROWED FIRE. 145
worked pretty hard for ten or twelve days,
and completed as perfect a two-horse wagon,
in miniature, as any one ever beheld. There
were the tongue, the axletree, the sideboard,
the headboard, and the tail-gate and floor,
all fitted so tightly together that you would
have declared a wagon maker had made
them. The wheels, bound with barrel-hoop
tires, were marvels of their kind. The
wagon bed would hold as much as could be
contained in two large flour sacks, and when
filled with nuts would prove quite a load
to draw, consequently the boys must have
a team of some sort. The team which they
eventually rigged up was probably the most
absurd and curious combination that ever
drew a load.
The boys selected strong pieces of deer-
hide, and made four sets of harness. For
what purpose, do you suppose ? You never
could guess. Two for the dogs, Tige and
Prince, and two for the bear cubs, Tom and
Jerry, who they proposed should do some
thing to earn their bread and milk, for they
146 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
were growing to be great awkward, big-footed,
long-legged fellows, and were very strong.
So the four sets of harness were finished,
and one day the odd team was hitched up
for trial. The little wagon was loaded with
rocks, and the boys tried to start the team.
The dogs seemed willing enough to obey,
but the cubs, which were hitched in front,
went every way but the right one, and
showed a disposition to rebel against the
indignity of work.
The bears were then taken from the lead,
the dogs were put in their places, and the
bears were put next to the wagon. The
team was started again, but the cubs lay
down flat upon the ground and refused to
move. After trying in vain to induce the
cubs to do their duty, Balser spoke to Jim,
who was standing at the dogs' heads, and
Jim started forward, leading the dogs, and
Jim and the dogs dragged after them the
cubs and the wagon. At almost every step
the heavily loaded wagon would roll upon
the hind feet of the cubs, and Balser threw
" The cubs went every way but the right way."
BORROWED FIRE. 147
thorns upon the ground, which pricked the
bears as they were dragged along, until the
black sluggards came to the conclusion that
it was easier to work than to be dragged over
thorns ; so they arose to their feet, and fol
lowed the dogs, without, however, drawing
an ounce of the load.
The boys kept patiently at this sort of
training for three weeks ; and at the end of
that time, between bribes in the way of milk
and honey, and beatings with a thick stick,
the cubs little by little submitted to their
task, and eventually proved to be real little
oxen at drawing a load. The dogs, of
course, had been broken in easily.
By the time the cubs were ready for work,
the hickory nuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts
were ready to be gathered ; and the boys
only waited for a heavy black frost to loosen
the nuts from their shells, and a strong wind
to shake them from the branches.
During the summer of which I told you in
the preceding chapters, Mr. Brent had raised
the roof of his house, so as to make a room
148 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
in the loft for the boys. This room was
floored with rough boards, between which
large cracks were left, so that heat from the
room below might arise and warm the boys'
room. The upper room was reached by the
most primitive of stairways. It was nothing
more than a small log, or thick pole, with
notches cut on each side for footholds, or
steps. In going up this stairway the boys
climbed hand over hand, and foot over foot,
as a bear climbs a tree ; and to come down
without falling was a task of no small pro
portions to one inexperienced in the art.
One morning Jim awakened, and looked
out from under the warm bearskin which
served for a blanket, comforter, and sheet.
He listened for a moment to the wind, which
was blowing a gale, and then awakened
Balser.
"Balser! Balser !" said Jim. "Wake up!
There's frost enough to freeze a brass mon
key, and the wind is blowing hard enough to
blow down the trees, to say nothing of the
nuts. Let's get up and have an early start."
BORROWED FIRE. 149
Balser was willing, and soon the boys had
climbed out from under the warm bearskin,
and were downstairs preparing to kindle the
fires.
The fire-kindling was no hard task; for
the backlog which had been put in the fire
place the evening before was a great roll of
red coals, and all that the boys had to do to
kindle the fire was to " poke " the backlog,
and it fell in chunks of half-charred, burn
ing hickory, that hissed and popped and
flamed, and made the room warm before you
could say " Jack Robinson." Then the boys
threw on a large armful of cut wood, and
soon the blaze was crackling cozily, and the
kettle singing merrily on the flames.
The morning was cold, and the boys sat
upon the great hearth, with their palms to
the fire, getting " good and warm for the day,"
while the gray, frosty dawn was slowly fright
ening the shadows of night away from the
forest, to which they seemed to cling.
Then came the mother, who made the
breakfast of sweet fried venison, buckwheat-
ISO THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
cakes floating in maple syrup and butter, hoe-
cake, and eggs. Instead of coffee they drank
warm milk, sweetened with maple sugar,
and I can tell you it was a breakfast to
wax fat on.
The sun was hardly above the horizon,
when breakfast was finished, and the dogs
and cubs were fed. Then they were har
nessed to the wagon, and boys, bears, dogs,
and wagon, all started on their way to the
woods. Hickory trees did not grow plenti
fully in the bottom-lands, so the boys made
for the hills, perhaps a mile away.
Shortly after they had reached the hills,
Jim cried out:
" Oh, here's a great big shellbark ! I'll bet
the ground's covered with nuts."
Sure enough, the ground was covered with
them, and the boys filled their wagon in a
very short time. Then they started home.
The trip home was marred by an upset,
owing to the perversity of the cubs ; but the
boys righted the wagon, loaded it with nuts
again, and after considerable trouble de-
BORROWED FIRE. 151
posited them safely at home, and went back
for another load.
The dog-bear team worked admirably, bar
ring a general tendency to run over logs and
stones, and two great loads of hickory nuts
were safely brought to the house before
dinner.
After the boys, bears, and dogs had eaten
a hurried meal, they again went forth in
quest of nuts; but they took a different
course this time, toward the south that is,
in the direction of the house of Mr. Fox
for the purpose of visiting a hazel thicket,
which was a mile from home. Soon the
hazel patch was reached, and about five
o'clock the wagon was full of beautiful, brown
little nuts, than which there is none sweeter.
When the wagon was loaded the boys
hitched up the team, much to the delight of
the latter, for by that time the dogs and cubs
had come to think it great sport, and the
caravan moved homeward.
Soon after leaving the hazel patch, the
boys entered a dark strip of woods and under-
152 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
growth, through which it was very hard work
to draw the wagon. So they attached a long
piece of tanned deerskin to the tongue of the
wagon, and gave the team a helping hand.
There was but one path through this dark
strip of forest over which the wagon could be
drawn, and it led through a low piece of
ground that was wet and marshy. Upon the
soft earth of the path Balser soon noticed the
long, broad tracks of a bear, and the dogs at
once began to bark and plunge in their har
ness. The tracks appeared to Balser to be
an hour old, so he quieted the dogs, but did
not release them from the wagon as he should
have done. The boys went forward, regard
less of the warning bear tracks, and the dogs
and bears, drawing the wagon, followed
closely at their heels. As they proceeded
the bear tracks became fresher, and Balser
began to grow somewhat fearful. Jim had
become frightened, and had taken a position
at the rear of the wagon to give a helping
hand by pushing at the load. He said he
could push better than he could pull anyway.
BORROWED FIRE. 153
After the little party had got well into the
darkest part of the forest, the dogs began to
show such evident signs of uneasiness that
Balser grasped his gun, and held it in readi
ness, prepared for a fight, should one become
necessary.
The ground had been frozen earlier in the
day, but it had thawed, and the path was
slippery. Balser, who was walking a short
distance ahead of the train, as a sort of ad
vance guard, suddenly stopped and held up
his hand warningly to Jim ; for right ahead
of him in the path stood a huge bear, with
its head turned backward, looking inquiringly
in the direction of the boys. Jim at once
stopped the team. The dogs, of course, were
dancing with impatience to be released from
the harness, and even the dull-witted bears
seemed to realize that something was wrong.
" It's running away," said Balser. " It's
not safe to shoot at it from behind. I might
wound it, and then we should be the ones to
run. What shall we do ? "
" Let it run," answered Jim, quickly. " I
154 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
don't like to run with a bear after me, any
way. If you're going to shoot, I'll run now
so as to get a good start."
" No, you don't ! You stand right where
you are, and take care of the team. If you
move a foot, I'll lick you," answered Balser,
as he moved cautiously ahead in the direc
tion of the retreating bear.
Jim was frozen by fear to the spot upon
which he stood, as Balser walked out of
sight. In a moment he again heard Balser
speak, and then he heard a loud, deep growl.
The dogs barked and plunged; the cubs
whined and gave forth savage little baby-
bear growls, half whines, for they were only
learning to growl. Jim began to weep and
to scream. Balser, who had disappeared
from sight around a curve in the path, cried
out:
" Let the dogs loose, for goodness' sake,
Jim! It's after me."
The dogs seemed to understand Balser's
cry better than Jim did ; for they barked and
plunged more violently than ever in their
BORROWED FIRE. 155
harness. Jim seemed dazed, and could not,
or at least did not, unharness the dogs.
Then it was that the good dog sense of old
Prince showed itself. Instead of waiting for
help from Jim, who he saw had lost his wits,
the good dog began to gnaw at the leather
harness which held him and Tige to the
wagon, and in a short time the dogs were
freed from the wagon, though still tied to
each other.
Tige caught inspiration from Prince, and
the dogs backed away from each other and
pulled with all their strength, until the
harness slipped over the head of Prince
and left the dogs free. Then Prince
plunged rapidly into the thicket to the rescue
of his master, followed closely by Tige,
dragging the broken harness.
" Help ! help ! " cried Balser. "Why don't
you send the dogs ? " And his voice seemed
to be going farther and farther away.
" Where are you ? " cried Jim, in despair.
His terror was so strong upon him that he
could not move, and could not have helped
i$6 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Balser, had he been able to go to him. Jim
was a little fellow, you must remember.
" Help ! help ! " cried Balser again, his
voice sounding from a still greater distance.
" I've wounded it, and it's about to kill me.
Help ! help ! " but the cries came fainter and
fainter.
Jim stood his ground and screamed man
fully. Soon after Balser had left Jim and
the wagon, the bear turned toward its pur
suer and presented to Balser its broadside.
This gave the boy a good chance for a shot.
For the moment, Balser forgot his father's
admonition to be deliberate and to act slowly,
and his forgetfulness almost cost him his life.
Balser shot, and wounded the bear in the
neck, but did not kill it. Then it turned,
and Balser, fearing to run back upon the
path lest he should bring the bear upon Jim,
started into the thicket, toward the river, with
the bear in hot pursuit. Balser gained rap
idly upon the bear at first, but he knew that
his advantage could not last, for the bear
was sure to catch him soon. What should
BORROWED FIRE. 157
he do? He hastily went over in his mind
the possibilities in the case, and soon deter
mined to put forth his utmost speed to gain
as much upon the bear as possible, and then
to climb the first tree, of the proper size, to
which he should come. With this intent he
flung his carbine over his back, by a strap
attached to the gun for that purpose, and ran
for dear life.
Soon the boy reached a small beech tree,
the branches of which were ten or twelve
feet from the ground. Up this tree he
climbed with the agility of a squirrel. He
afterward said :
" I was so badly scared that it seemed as
if my hands and feet had claws like a wild
cat."
The bear had followed so closely upon his
track, that, just as the boy was about to draw
himself up among the branches of the tree,
the bear rose upon its hind legs and caught
the boy's toes between his teeth. Balser
screamed with pain, and tried to draw his
foot away; but the harder he pulled the
158 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
harder pulled the bear, and the pain was so
great that he thought he could not stand it.
While he clung to the limb with one hand,
he reached toward the bear with the other,
and caught it by the nose. He twisted the
bear's nose until the brute let loose of his
foot. Then he quickly drew himself into
the tree, and seated himself none too soon
astride of a limb.
When Balser had fixed himself firmly on
the limb he proceeded at once to load his
gun. This was no slight matter under the
circumstances; for, aside from the fact that
his position in the tree was an uneasy one,
the branches were in his way when he began
to use his ramrod. Balser had hardly poured
the powder into his gun, when the bear again
rose on its hind legs, and put its front paws
upon the body of the tree, with evident
intent to climb after the boy who had
wounded it and had so insultingly twisted
its nose. Bears like to scratch the bark of
trees, and seem to take the same pride in
placing their marks high upon the tree-
BORROWED FIRE. 159
trunks that a young man does in making a
long jump or a good shot. Vanity, in this
case, proved to be the bear's undoing, as it
has often been with men and boys. When
it was reaching upward to make a high
scratch, that it thought would be the envy
of every bear that would see it, it should
have been climbing ; for while it was scratch
ing Balser was loading, Not hurriedly, as
he had shot, but slowly and deliberately,
counting one, two, three with every move
ment; for when he had shot so hurriedly a
few minutes before and had only wounded
the bear, he had again learned the great
lesson to make haste slowly. The lesson
was to be impressed upon Balser's mind
more firmly than ever before he was through
with the wounded bear; for to the day of
his death he never forgot the events which
befell him after he came down from the
tree. Although Balser was deliberate, he
had no time to waste, for soon the bear
began climbing the tree, aided by a few
small branches upon the lower part of the
160 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
trunk, which had given help to Balser. Up
the bear went, slowly and surely. Its great
red tongue hang out at one side of its
mouth, and its black, woolly coat was red
and gory with blood from the wound that
Balser had inflicted upon its huge neck.
Its sharp little eyes were fixed upon Balser,
and seemed to blaze with fury and rage,
and its long bright teeth gleamed as its lips
were drawn back in anger when it growled.
Still the bear climbed, and still Balser was
loading his gun. Would he have it loaded
before the bear reached him? Now the
powder was all in a double charge. Now
the first patch was in, and Balser was try
ing to ram it home. The branches of the
trees were in his way, and the ramrod would
not go into the gun. Inanimate things are
often stubborn just when docility is most
needed. Ah ! At last the ramrod is in, and
the first patch goes home, hard and fast
upon the powder. On comes the bear, paw
over paw, foot over foot, taking its time with
painful deliberation, and, bearlike, carefully
" The bear rose to climb after the boy."
BORROWED FIRE. 161
choosing its way ; for it thinks full sure the
boy cannot escape. Hurriedly Balser reaches
into his pouch for a bullet. He finds one
and puts it to the muzzle of his gun. Ah !
worse luck ! The bullet will not go in. It
is too large. Balser feels with his finger a
little ridge extending around the bullet, left
there because he had not held the bullet
moulds tightly together when he had cast
the bullet. The boy impatiently throws the
worthless bullet at the bear and puts his
hand into the pouch for another. This
time the bullet goes in, and the ramrod
drives it home. Still there is the last patch
to drive down, the one which holds the
bullet, and still the bear climbs toward
its intended victim. Its growls seem to
shake the tree and its eyes look like burning
embers. The patches and the bullets Balser
kept in the same pouch, so, when the bullet
has been driven home, the boy's hand again
goes into the pouch for the last patch. He
can find nothing but bullets. Down goes
his hand to each corner of the pouch in
162 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
search of a patch ; but alas ! the patch, like
a false friend, is wanting when most needed.
On comes the bear. Not a moment is to be
lost. A patch must be found ; so the boy
snatches off his cap of squirrel skin, and
with his teeth bites out a piece of the skin
which will answer his purpose. Then he
dashes the mutilated cap in the bear's face,
only a foot or two below him. Quickly is
the squirrel-skin patch driven home, but
none too quickly, for the bear is at Balser's
feet, reaching for him with his great, rough,
horny paw, as a cat reaches for a mouse.
Balser quickly lifts himself to the limb above
him, and hurriedly turning the muzzle of
his gun right into the great red mouth,
pulls the trigger. Bang! And the bear
falls to the ground, where it lies apparently
dead. It was only apparently dead, though,
as you will presently see. Balser breathed a
sigh of relief as the bear fell backward, for
he was sure that he had killed it. No bear,
thought he, could survive a bullet driven by
the heavy charge of powder behind the one
BORROWED FIRE. 163
which had sped so truly into the bear's
mouth. Again Balser failed to make haste
slowly. He should have remained in his se
cure position until he was sure that the bear
was really dead ; for a badly wounded bear,
although at the point of death, is more
dangerous than one without a scar. With
out looking at the bear Balser called Jim
to come to him, and began climbing down
the tree, with his carbine slung over his
shoulder, and his back to the bear. All this
happened in a very short space of time. In
fact, the time during which Balser was load
ing his gun, and while the bear was climb
ing the tree, was the same time in which
the dogs were freeing themselves from the
wagon ; and Balser's second shot was heard
by Jim just as the dogs went bounding off
to Balser's relief. When the boy jumped
to the ground, lo ! the bear was alive again,
and was on its feet, more ferocious than
ever, and more eager for fight. Like our
American soldiers, the bear did not know
when it was whipped.
164 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
At the time the dogs bounded away from
Jim, there came down the path toward him
a young girl. Who do you think it was?
Liney Fox. She was carrying in her hand
a lighted torch, and was swinging it gently
from side to side that she might keep it
ablaze. This was the fire which Liney had
been sent to borrow. She had heard Bal-
ser's cry and had heard both the shots that
Balser had fired. She ran quickly to Jim,
and with some difficulty drew from him an
explanation of the situation. Then, as the
dogs bounded away, she followed them, feel
ing sure that their instinct would lead them
to Balser. The girl's strength seemed to
be increased a thousand fold, and she ran
after the dogs in the hope that she might
help the boy who had saved her life upon
the night when she was lost in the forest.
How could she help him? She did not
know ; but she would at least go to him and
do her best.
Just as Balser reached the ground, the
bear raised itself upon its hind feet and
BORROWED FIRE. 165
struck at the boy, but missed him. Then
Balser ran to the side of the tree opposite
the bear, and bear and boy for a few mo
ments played at a desperate game of hide-
and-seek around the tree. It seemed a very
long time to Balser. He soon learned that
the bear could easily beat him at the game,
and in desperation he started to run toward
the river, perhaps two hundred yards away.
He cried for help as he ran, and at that
moment the dogs came up, and Liney fol
lowed in frantic, eager haste after them.
Balser had thrown away his gun, and was
leading the bear in the race perhaps six or
eight feet. Close upon the heels of the bear
were the dogs, and closer than you would
think upon the heels of the dogs came
Liney. Her bonnet had fallen back and
her hair was flying behind her, and the
torch was all ablaze by reason of its rapid
movement through the air.
At the point upon the river's bank toward
which Balser ran was a little stone cliff,
almost perpendicular, the top of which was
166 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
eight or ten feet from the water. Balser
had made up his mind that if he could reach
this cliff he would jump into the river, and
perhaps save himself in that manner. Just
as the boy reached the edge of the cliff
Liney unfortunately called out " Balser ! "
Her voice stopped him for a moment, and
he looked back toward her. In that mo
ment the bear overtook him and felled him
to the ground with a stroke of its paw.
Balser felt benumbed and was almost sense
less. Instantly the bear was standing over
him, and the boy was blinded by the stream
of blood which flowed into his eyes and
over his face from the wound in the bear's
great mouth. He felt the bear shake him,
as a cat shakes a mouse, and then for a
moment the sun seemed to go out, and
all was dark. He could see nothing. He
heard the dogs bark, as they clung to the
bear's ears and neck close to his face, and
he heard Liney scream; but it all seemed
like a far-away dream. Then he felt some
thing burn his face, and sparks and hot
BORROWED FIRE. 167
ashes fell upon his skin and blistered him.
He could not see what was happening, but
the pain of the burns seemed to revive him,
and he was conscious that he was relieved
from the terrible weight of the bear upon
his breast. This is what happened: after
Balser had fallen, the dogs had held the
bear's attention for a brief moment or two,
and had given Liney time to reach the scene
of conflict. The bear had caught Balser's
leather coat between its jaws, and was shak
ing him just as Liney came up. It is
said that the shake which a cat gives a
mouse produces unconsciousness; and so it
is true that the shake which the larger ani
mals give to their prey before killing it has
a benumbing effect, such as Balser felt.
When Liney reached Balser and the bear,
she had no weapon but her torch, but with
true feminine intuition she did, without stop
ping to think, the only thing she could do,
and for that matter the best thing that any
one could have done. She thrust the burn
ing torch into the bear's face and held it
168 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
there, despite its rage and growls. Then
it was that Balser felt the heat and sparks,
and then it was that the bear, blinded by
the fire, left Balser. The bear was frantic
with pain, and began to rub its eyes and
face with its paws, just as a man would do
under the same circumstances. It staggered
about in rage and blindness, making the
forest echo with its frightful growls, until it
was upon the edge of the little precipice of
which I have spoken. Then Liney struck
it again with her burning torch, and gave
it a push, which, although her strength was
slight, sent the bear rolling over the cliff into
the river. After that she ran back to Balser,
who was still lying upon the ground, covered
with blood. She thought he was terribly
wounded, so she tore off her muslin petti
coat, and wiped the blood from Balser's
face and hands. Her joy was great when
she learned that it was the bear's blood
and not Balser's that she saw. The boy
soon rose to his feet, dazed and half
blinded.
Liney thrust the burning torch into the bear's face and held it there
despite its rage and growls."
BORROWED FIRE. 169
" Where's the bear ? " he asked.
" We pushed him into the river," said
Jim, who had come in at the last moment.
" Yes, ' we pushed him in,' " said Balser,
in derision. " Liney, did you "
" Yes," answered Liney. " I don't know
how I did it; but after I had put my torch
in the bear's face, when he was over you, I
I pushed him into the river." And she cast
down her sweet, modest eyes, as if ashamed
of what she had done.
" Liney, Liney " began Balser ; but his
voice was choked by a great lump of sobs in
his throat. " Liney, Liney " he began
again ; but his gratitude was so great he
could not speak. He tried again, and the
tears came in a flood.
" Cry-baby ! " said Jim.
" Jim, you're a little fool," said Liney, turn
ing upon the youngster with a blaze of anger
in her eyes.
" Jim's right," sobbed Balser. "I lam
a c-c-cry-baby."
" No, no ! Balser," said Liney, soothingly,
170 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
as she took his hand. " I know. I under
stand without you telling me."
" Yes," sobbed Balser, "I I c-c-cry
because I thank you so much."
" Don't say that, Balser," answered Liney.
" Think of the night in the forest, and think
of what you did for me."
"Oh! But I'm a boy."
Balser was badly bruised, but was not
wounded, except in the foot where the bear
had caught him as he climbed the tree.
That wound, however, was slight, and would
heal quickly. The cubs had broken away
from the loaded wagon, and Jim, Liney,
Balser, dogs, and cubs all marched back to
Mr. Brent's in a slow and silent procession,
leaving the load of nuts upon the path, and
the bear dead upon a ripple in the river.
CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRE BEAR.
ONE evening in December, a few weeks
after Liney had saved Balser's life by means
of the borrowed fire, Balser's father and
mother and Mr. and Mrs. Fox, went to
Marion, a town of two houses and a church,
three miles away, to attend " Protracted
Meeting." Liney and Tom and the Fox
baby remained with Balser and Jim and the
Brent baby, at the Brent cabin.
When the children were alone Liney pro
ceeded to put the babies to sleep, and when
those small heads of their respective house
holds were dead to the world in slumber,
rocked to that happy condition in a cradle
made from the half of a round, smooth log,
hollowed out with an adze, the other children
huddled together in the fireplace to talk and
to play games. Chief among the games was
171
1/2 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
that never failing source of delight, " Simon
says thumbs up."
Outside the house the wind, blowing
through the trees of the forest, rose and
sank in piteous wails and moans, by turns,
and the snow fell in angry, fitful blasts, and
whirled and turned, eddied and drifted, as
if it were a thing of life. The weather
was bitter cold; but the fire on the great
hearth in front of the children seemed to feel
that while the grown folks were away it was
its duty to be careful of the children, and
to be gentle, tender, and comforting to them ;
so it spluttered, popped, and cracked like
the sociable, amiable, and tender-hearted fire
that it was. It invited the children to go
near it and to take its warmth, and told, as
plainly as a fire could, and a fire can talk,
not English perhaps, but a very understand
able language of its own, that it would
not burn them for worlds. So, as I said,
the children sat inside the huge fireplace,
and cared little whether or not the cold north
wind blew.
THE FIRE BEAR. 173
After "Simon" had grown tiresome,
Liney told riddles, all of which Tom, who
had heard them before, spoiled by giving the
answer before the others had a chance to
guess. Then Limpy propounded a few rid
dles, but Liney, who had often heard them,
would not disappoint her brother by telling
the answers. Balser noticed this, and said,
" Limpy, you ought to take a few lessons in
good manners from your sister."
" Why ought I ? " asked Tom, somewhat
indignantly.
" Because she doesn't tell your riddles as
you told hers," answered Balser.
" He wants to show off," said Jim.
" No, he doesn't," said Liney. But she
cast a grateful glance at Balser, which said,
" Thank you " as plainly as if she had spoken
the words. Tom hung his head, and said he
didn't like riddles anyway.
" Let's crack some nuts," proposed Jim,
who was always hungry.
This proposition seemed agreeable to all,
so Balser brought in a large gourd filled
174 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
with nuts, and soon they were all busy crack
ing and picking.
Then Liney told stories from " The Pil
grim's Progress " and the Bible. She was at
the most thrilling part of the story of Daniel
in the lions' den, and her listeners were
eager, nervous, and somewhat fearful, when
the faint cry of " Help ! " seemed to come
right down through the mouth of the
chimney.
" Listen ! " whispered Balser, holding up
his hands for silence. In a moment came
again the cry, " Help ! " The second cry
was still faint, but louder than the first ; and
the children sprang together with a common
impulse, and clung to Balser in unspoken
fear.
" Help ! help ! " came the cry, still nearer
and louder.
" Some one wants help," whispered Balser.
" I must go to him." The latter
clause was spoken rather hesitatingly.
" No, no ! " cried Liney. " You must not
go. It may be Indians trying to get you
THE FIRE BEAR. 175
out there to kill you, or it may be a ghost.
You'll surely be killed if you go."
Liney's remark somewhat frightened
Balser, and completely frightened the other
children; but it made Balser feel all the
more that he must not be a coward before
her. However much he feared to go in
response to the cry for help, he must not let
Liney see that he was afraid. Besides, the
boy knew that it was his duty to go; and
although with Balser the sense of duty
moved more slowly than the sense of fear,
yet it moved more surely. So he quickly
grasped his gun, and carefully examined the
load and priming. Then he took a torch,
lighted it at the fire, and out he rushed into
the blinding, freezing storm.
" Who's there ? " cried Balser, holding his
torch on high.
" Help ! help ! " came the cry from a short
distance down the river, evidently in the
forest back of the barn. Balser hurried in
the direction whence the cry had come, and
when he had proceeded one hundred yards
176 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
or so, he met a man running toward him,
almost out of breath from fright and exhaus
tion. Balser's torch had been extinguished
by the wind, snow, and sleet, and he could
not see the man's face.
" Who are you, and what's the matter
with you ? " asked brave little Balser, mean
while keeping his gun ready to shoot, if
need be.
" Don't you know me, Balser ? " gasped
the other.
" Is it you, Polly ? " asked Balser. " What
on earth's the matter ? "
"The Fire Bear! The Fire Bear!" cried
Poll. " He's been chasin' me fur Lord
knows how long. There he goes ! There !
Don't you see him? He's movin' down to
the river. He's crossin' the river on the
ice now. There ! There ! " And he
pointed in the direction he wished Balser
to look. Sure enough, crossing on the ice
below the barn, was the sharply defined
form of a large bear, glowing in the dark
ness of the night as if it were on fire.
Help! help!' came the cry.'
THE FIRE BEAR. 177
This was more than even Balser's courage
could withstand ; so he started for the house
as fast as his legs could carry him, and
Polly came panting and screaming at his
heels.
Polly's name, I may say, was Samuel
Parrott. He was a harmless, simple fellow,
a sort of hanger-on of the settlement, and
his surname, which few persons remembered,
had suggested the nickname of Poll, or
Polly, by which he was known far and
wide.
By the time Balser had reached the
house he was ashamed of his precipitate
retreat, and proposed that he and Polly
should go out and further investigate the
Fire Bear.
This proposition met with such a decided
negative from Polly, and such a vehement
chorus of protests from Liney and the
other children, that Balser, with reluctance
in his manner, but gladness in his heart,
consented to remain indoors, and to let the
Fire Bear take his way unmolested.
i;8 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
" When did you first see him ? " asked
Balser of Polly Parrot.
"'Bout a mile down the river, by Fox's
Bluff," responded Polly. " I've been run-
nin' every step of the way, jist as hard as
I could run, and that there Fire Bear not
more'n ten feet behind me, growlin' like
thunder, and blazin' and smokin' away like
a bonfire."
" Nonsense," said Balser. " He wasn't
blazing when I saw him."
" Of course he wasn't," responded Poll.
" He'd about burned out. D'ye think a
bear could blaze away forever like a vol
cano ? " Poll's logical statement seemed to
be convincing to the children.
" And he blazed up, did he ? " asked
Liney, her bright eyes large with wonder
and fear.
"Blazed up!" ejaculated Polly. "Bless
your soul, Liney, don't you see how hot I
am? Would a man be sweatin' like I am
on such a night as this, unless he's been
powerful nigh to a mighty hot fire ? "
THE FIRE BEAR. 179
Poll's corroborative evidence was too
strong for doubt to contend against, and a
depressing conviction fell upon the entire
company, including Balser, that it was
really the Fire Bear which Polly and Balser
had seen. Although Balser, in common
with most of the settlers, had laughed at
the stories of the Fire Bear which had
been told in the settlement, yet now he
was convinced, because he had seen it
with his own eyes. It was true that the
bear was not ablaze when he saw him, but
certainly he looked like a great glowing
ember, and, with Polly's testimony, Balser
was ready to believe all he had heard con
cerning this most frightful spectre of Blue
River, the Fire Bear.
One of the stories concerning the Fire
Bear was to the effect that when he was
angry he blazed forth into a great flame, and
that when he was not angry he was simply
aglow. At times, when the forests were
burned, or when barns or straw-stacks were
destroyed by fire, many persons, especially of
i8o THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
the ignorant class, attributed the incendiarism
to the Fire Bear. Others, who pretended to
more wisdom, charged the Indians with the
crimes. Of the latter class had been Balser.
But to see is to believe.
Another superstition about the Fire Bear
was, that any person who should be so unfor
tunate as to behold him would die within
three months after seeing him, unless per
chance he could kill the Fire Bear, a task
which would necessitate the use of a potent
charm, for the Fire Bear bore a charmed life.
The Fire Bear had been seen, within the
memory of the oldest inhabitant, by eight or
ten persons, always after night. Each one
who had seen the bear had died within the
three months following. He had been
stalked by many hunters, and although
several opportunities to kill him had oc
curred, yet no one had accomplished that
much-desired event.
You may be sure there were no more
games, riddles, or nut-cracking that evening
in the Brent cabin. The children stood for
THE FIRE BEAR. 181
a few moments in a frightened group, and
then took their old places on the logs inside
the fireplace. Polly, who was stupid with
fright, stood for a short time silently facing
the fire, and then said mournfully : " Balser,
you and me had better jine the church.
We're goners inside the next three months,
goners, just as sure as my name's Polly."
Then meditatively, " A durned sight surer
than that; for my name ain't Polly at all;
but Samuel, or Thomas, or Bill, or something
like that, I furgit which ; but we're goners,
Balser, and we might as well git ready. No
livin' bein' ever seed that bear and was alive
three months afterwards."
Then Liney, who was sitting next to
Balser, touched his arm gently, and said :
" I saw him too. I followed you a short
way when you went out, and I saw something
bright crossing the river on the ice just below
the barn. Was that the bear ? "
" Yes, yes," cried Balser. " For goodness '
sake, Liney, why didn't you stay in the
house ? "
182 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
" You bet I stayed in," said Jim.
" And so did I," said Tom.
No one paid any attention to what Jim
and Limpy said, and in a moment Liney was
weeping gently with her face in her hands.
Jim and Limpy then began to cry, and
soon Polly was boohooing as if he were
already at the point of death. It required
all of Balser's courage and strength to keep
back the tears, but in a moment he rose to
his feet and said : " Stop your crying, every
body. I'll kill that bear before the three
months is half gone; yes, before a month
has passed. If Liney saw him, the bear
dies; that settles it."
Liney looked up to Balser gratefully, and
then, turning to Polly, said :
" He'll save us, Polly ; he killed the one-
eared bear, and it was enough sight worse
to fight than the Fire Bear. The one-eared
bear was a was a devil."
Polly did not share Liney's confidence ;
so he sat down upon the hearth, and gazed
sadly at the fire awhile. Then, taking his
THE FIRE BEAR. 183
elbow for his pillow, he lay upon the floor
and moaned himself to sleep.
The children sat in silence for a short
time ; and Jim lay down beside Polly, and
closed his eyes in slumber. Then Limpy's
head began to nod, and soon Limpy was in
the land of dreams. Balser and Liney sat
upon the spare backlog for perhaps half an
hour, without speaking.
The deep bed of live coals cast a rosy
glow upon their faces, and the shadows back
in the room grew darker, as the flame of the
neglected fire died out. Now and then a
fitful blaze would start from a broken ember,
and the shadows danced for a moment over
the floor and ceiling like sombre spectres,
but Balser and Liney saw them not.
Despite their disbelief in the existence of
the Fire Bear, the overwhelming evidence
of the last two hours had brought to them
a frightful conviction of the truth of all they
had heard about the uncanny, fatal monster.
Three short months of life was all that was
left to them. Such had been the fate of all
184 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
who had beheld the Fire Bear. Such cer
tainly would be their fate unless Balser could
kill him an event upon which Liney built
much greater hope than did Balser.
After a long time Balser spoke, in a low
tone, that he might not disturb the others :
" Liney, if I only had a charm, I might
kill the Fire Bear; but a gun by itself can
do nothing against a monster that bears a
charmed life. We must have a charm.
You've read so many books and you know
so much ; can't you think of a charm that
would help me ? "
" No, no, Balser," sighed Liney, " you know
more than I, a thousand times."
" Nonsense, Liney. Didn't you spell down
everybody even the grown folks over at
Caster's bee ? "
" Yes, I know I did ; but spelling isn't
everything, Balser. It's mighty little, and
don't teach us anything about charms. You
might know how to spell every word in a big
book, and still know nothing about charms."
" I guess you're right," responded Balser,
THE FIRE BEAR. 185
dolefully. " I wonder how we can learn to
make a charm."
" Maybe the Bible would teach us," said
Liney. " They say it teaches us nearly
everything."
" I expect it would," responded Balser.
" Suppose you try it."
" I will," answered Liney. Silence ensued
once more, broken only by the moaning
wind and the occasional popping of the
backlog.
After a few minutes Liney said in a
whisper :
" Balser, I've been thinking, and I'm going
to tell you about something I have. It's a
great secret. No one knows of it but mother
and father and I. I believe it's the very
thing we want for a charm. It looks like it,
and it has strange words engraved upon it."
Balser was alive with interest.
" Do you promise never to tell any one
about it ? " asked Liney.
" Yes, yes, indeed. Cross my heart, 'pon
honour, hope to die."
186 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Balser's plain, unadorned promise was
enough to bind him to secrecy under ordi
nary circumstances, for he was a truthful
boy ; but when his lips were sealed by such
oaths as " Cross my heart," and " Hope to
die," death had no terrors which would have
forced him to divulge.
" What is it ? Quick, quick, Liney 1 "
"You'll never tell?"
" No, cross my "
" Well, I'll tell you. I've a thing at home
that's almost like a cross, only the pieces
cross each other in the middle and are broad
at each end. It's a little larger than a big
button. It's gold on the back and has a lot
of pieces of glass, each the size of a small
pea, on the front side. Only I don't believe
they're glass at all. They are too bright for
glass. You can see them in the dark, where
there's no light at all. They shine and glit
ter and sparkle, so that it almost makes you
blink your eyes. Now you never saw glass
like that, did you ? "
" No," answered Balser, positively.
THE FIRE BEAR. 187
Liney continued ; " That's what makes
me think it's a charm ; for you couldn't see
it in the dark unless it was a charm, could
you, Balser ? "
"I should think not."
" There's a great big piece of glass, or
whatever it is, in the centre of it as big as
a large pea, and around this big piece are
four words in some strange language that
nobody can make out, at least, mother says
that nobody in this country can make them
out. Mother told me that the charm was
given to her for me by a gypsy man, when I
was a baby. Mother says there's something
more to tell me about it when I become a
woman. Maybe that's the charm of it; I'm
sure it is." And she looked up to Balser with
her soft, bright eyes full of inquiry and hope.
" I do believe that thing is a charm," said
Balser. Then meditatively : " I know it's a
charm. Don't tell me, Liney, that you don't
know a lot of things."
Liney's sad face wore a dim smile of satis
faction at Balser's compliments, and again
i88 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
they both became silent. Balser remained
in a brown study for a few moments, and
then asked:
" Where does your mother keep the
the charm ? "
" She keeps it in a box under my bed."
" Good ! good ! " responded Balser. " Now
I'll tell you what to do to make it a sure
enough charm."
" Yes, yes," eagerly interrupted Liney.
" You take the charm and hold it on your
lips while you pray seven times that I may
kill the bear. Do that seven times for seven
nights, and on the last night I'll get the
charm, and Polly, Limpey, and I will go out
and kill the bear, just as sure as you're alive."
The plan brought comfort to the boy and
girl.
Soon Liney 's eyes became heavy, and she
fell asleep; and as Balser looked upon her
innocent beauty, he felt in his heart that if
seven times seven prayers from Liney's lips
could not make a charm which would give
him strength from on high to kill the bear,
THE FIRE BEAR. 189
there was no strength sufficient for that task
to be had any place.
Late in the night nine o'clock the
parents of the children came home. The
sleepers were aroused, and all of them tried
to tell the story of the Fire Bear at one and
the same time.
" Tell me about it, Balser," said Mr. Fox,
seriously; for he, too, was beginning to
believe in the story of the Fire Bear. Then
Balser told the story, assisted by Polly, and
the strange event was discussed until late
into the night, without, however, the slight
est reference to the charm by either Balser
or Liney. That was to remain their secret.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox remained with the
Brents all night, and before they left next
morning, Liney whispered to Balser:
" I'll begin to-night, as you told me to do,
with the charm. Seven nights from this the
charm will be ready if I can make it."
" And so will I be ready," answered Balser,
and both felt that the fate of the Fire Bear
was sealed.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BLACK GULLY.
NOTE. The author, fearing that the account of fire spring
ing from the earth, given in the following story, may be
considered by the reader too improbable for any book but one
of Arabian fables, wishes to say that the fire and the explo
sion occurred in the place and manner described.
THE Fire Bear had never before been seen
in the Blue River neighbourhood. His for
mer appearances had been at or near the
mouth of Conn's Creek, where that stream
flows into Flatrock, five or six miles south
east of Balser's home.
Flatrock River takes its name from the
fact that it flows over layers of broad flat
rocks. The soil in its vicinity is underlaid
at a depth of a few feet by a formation of
stratified limestone, which crops out on the
hillsides and precipices, and in many places
forms deep, canon-like crevasses, through
which the river flows. In these cliffs and
190
THE BLACK GULLY. 191
miniature canons are many caves, and
branching off from the river's course are
many small side-canons, or gullies, which
at night are black and repellent, and in
many instances are quite difficult to explore.
One of these side-canons was so dark and
forbidding that it was called by the settlers
" The Black Gully." The conformation of
the rocks composing its precipitous sides
was grotesque in the extreme; and the
overhanging trees, thickly covered with
vines, cast so deep a shadow upon the ra
vine that even at midday its dark recesses
bore a cast of gloom like that of night un
timely fallen. How Balser happened to
visit the Black Gully, and the circumstances
under which he saw it sufficiently terrible
and awe-inspiring to cause the bravest man
to tremble I shall soon tell you.
The country in the vicinity of Flatrock
was full of hiding-places, and that was sup
posed to be the home of the Fire Bear.
The morning after Polly and Balser had
seen the Fire Bear, they went forth bright
192 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and early to follow the tracks of their fiery
enemy, and if possible to learn where he had
gone after his unwelcome visit.
They took up the spoor at the point where
the bear had crossed the river the night be
fore, and easily followed his path three or
four miles down the stream. There they
found the place where he had crossed the
river to the east bank. The tracks, which
were plainly visible in the new-fallen snow,
there turned southeast toward his reputed
home among the caves and gullies of Flat-
rock and Conn's Creek.
The trackers hurried forward so eagerly in
their pursuit that they felt no fatigue. They
found several deer, and at one time they
saw at a great distance a bear; but they
did not pursue either, for their minds were
too full of the hope that they might discover
the haunts of the monster upon whose death
depended, as they believed, their lives and
that of Liney Fox. When Balser and Polly
reached the stony ground of Flatrock the
bear tracks began to grow indistinct, and
THE BLACK GULLY. 193
soon they were lost entirely among the
smooth rocks from which the snow had been
blown away. The boys had, however, ac
complished their purpose, for they were con
vinced that they had discovered the haunts
of the bear. They carefully noticed the
surrounding country, and spoke to each
other of the peculiar cliffs and trees in the
neighbourhood, so that they might remember
the place when they should return. Then
they found a dry little cave wherein they
kindled a fire and roasted a piece of venison
which they had taken with them. When
their roast was cooked, they ate their dinner
of cold hoe-cake and venison, and then sat by
the fire for an hour to warm and rest before
beginning their long, hard journey home
through the snow. Polly smoked his after-
dinner pipe, the pipe was a hollow corn-cob
with the tip of a buck's horn for a stem,
and the two bear hunters talked over the
events of the day and discussed the coming
campaign against the Fire Bear.
" I s'pose we'll have to hunt him by night,"
194 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
said Polly. " He's never seen at any other
time, they say."
" Yes, we'll have to hunt him by night,"
said Balser ; " but darkness will help us in the
hunt, for we can see him better at night
than at any other time, and he can't see us
as well as he could in daylight."
" Balser, you surprise me," answered Polly.
" Have you hunted bears all this time and
don't know that a bear can see as well after
night as in the daytime better, maybe ? "
" Maybe that's so," responded Balser. " I
know that cats and owls can see better by
night, but I didn't know about bears. How
do you know it's true ? "
"How do I know? Why, didn't that
there bear make a bee-line for this place last
night, and wasn't last night as dark as the
inside of a whale, and don't they go about at
night more than in the daytime ? Tell me
that. When do they steal sheep and shoats ?
In daytime ? Tell me that. Ain't it always
at night ? Did you ever hear of a bear steal
ing a shoat in the daytime ? No, sirree ; but
THE BLACK GULLY. 195
they can see the littlest shoat that ever
grunted, on the darkest night, see him and
snatch him out of the pen and get away with
him quicker than you or I could, a durned
sight."
" I never tried ; did you, Polly ? " asked
Balser.
Polly wasn't above suspicion among those
who knew him, and Balser's question slightly
disconcerted him.
"Well, I I durned if that ain't the
worst fool question I ever heerd a boy ask,"
answered Polly. Then, somewhat anxious to
change the conversation, he continued :
" What night do you propose to come
down here ? To-morrow night ? "
" No, not for a week. Not till seven
nights after to-night," answered Balser, mind
ful of the charm which he hoped Liney's
prayers would make for him.
"Seven nights? Geminy! I'm afraid I'll
get scared of this place by that time. I'll
bet this is an awful place at night ; nothing
but great chunks of blackness in these here
196 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
gullies, so thick you could cut it with a knife.
I'm not afraid now because I'm desperate.
I'm so afraid of dyin' because I saw the Fire
Bear that I don't seem to be afraid of nothin'
else."
Polly was right. There is nothing like a
counter-fear to keep a coward's courage up.
After they were warm and had rested,
Balser and Polly went out of the cave and
took another survey of the surrounding
country from the top of the hill. They
started homeward, and reached the cozy
cabin on Blue River soon after sunset,
tired, hungry, and cold. A good warm
supper soon revived them, and as it had
been agreed that Polly should remain at
Mr. Brent's until after the Fire Bear hunt,
they went to bed in the loft and slept
soundly till morning.
After Balser announced his determination
to hunt the Fire Bear, many persons asked
him when he intended to undertake the
perilous task, but the invariable answer he
gave was, that he would begin after the
THE BLACK GULLY. 197
seventh night from the one upon which the
Fire Bear had visited Blue River. "Why
after the seventh night ? " was frequently
asked; but the boy would give no other
answer.
Balser had invited Tom Fox to go with
him; and Tom, in addition to his redoubt
able hatchet, intended to carry his father's
gun. Polly would take Mr. Brent's rifle,
and of course Balser would carry the
greatest of all armaments, his smooth-bore
carbine. Great were the preparations made
in selecting bullets and in drying powder.
Knives and hatchets were sharpened un
til they were almost as keen as a razor.
Many of the men and boys of the neighbour
hood volunteered to accompany Balser, but
he would take with him no one but Tom
and Polly.
" Too many hunters spoil the chase,"
said Balser, borrowing his thought from
the cooks and the broth maxim.
Upon the morning of the eighth day
Balser went over to see Liney, and to
198 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
receive from her the precious charm redo
lent with forty-nine prayers from her pure
heart. When she gave it to him he
said :
" It's a charm ; I know it is." And he
held it in his hand and looked at it affection
ately. " It looks like a charm, and it feels
like a charm. Liney, I seem to feel your
prayers upon it."
" Ah ! Balser, don't say that. It sounds
almost wicked. It has seemed wicked all
the time for me to try to make a charm."
" Don't feel that way, Liney. You didn't
try to make it. You only prayed to God to
make it, and God is good and loves to hear
you pray. If He don't love to hear you
pray, Liney, He don't love to hear any one."
" No, no, Balser, I'm so wicked. The
night we saw the Fire Bear father read in
the Bible where it says, 'The prayers of
the wicked availeth not.' Oh, Balser, do
you think it's wicked to try to make a charm
that is, to pray to God to make one ? "
" No, indeed, Liney. God makes them
THE BLACK GULLY. 199
of His own accord. He made you." But
Liney only half understood.
The charm worked at least one spell. It
made the boy braver and gave him self-
confidence.
Balser, Tom, and Polly had determined
to ride down to Flatrock on horseback,
and for that purpose one of Mr. Fox's
horses and two of Mr. Brent's were brought
into service. At three o'clock upon the
famous eighth day the three hunters started
for Flatrock, and spent the night in the
vicinity of the mouth of Conn's Creek ; but
they did not see the Fire Bear. Four other
expeditions were made, for Balser had no
notion of giving up the hunt, and each
expedition was a failure. But the fifth
well, I will tell you about it.
Upon the fifth expedition the boys reached
Flatrock River just after sunset. A cold
drizzling rain had begun to fall, and as it fell
it froze upon the surface of the rocks. The
wind blew and moaned through the tree-tops,
and the darkness was so dense it seemed
200 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
heavy. The boys had tied their horses in a
cave, which they had used for the same pur
pose upon former visits, and were discussing
the advisability of giving up the hunt for
that night and returning home. Tom had
suggested that the rain might extinguish the
Fire Bear's fire so he could not be seen.
The theory seemed plausible. Polly thought
that a bear with any sense at all would
remain at home in his cave upon such a
night as that, and all these arguments,
together with the slippery condition of the
earth, which made walking among the rocks
and cliffs very dangerous, induced Balser to
conclude that it was best to return to Blue
River without pursuing the hunt that night.
He announced his decision, and had given
up all hope of seeing the Fire Bear upon that
expedition. But they were not to be disap
pointed after all, for, just as the boys were
untying their horses to return home, a ter
rific growl greeted their ears, coming, it
seemed, right from the mouth of the cave in
which they stood.
THE BLACK GULLY. 201
" That's him," cried Polly. " I know his
voice. I heerd it for one mortal hour that
night when he was a chasin' me, and I'll
never furgit it. I'd know it among a thou
sand bears. It's him. Oh, Balser, let's go
home ! For the Lord's sake, Balser, let's go
home ! I'd rather die three months from now
than now. Three months is a long time to
live, after all."
" Polly, what on earth are you talking
about? Are you crazy? Tie up your
horse at once," said Balser. " If the bear
gets away from us this time, we'll never
have another chance at him. Quick!
Quick!"
Polly's courage was soon restored, and
the horses were quickly tied again.
Upon entering the cave a torch had been
lighted, and by the light of the torch, which
Polly held, the primings of the guns were
examined, knives and hatchets were made
ready for immediate use, and out the hunters
sallied in pursuit of the Fire Bear.
On account of the ice upon the rocks
202 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
it was determined that Polly should carry
the torch with him. Aside from the dan
gers of the slippery path, there was another
reason for carrying the torch. Fire attracts
the attention of wild animals, and often pre
vents them from running away from the
hunter. This is especially true of deer.
So Polly carried the torch, and a fatal
burden it proved to be for him. After the
hunters had emerged from the cave, they
at once started toward the river, and upon
passing a little spur of the hill they beheld
at a distance of two or three hundred yards
the Fire Bear, glowing like a fiery heap
against the black bank of night. He was
running rapidly up the stream toward Black
Gully, which came down to the river's edge
between high cliffs. This was the place I
described to you a few pages back. Balser
and Polly had seen Black Gully before, and
had noticed how dark, deep, and forbid
ding it was. It had seemed to them to be
a fitting place for the revels of witches,
demons, snakes, and monsters of all sorts,
THE BLACK GULLY. 203
and they thought surely it was haunted, if
any place ever was. They feared the spot
even in the daytime.
Polly, who was ingenious with a pocket-
knife, had carved out three whistles, and
in the bowl of each was a pea. These
whistles produced a shrill noise when blown
upon, which could be heard at a great
distance, and each hunter carried one fast
ened to a string about his neck. In case
the boys should be separated, one long
whistle was to be sounded for the purpose
of bringing them together; three whistles
should mean that the bear had been seen,
and one short one was to be the cry for
help. When Balser saw the bear he blew
a shrill blast upon his whistle to attract
the brute's attention. The ruse produced
the desired effect, for the bear stopped. His
curiosity evidently was aroused by the noise
and by the sight of the fire, and he remained
standing for a moment or two while the
boys ran forward as rapidly as the slippery
rocks would permit. Soon they were within
204 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
a hundred yards of the bear; then fifty,
forty, thirty, twenty. Still the Fire Bear
did not move. His glowing form stood
before them like a pillar of fire, the only
object that could be seen in the darkness
that surrounded him. He seemed to be
the incarnation of all that was brave and
demoniac. When within twenty yards of
the bear Balser said hurriedly to his com
panions :
" Halt ! I'll shoot first, and you fellows
hold your fire and shoot one at a time, after
me. Don't shoot till I tell you, and take
good aim. Polly, I'll hold your torch when
I want you to shoot." Polly held the torch
in one hand and his gun in the other, and
fear was working great havoc with his use
fulness. Balser continued : " It's so dark we
can't see the sights of our guns, and if we're
not careful we may all miss the bear, or still
worse, we may only wound him. Hold up
the torch, Polly, so I can see the sights of
my gun."
Balser's voice seemed to attract the bear's
THE BLACK GULLY. 205
attention more even than did the torch, and
he pricked up his short fiery ears as if to
ask, " What are you talking about ? " When
Balser spoke next it was with a tongue of
fire, and the words came from his gun. The
bear seemed to understand the gun's lan
guage better than that of Balser, for he gave
forth in answer a terrific growl of rage, and
bit savagely at the wound which Balser had
inflicted. Alas ! It was only a wound ; for
Balser's bullet, instead of piercing the bear's
heart, had hit him upon the hind quarters.
" I've only wounded him," cried Balser,
and the note of terror in his voice seemed to
create a panic in the breasts of Tom and
Polly, who at once raised their guns and
fired. Of course they both missed the bear,
and before they could lower their guns the
monster was upon them.
Balser was in front, and received the full
force of the brute's ferocious charge. The
'boy went down under the bear's mighty
rush, and before he had time to draw his
knife, or to disengage his hatchet from his
206 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
belt, the infuriated animal was standing over
him. As Balser fell his hand caught a
rough piece of soft wood which was lying
upon the ground, and with this he tried to
beat the bear upon the head. The bear, of
course, hardly felt the blows which Balser
dealt with the piece of wood, and it seemed
that another terrible proof was about to be
given of the fatal consequences of looking
upon the Fire Bear. Tom and Polly had
both run when the bear charged, but Tom
quickly came to Balser's relief, while Polly
remained at a safe distance. The bear was
reaching for Balser's throat, but by some
fortunate chance he caught between his jaws
the piece of wood with which Balser had
been vainly striking him ; and doubtless
thinking that the wood was a part of Balser,
the bear bit it and shook it ferociously.
When Tom came up to the scene of conflict
he struck the bear upon the head with the
sharp edge of his hatchet, and chopped out
one of his eyes. The pain of the wound
seemed to double the bear's fury, and he
THE BLACK GULLY. 207
sprang over Balser's prostrate form toward
Tom. The bear rose upon his haunches and
faced Tom, who manfully struck at him with
his hatchet, and never thought of running.
Ah ! Tom was a brave one when the neces
sity for bravery arose. But Tom's courage
was better than his judgment, for in a
moment he was felled to the ground by a
stroke from the bear's paw, and the bear
was standing over him, growling and bleed
ing terribly. Polly had come nearer and his
torch threw a ghastly glamour over the ter
rible scene. As in the fight with Balser, the
bear tried to catch Tom's throat between his
jaws ; but here the soft piece of wood which
Balser had grasped when he fell proved a
friend indeed, for the bear had bitten it so
savagely that his teeth had been embedded
in its soft fibre, and it acted as a gag in his
mouth. He could neither open nor close
his jaws. After a few frantic efforts to bite
Tom, the bear seemed to discover where the
trouble was, and tried to push the wood out
of his mouth with his paws. This gave Tom
208 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
a longed-for opportunity, of which he was
not slow to take advantage, and he quickly
drew himself from under the bear, rose to
his feet, and ran away. In the meantime
Balser rose from the ground and reached the
bear just as Tom started to run. Balser
knew by that time that he had no chance of
success in a hand-to-hand conflict with the
brute. So he struck the bear a blow upon
the head with his hatchet as he passed,
and followed Tom at a very rapid speed.
Balser at once determined that he and Tom
and Polly should reach a place of safety,
quickly load their guns, and return to the
attack. In a moment he looked back, and
saw the bear still struggling to free his
mouth from the piece of wood which had
saved two lives that night. As the bear was
not pursuing them, Balser concluded to halt ;
and he and Tom loaded their guns, while
Polly held the torch on high to furnish light.
Polly's feeble wits had almost fled, and he
seemed unconscious of what was going on
about him. He did mechanically whatever
THE BLACK GULLY. 209
Balser told him to do, but his eyes had a far
away look, and it was evident that the events
of the night had paralyzed his poor, weak
brain. When the guns were loaded Balser
and Tom hurried forward toward the bear,
and poor Polly followed, bearing his torch.
Bang ! went Balser's gun, and the bear rose
upon his hind feet, making the cliffs and
ravines echo with his terrible growls.
" Take good aim, Tom ; hold up the torch,
Polly," said Balser. "Fire!" and the bear
fell over on his back and seemed to be dead.
Polly and Tom started toward the bear, but
Balser cried out : " Stop ! He may not be
dead yet. We'll give him another volley.
We've got him now, sure, if we're careful."
Tom and Polly stopped, and it was fortunate
for them that they did so ; for in an instant
the bear was on his feet, apparently none
the worse for the ill-usage the boys had given
him. The Fire Bear stood for a little time
undetermined whether to attack the boys
again or to run. After halting for a mo
ment between two opinions, he concluded to
210 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
retreat, and with the piece of wood still in
his mouth, he started at a rapid gait toward
Black Gully, a hundred yards away.
" Load, Tom ; load quick. Hold the torch,
Polly," cried Balser. And again the guns
were loaded, while poor demented Polly held
the torch.
The bear moved away rapidly, and in a
moment the boys were following him with
loaded guns. When the brute reached the
mouth of Black Gully he entered it. Evi
dently his home was in that uncanny place.
" Quick, quick, Polly ! " cried Balser ; and
within a moment after the bear had entered
Black Gully his pursuers were at the mouth
of the ravine, making ready for another
attack. Balser gave a shrill blast upon his
whistle, and the bear turned for a moment,
and deliberately sat down upon his haunches
not fifty yards away. The place looked so
black and dismal that the boys at first
feared to enter, but soon their courage came
to their rescue, and they marched in, with
Polly in the lead. The bear moved farther
THE BLACK GULLY. 211
up the gully toward an overhanging cliff,
whose dark, rugged outlines were faintly
illumined by the light of Polly's torch. The
jutting rocks seemed like monster faces, and
the bare roots of the trees were like the
horny ringers and the bony arms of fiends.
The boys followed the bear, and when he
came to a halt near the cliff and again sat
upon his haunches, it was evident that the
Fire Bear's end was near at hand. How
frightful it all appeared ! There sat the
Fire Bear, like a burning demon, sullen
and motionless, giving forth, every few sec
onds, deep guttural growls that reverberated
through the dark cavernous place. Not a
star was seen, nor a gleam of light did the
overcast sky afford. There stood poor, pite
ous Polly, all his senses fled and gone, un
consciously holding his torch above his head.
The light of the torch seemed to give life
to the shadows of the place, and a sense of
fear stole over Balser that he could not resist.
\ " Let's shoot him again, and get out of
/this awful place," said Balser
212 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
" You bet I'm willing to get out," said
Tom, his teeth chattering, notwithstanding
his wonted courage.
" Hold the torch, Polly," cried Balser, and
Polly raised the torch. The boys were
within fifteen yards of the bear, and each
took deliberate aim and fired. The bear
moaned and fell forward. Then Balser
and Tom started rapidly toward the mouth
of the gully. When they had almost reached
the opening they looked back for Polly, who
they thought was following them, but there
he stood where they had left him, a hundred
yards behind them.
Balser called, " Polly ! Polly ! " but Polly
did not move. Then Tom blew his whistle,
and Polly started, not toward them, alas!
but toward the bear.
" Don't go to him, Polly," cried Balser.
" He may not be dead. We've had enough
of him to-night, for goodness' sake ! We'll
come back to-morrow and find him dead."
But Polly continued walking slowly toward
the bear.
Polly continued slowly toward the bear."
THE BLACK GULLY. 213
" Polly ! Polly ! Come back ! " cried both
the boys. But Polly by that time was within
ten feet of the bear, holding his torch and
moving with the step of one unconscious
of what he was doing. A few steps more
and Polly was by the side of the terrible
Fire Bear. The bear revived for a moment,
and seemed conscious that an enemy was
near him. With a last mighty effort he rose
to his feet and struck Polly a blow with his
paw which felled him to the ground. When
Polly fell, the Fire Bear fell upon him, and
Balser and Tom started to rescue their un
fortunate friend. Then it was that a ter
rible thing happened. When Polly's torch
dropped from his hand a blue flame three
or four feet in height sprang from the
ground just beyond the bear. The fire
ran upon the ground for a short distance
like a serpent of flame, and shot like a
flash of chain lightning half-way up the
side of the cliff. The dark, jutting rocks
huge demon faces covered with ice
glistened in the light of the blaze, and the
214 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
place seemed to have been transformed into
a veritable genii's cavern. The flames sank
away for a moment with a low, moaning
sound, and then came up again the colour of
roses and of blood. A great rumbling noise
was heard coming from the bowels of the
earth, and a tongue of fire shot twenty feet
into the air. This was more than flesh
and blood could endure, and Balser and
Tom ran for their lives, leaving their poor,
demented friend behind them to perish.
Out the boys went through the mouth of
the gully, and across the river they sped
upon the ice. They felt the earth tremble
beneath their feet, and they heard the
frightful rumbling again ; then a loud ex
plosion, like the boom of a hundred can
nons, and the country for miles around
was lighted as if by the mid-day sun. Then
they looked back and beheld a sight which
no man could forget to the day of his
death. They saw a bright red flame a
hundred yards in diameter and two hundred
feet high leap from the Black Gully above
THE BLACK GULLY. 215
the top of the cliffs. After a moment great
rocks, and pieces of earth half as large as
a house, began to fall upon every side of
them, as if a mighty volcano had burst
forth ; and the boys clung to each other
in fear and trembling, and felt sure that
judgment day had come.
After the rocks had ceased to fall, the
boys, almost dead with fright, walked a
short distance down the river and crossed
upon the ice. The fire was still burning
in the Black Gully, and there was no need
of Polly's torch to help them see the
slippery path among the rocks.
The boys soon found the cave in which
the horses were stabled. They lost no
time in mounting, and quickly started home,
leading between them the horse which had
been ridden by Polly. Poor Polly was
never seen again. Even after the fire in
the Black Gully had receded into the bowels
of the earth whence it had come, nothing
was found of his body nor that of the Fire
Bear. They had each been burned to cinder.
216 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Many of the Blue River people did not
believe that the Fire Bear derived its fiery
appearance from supernatural causes. They
suggested that the bear probably had made
its bed of decayed wood containing foxfire,
and that its fur was covered with phospho
rus which glowed like the light of the firefly
after night. The explosion was caused by
a " pocket " of natural gas which became
ignited when Polly's torch fell to the ground
by the side of the Fire Bear.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE STROKE OF NINE.
LATE one afternoon it was the day
before Christmas Balser and Jim were
seated upon the extra backlog in the fire
place, ciphering. Mrs. Brent was sitting
in front of the fire in a rude home-made
rocking-chair, busily knitting, while she
rocked the baby's cradle with her foot and
softly sang the refrain of " Annie Laurie "
for a lullaby. Snow had begun to fall at
noon, and as the sun sank westward the
north wind came in fitful gusts at first, and
then in stronger blasts, till near the hour
of four, when Boreas burst forth in the
biting breath of the storm. How he howled
and screamed down the chimney at his
enemy, the fire ! And how the fire crackled
and spluttered and laughed in the face of his
217
2i8 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
wrath, and burned all the brighter because
of his raging! Don't tell me that a fire
can't talk ! A fire upon a happy hearth is
the sweetest conversationalist on earth, and
Boreas might blow his lungs out ere he
could stop the words of cheer and health
and love and happiness which the fire
spoke to Jim and Balser and their mother
in the gloaming of that cold and stormy
day.
" Put on more wood," said the mother, in
a whisper, wishing not to awaken the baby.
" Your father will soon be home from Brook-
ville, and we must make the house good
and warm for him. I hope he will come
early. It would be dreadful for him to
be caught far away from home in such a
storm as we shall have to-night."
Mr. Brent had gone to Brookville several
days before with wheat and pelts for mar
ket, and was expected home that evening.
Balser had wanted to go with his father,
but the manly little fellow had given up
his wish and had remained at home that
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 219
he might take care of his mother, Jim,
and the baby.
Balser quietly placed a few large hickory
sticks upon the fire, and then whispered
to Jim:
" Let's go out and feed the stock and fix
them for the night."
So the boys went to the barnyard and
fed the horses and cows, and drove the
sheep into the shed, and carried fodder
from the huge stack and placed it against
the north sides of the barn and shed to
keep the wind from blowing through the
cracks and to exclude the snow. When
the stock was comfortable, cozy, and warm,
the boys milked the cows, and brought
to the house four bucketfuls of steaming
milk, which they strained and left in the
kitchen, rather than in the milk-house, that
it might not freeze over night.
Darkness came on rapidly, and Mrs. Brent
grew more and more anxious for her hus
band's return. Fearing that he might be
late, she postponed supper until Jim's ever
220 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
ready appetite began to cry aloud for satis
faction, and Balser intimated that he, too,
might be induced to eat. So their mother
leisurely went to work to get supper, while
the baby was left sleeping before the cheery,
talkative fire in the front room.
A fat wild turkey roasted to a delicious
brown upon the spit, eggs fried in the
sweetest of lard, milk warm from the cows,
corn-cakes floating in maple syrup and yel
low butter, sweet potatoes roasted in hot
ashes, and a great slice of mince pie furnished
a supper that makes one hungry but to think
about it. The boys, however, were hungry
without thinking, and it would have done
your heart good to see that supper dis
appear.
As they sat at supper they would pause
in their eating and listen attentively to
every noise made by the creaking of the
trees or the falling of a broken twig, hoping
that it was the step of the father. But the
supper was finished all too soon, and the
storm continued to increase in its fury ;
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 221
the snow fell thicker and the cold grew
fiercer, still Mr. Brent did not come.
Mrs. Brent said nothing, but as the hours
flew by her anxious heart imparted its
trouble to Balser, and he began to fear
for his father's safety. The little clock
upon the rude shelf above the fireplace
hoarsely and slowly drawled out the hour
of seven, then eight, and then nine. That
was very late for the Brent family to be
out of bed, and nothing short of the
anxiety they felt could have kept them
awake. Jim, of course, had long since
fallen asleep, and he lay upon a soft bear
skin in front of the fire, wholly unconscious
of storms or troubles of any sort. Mrs.
Brent sat watching and waiting while Jim
and the baby slept,, and to her anxious heart
it seemed that the seconds lengthened into
minutes, and the minutes into hours, by
reason of her loneliness. While she rocked
beside the baby's cradle, Balser was sitting
in his favourite place upon the backlog
next to the fire. He had been reading,
222 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
or trying to read, " The Pilgrim's Progress,"
but visions of his father and of the team
lost in the trackless forest, facing death by
freezing, to say nothing of wolves that
prowled the woods in packs of hundreds
upon such a night as that, continually came
between his eyes and the page, and blurred
the words until they held no meaning.
Gradually drowsiness stole over him, too,
and just as the slow-going clock began
deliberately to strike the hour of nine his
head fell back into a little corner made by
projecting logs in the wall of the fireplace,
and, like Jim, he forgot his troubles as he
slept.
Balser did not know how long he had
been sleeping when the neighing of a horse
was heard. Mrs. Brent hastened to the door,
but when she opened it, instead of her hus
band she found one of the horses, an intelli
gent, raw-boned animal named Buck, stand
ing near the house. Balser had heard her
call, and he quickly ran out of doors and
went to the horse. The harness was broken,
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 223
and dragging upon the ground behind the
horse were small portions of the wreck of the
wagon. Poor Buck's flank was red with
blood, and his legs showed all too plainly the
marks of deadly conflict with a savage, hun
gry foe. The wreck of the wagon, the
broken harness, and the wounds upon the
horse told eloquently, as if spoken in words,
the story of the night. Wolves had attacked
Balser's father, and Buck had come home to
give the alarm.
Balser ran quickly to the fire pile upon the
hill and kindled it for the purpose of calling
help from the neighbours. Then he went
back to the house and took down his gun.
224 THE BEAKS' OF BLUE RIVER.
He tied a bundle of torches over his shoul
der, lighted one, and started out in the
blinding, freezing storm to help his father,
if possible.
He followed the tracks of the horse, which
with the aid of his torch were easily discern
ible in the deep snow, and soon he was far
into the forest, intent upon his mission of
rescue.
After the boy had travelled for an hour he
heard the howling of wolves, and hastened in
the direction whence the sound came, feeling
in his heart that he would find his father
surrounded by a ferocious pack. He hurried
forward as rapidly as he could run, and his
worst fears were realized.
Soon he reached the top of a hill over
looking a narrow ravine which lay to the
eastward. The moon had risen and the
snow had ceased to fall. The wind was
blowing a fiercer gale than ever, and had
broken rifts in the black bank of snowcloud,
so that gleams of the moon now and then
enabled Balser's vision to penetrate the dark-
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 225
ness. Upon looking down into the ravine
he beheld his father standing in the wagon,
holding in his hand a singletree which he
used as a weapon of defence. The wolves
jumped upon the wagon in twos and threes,
and when beaten off by Mr. Brent would
crowd around the wheels and howl to get
their courage up, and renew the attack.
Mr. Brent saw the boy starting down the
hill toward the wagon and motioned to him
to go back. Balser quickly perceived that
it would be worse than madness to go to his
226 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
father. The wolves would at once turn their
attack upon him, and his father would be
compelled to abandon his advantageous posi
tion in the wagon and go to his relief, in
which case both father and son would be
lost. Should Balser fire into the pack of
wolves from where he stood, he would bring
upon himself and his father the same disas
ter. He felt his helplessness grievously, but
his quick wit came to his assistance. He
looked about him for a tree which he could
climb, and soon found one. At first he hesi
tated to make use of the tree, for it was dead
and apparently rotten ; but there was none
other at hand, so he hastily climbed up and
seated himself firmly upon a limb which
seemed strong enough to sustain his weight
Balser was now safe from the wolves, and
at a distance of not more than twenty yards
from his father. There he waited until the
clouds for a moment permitted the full light
of the moon to rest upon the scene, and then
he took deliberate aim and fired into the
pack of howling wolves. A sharp yelp an-
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 227
swered his shot, and then a black, seething
mass of growling, fighting, snapping beasts
fell upon the carcass of the wolf that Balser's
shot had killed, and almost instantly they
devoured their unfortunate companion.
Balser felt that if he could kill enough
wolves to satisfy the hunger of the living
ones they would abandon their attack upon
his father, for wolves, like cowardly men, are
brave only in desperation. They will attack
neither man nor animal except when driven
to do so by hunger.
After Balser had killed the wolf, clouds
obscured the moon before he could make
another shot. He feared to fire in the dark
lest he might kill his father, so he waited
impatiently for the light which did not come.
Meanwhile, the dead wolf having been
devoured, the pack again turned upon Mr.
Brent, and Balser could hear his father's
voice and the clanking of the iron upon the
singletree as he struck at the wolves to ward
them off.
It seemed to Balser that the moon had
228 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
gone under the clouds never to appear again.
Mr. Brent continually called loudly to the
wolves, for the human voice is an awesome
sound even to the fiercest animals. To Bal-
ser the tone of his father's voice, mingled
with the howling of wolves, was a note of
desperation that almost drove him frantic.
The wind increased in fury every moment,
and Balser felt the cold piercing to the mar
row of his bones. He had waited it seemed
to him hours for the light of the moon again
to shine, but the clouds appeared to grow
deeper and the darkness more dense.
While Balser was vainly endeavouring to
watch the conflict at the wagon, he heard
a noise at the root of the tree in which
he had taken refuge, and, looking down, he
discovered a black monster standing quietly
beneath him. It was a bear that had been
attracted to the scene of battle by the noise.
Balser at once thought, " Could I kill this
huge bear, his great carcass certainly would
satisfy the hunger of the wolves that sur
round my father." Accordingly he lowered
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 231
the point of his gun, and, taking as good
aim as the darkness would permit, he fired
upon the bear. The bear gave forth a
frightful growl of rage and pain, and as it
did so its companion, a beast of enormous
size, came running up, apparently for the
purpose of rendering assistance.
Balser hastily reloaded his gun and pre
pared to shoot the other bear. This he
soon did, and while the wolves howled
about his father the two wounded bears
at the foot of the tree made night hideous
with their ravings.
Such a frightful bedlam of noises had
never before been heard.
Balser was again loading his gun, hoping
to finish the bears, when he saw two lighted
torches approaching along the path over
which he had just come, and as they came
into view imagine his consternation when
he recognized the forms of Liney Fox and
her brother Tom. Tom carried his father's
gun, for Mr. Fox had gone to Brookville,
and Liney, in addition to her torch, carried
232 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Tom's hatchet. Liney and Tom were ap
proaching rapidly, and Balser called out to
them to stop. They did not hear him, or
did not heed him, but continued to go
forward to their death. The bears at the
foot of the tree were wounded, and would
be more dangerous than even the pack of
wolves howling at the wagon.
" Go back ! Go back ! " cried Balser des
perately, "or you'll be killed. Two wounded
bears are at the root of the tree I'm in,
and a hundred wolves are howling in the
hollow just below me. Run for your lives !
Run ! You'll be torn in pieces if you come
here."
The boy and girl did not stop, but con
tinued to walk rapidly toward the spot from
which they had heard Balser call. The
clouds had drifted away from the moon,
and now that the light was of little use to
Balser for he was intent upon saving
Liney and Tom there was plenty of it.
The sound of his voice and the growling
of the bears had attracted the attention of
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 235
the wolves. They were wavering in their
attack upon Mr. Brent, and evidently had
half a notion to fall upon the bears that
Balser had wounded. Meantime Liney and
Tom continued to approach, and their
torches, which under ordinary circumstances
would have frightened the animals away,
attracted the attention of the bears and the
wolves, and drew the beasts upon them.
They were now within a few yards of cer
tain death, and again Balser in agony cried
out : " Go back, Liney ! Go back ! Run
for your lives ! " In his eagerness he rose
to his feet, and took a step or two out upon
the rotten limb on which he had been seated.
As he called to Liney and Tom, and mo
tioned to them frantically to go back, the
limb upon which he was standing broke,
and he fell a distance of ten or twelve feet
to the ground, and lay half stunned between
the two wounded bears. Just as Balser fell,
Liney and Tom came up to the rotten tree,
and at the same time the pack of wolves
abandoned their attack upon Mr. Brent and
236 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
rushed like a herd of howling demons upon
the three helpless children.
One of the bears immediately seized
Balser, and the other one struck Liney
to the ground. By the light of the torches
Mr. Brent saw all that had happened, and
when the wolves abandoned their attack
upon him he hurried forward to rescue
Balser, Liney, and Tom, although in so
doing he was going to meet his death. In
a few seQonds Mr. Brent was in the midst
of the terrible fight, and a dozen wolves
sprang upon him. Tom's gun was useless,
so he snatched the hatchet from Liney,
who was lying prostrate under one of the
bears, and tried to rescue her from its jaws.
Had he done so, however, it would have
been only to save her for the wolves. But
his attempt to rescue Liney was quickly
brought to an end. The wolves sprang upon
Tom, and soon he, too, was upon the ground.
The resinous torches which had fallen from
the hands of Tom and Liney continued to
burn, and cast a lurid light upon the terrible
scene.
ON THE STROKE OF NINE. 237
Consciousness soon returned to Balser,
and he saw with horror the fate that was
in store for his father, his friends, and him
self. Despair took possession of his soul,
and he knew that the lamp of life would
soon be black in all of them forever. While
his father and Tom lay upon the ground
at the mercy of the wolves, and while Liney
was lying within arm's reach of him in the
jaws of the wounded bear, and he utterly
helpless to save the girl of whom he was
so fond, Balser's mother shook him by the
shoulder and said, " Balser, your father is
coming." Balser sprang to his feet, looked
dazed for a moment, and then ran, half
weeping, half laughing, into his father's
arms . . . just as the sleepy little clock
had finished striking nine.
CHAPTER IX.
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE.
CHRISTMAS morning the boys awakened
early and crept from beneath their warm
bearskins in eager anticipation of gifts from
Santa Claus. Of course they had long before
learned who Santa Claus was, but they loved
the story, and in the wisdom of their inno
cence clung to an illusion which brought
them happiness.
The sun had risen upon a scene such as
winter only can produce. Surely Aladdin
had come to Blue River upon the wings of
the Christmas storm, had rubbed his lamp,
and lo! the humble cabin was in the heart
of a fairyland such as was never conceived
by the mind of a genie. Snow lay upon the
ground like a soft carpet of white velvet ten
inches thick. The boughs of the trees were
festooned with a foliage that spring cannot
rival. Even the locust trees, which in their
238
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 239
pride of blossom cry out in June time for our
admiration, seemed to say, " See what we
can do in winter ; " and the sycamore and
beech drooped their branches, as if to call
attention to their winter flowers given by
that rarest of artists, Jack Frost.
The boys quickly donned their heavy buck
skin clothing and moccasins, and climbed
down the pole to the room where their
father and mother were sleeping. Jim awak
ened his parents with a cry of " Christmas
Gift," but Balser's attention was attracted to
a barrel standing by the fireplace, which his
father had brought from Brookville, and into
which the boys had not been permitted to
look the night before. Balser had a shrewd
suspicion of what the barrel contained, and
his delight knew no bounds when he found,
as he had hoped, that it was filled with steel
traps of the size used to catch beavers, coons,
and foxes.
Since he had owned a gun, Balser's great
desire had been to possess a number of traps.
As I have already told you, the pelts of ani-
240 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
mals taken in winter are of great value, and
our little hero longed to begin life on his
own account as a hunter and trapper.
I might tell you of the joyous Christmas
morning in the humble cabin when the gifts
which Mr. Brent had brought from Brook-
ville were distributed. I might tell you of
the new gown for mother, of the bright, red
mufflers, of the shoes for Sunday wear and
the "store" caps for the boys, to be used
upon holiday occasions. I might tell you of
the candies and nuts, and of the rarest of
all the gifts, an orange for each member
of the family, for that fruit had never before
been seen upon Blue River. But I must
take you to the castle on Brandywine.
You may wonder how there came to be a
castle in the wilderness on Brandywine, but
I am sure, when you learn about it, you will
declare that it was fairer than any castle ever
built of mortar and stone, and that the ad
ventures which befell our little heroes were
as glorious as ever fell to the lot of spurred
and belted knight
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 241
Immediately after breakfast, when the
chores had all been finished, Balser and Jim
started down the river to visit Liney and
Tom. Balser carried with him two Christ
mas presents for his friends a steel trap
for Tom, and the orange which his father
had brought him from Brook ville for Liney.
I might also tell you of Tom's delight
when he received the trap, and of Liney 's
smile of pleasure, worth all the oranges in
the world, when she received her present;
and I might tell you how she divided the
orange into pieces, and gave one to each of
the family; and how, after it had all been
eaten, tears came to her bright eyes when she
learned that Balser had not tasted the fruit.
I might tell you much more that would be
interesting, and show you how good and true
and gentle were these honest, simple folk,
but I must drop it all and begin my story.
Balser told Tom about the traps, and a
trapping expedition was quickly agreed upon
between the boys.
The next day Tom went to visit Balser,
242 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and for three or four days the boys were
busily engaged in making two sleds upon
which to carry provisions for their campaign.
The sleds when finished were each about two
feet broad and six feet long. They were
made of elm, and were very strong, and
were so light that when loaded the boys
could easily draw them over the snow. By
the time the sleds were finished the snow
was hard, and everything was ready for the
moving of the expedition.
First, the traps were packed. Then pro
visions, consisting of sweet potatoes, a great
lump of maple sugar, a dozen loaves of white
bread, two or three gourds full of butter, a
side of bacon, a bag of meal, a large piece of
bear meat for the dogs, and a number of
other articles and simple utensils such as the
boys would need in cooking, were loaded
upon the sleds. They took with them no
meat other than bacon and the bear meat
for the dogs, for they knew they could
make traps from the boughs of trees in
which they could catch quail and pheas-
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 243
ants, and were sure to be able, in an hour's
hunting, to provide enough venison to sup
ply their wants for a much longer time than
they would remain in camp. There were
also wild turkeys to be killed, and fish to be
caught through openings which the boys
would make in the ice of the creek.
Over the loaded sleds they spread woolly
bearskins to be used for beds and covering
during the cold nights, and they also took
with them a number of tanned deerskins,
with which to carpet the floor of their castle
and to close its doors and windows. Tom
took with him his wonderful hatchet, an axe,
and his father's rifle. Axe, hatchets, and
knives had been sharpened, and bullets had
been moulded in such vast numbers that one
would have thought the boys were going to
war. Powder horns were filled, and a can
of that precious article was placed carefully
upon each of the sleds.
Bright and early one morning Balser,
Tom, and Jim, and last, but by no means
least, Tige and Prince, crossed Blue River,
244 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
and started in a northwestern direction tow
ard a point on Brandywine where a number
of beaver dams were known to exist, ten
miles distant from the Brent cabin.
EN ROUTE FOR THE CASTLE.
Tom and Tige drew one of the sleds, and
Balser and Prince drew the other. During
the first part of the trip, Jim would now and
then lend a helping hand, but toward the
latter end of the journey he said he thought
it would be better for him to ride upon
one of the sleds to keep the load from fall-
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 245
ing off. Balser and Tom, however, did
not agree with him, nor did the dogs; so
Jim walked behind and grumbled, and had
his grumbling for his pains, as usually is the
case with grumblers.
Two or three hours before sunset the boys
reached Brandywine, a babbling little creek in
springtime, winding its crooked rippling way
through overhanging boughs of water elm,
sycamore, and willows, but, at the time of our
heroes' expedition, frozen over with the mail
of winter. It is in small creeks, such as Bran
dywine, that beavers love to make their dams.
Our little caravan, upon reaching Brandy-
wine, at once took to the ice and started up
stream along its winding course.
Jim had grown tired. "I don't believe
246 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
you fellows know where you're going," said
he. " I don't see any place to camp."
" You'll see it pretty quickly," said Balser ;
and when they turned a bend in the creek
they beheld a huge sycamore springing from a
little valley that led down to the water's edge.
" There's our home," said Balser.
The sycamore was hollow, and at its roots
was an opening for a doorway.
Upon beholding the tree Jim gave a cry of
delight, and was for entering their new home
at once, but Balser held him back and sent
in the dogs as an exploring advance guard.
Soon the dogs came out and informed the
boys that everything within the tree was all
right, and Balser and Tom and Jim stooped
low and entered upon the possession of their
castle on Brandywine.
The first task was to sweep out the dust
and dry leaves. This the boys did with bun
dles of twigs rudely fashioned into brooms.
The dry leaves and small tufts of black hair
gave evidence all too strongly that the castle
which the boys had captured was the home of
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 247
some baron bear who had incautiously left his
stronghold unguarded. Jim spoke of this
fact with unpleasant emphasis, and was ready
to " bet " that the bear would come back when
they were all asleep, and would take posses
sion of his castle and devour the intruders.
" What will you bet ? " said Tom.
" I didn't say I would bet anything. I
just said I'd bet, and you'll see I'm right,"
returned Jim.
Balser and Tom well knew that Jim's proph
ecy might easily come true, but they had
faith in the watchfulness of their sentinels,
Tige and Prince, and the moon being at its
full, they hoped rather than feared that his
bearship might return, and were confident
that, in case he did, his danger would be
greater than theirs.
After the castle floor had been carefully
swept, the boys carried in the deerskins and
spread them on the ground for a carpet.
The bearskins were then taken in, and the
beds were made ; traps, guns, and provisions
were stored away, and the sleds were drawn
248 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
around to one side of the door, and placed
leaning against the tree.
The boys were hungry, and Jim insisted
that supper should be prepared at once ; but
Tom, having made several trips around the
tree, remarked mysteriously that he had a plan
of his own. He said there was a great deal
of work to be done before sundown, and that
supper could be eaten after dark when they
could not work. Tom was right, for the
night gave promise of bitter cold.
Limpy did not tell his plans at once, but
soon they were developed.
The hollow in the tree in which the boys
had made their home was almost circular in
form. It was at least ten or eleven feet in
diameter, and extended up into the tree
twenty or thirty feet. Springing from the
same root, and a part of the parent tree, grew
two large sprouts or branches, which at a lit
tle distance looked like separate trees. They
were, however, each connected with the larger
tree, and the three formed one.
" What on earth are you pounding at that
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 249
tree for ? " asked Jim, while Tom was striking
one of the smaller trees with the butt end of
the hatchet, and listening intently as if he
expected to hear a response.
Tom did not reply to Jim, but in a mo
ment entered the main tree with axe in hand,
and soon Balser and Jim heard him chopping.
The two boys at once followed Tom, to
learn what their eccentric companion was
doing. Tom did not respond to their ques
tions, but after he had chopped vigorously
for a few minutes the result of his work gave
them an answer, for he soon cut an opening
into the smaller tree, which was also hollow.
Tom had discovered the hollow by striking
the tree with his hatchet. In fact, Tom was
a genius after his own peculiar pattern.
The newly discovered hollow proved to be
three or four feet in diameter, and, like that
in the larger tree, extended to a considerable
height. After Tom had made the opening
between the trees, he sat upon the ground,
and with his hatchet hewed it to an oval
shape, two feet high and two feet broad.
250 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Jim could not imagine why Tom had taken
so much trouble to add another room to their
house, which was already large enough. But
when Tom, having finished the opening upon
the inside, went out and began to climb the
smaller tree with the help of a few low-grow
ing branches, the youngest member of the ex
pedition became fully convinced in his own
mind that the second in command was out
of his head entirely. When Tom, having
climbed to a height of twelve or fifteen feet,
began to chop with his hatchet, Jim remarked,
in most emphatic language, that he thought
" a fellow who would chop at a sycamore tree
just for the sake of making chips, when he
might be eating his supper, was too big a
fool to live."
Tom did not respond to Jim's sarcasm,
but persevered in his chopping until he had
made an opening at the point to which he
had climbed. Balser had quickly guessed
the object of Tom's mighty labors, but he
did not enlighten Jim. He had gone to
other work, and by the time Tom had made
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 251
the opening from the outside of the smaller
tree, had collected a pile of firewood, and had
carried several loads of it into the castle.
Then Tom came down, and Jim quickly fol
lowed him into the large tree, for by that
time his mysterious movements were full of
interest to the little fellow.
Now what do you suppose was Tom's
object in wasting so much time and energy
with his axe and hatchet?
A fireplace.
You will at once understand that the
opening which Tom had cut in the tree at
the height of twelve or fifteen feet was for
the purpose of making a chimney through
which the smoke might escape.
The boys kindled a fire, and in a few
minutes there was a cheery blaze in their fire
place that lighted up the room and made
"everything look just like home," Jim said.
Then Jim went outside and gave a great
hurrah of delight when he saw the smoke
issuing from the chimney that ingenious
Tom had made with his hatchet.
252 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Jim watched the smoke for a few mo
ments, and then walked around the tree to
survey the premises. The result of his
survey was the discovery of a hollow in
THE CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE.
the third tree of their castle, and when he
informed Balser and Tom of the important
fact, it was agreed that the room which
Jim had found should be prepared for Tige
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 253
and Prince. The dogs were not fastidious,
and a sleeping-place was soon made for
them entirely to their satisfaction.
Meantime the fire was blazing and crac
kling in the fireplace, and the boys began to
prepare supper. They had not had time
to kill game, so they fried a few pieces of
bacon and a dozen eggs, of which they had
brought a good supply, and roasted a few
sweet potatoes in the ashes. Then they
made an opening in the ice, from which
they drew a bucketful of sparkling ice
water, and when all was ready they sat
down to supper, served with the rarest of
all dressings, appetite sauce, and at least
one of the party, Jim, was happy as a boy
could be.
The dogs then received their supper of
bear meat.
The members of the expedition, from the
commanding officer Balser to the high pri
vates Tige and Prince, were very tired after
their hard day's work, and when Tom and
Balser showed the dogs their sleeping-place,
254 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
they curled up close to each other and soon
were in the land of dog dreams.
By the time supper was finished night
had fallen, and while Tom and Balser were
engaged in stretching a deerskin across the
door to exclude the cold air, Jim crept
between the bearskins and soon was sound
asleep, dreaming no doubt of suppers and
dinners and breakfasts, and scolding in his
dreams like the veritable little grumbler
that he was. A great bed of embers had
accumulated in the fireplace, and upon them
Balser placed a hickory knot for the purpose
of retaining fire till morning, and then he
covered the fire with ashes.
After all was ready Balser and Tom crept
in between the bearskins, and lying spoon-
fashion, one on each side of Jim, lost no
time in making a rapid, happy journey to
the land of Nod.
Tom slept next to the wall, next to
Tom lay Jim, and next to Jim was Balser.
The boys were lying with their feet to
the fire, and upon the opposite side of
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 255
the room was the doorway closed by the
deerskin, of which I have already told
you.
Of course they went to bed "all stand
ing," as sailors say when they lie down to
sleep with their clothing on, for the weather
was cold, and the buckskin clothing and
moccasins were soft and pleasant to sleep
in, and would materially assist the bear
skins in keeping the boys warm.
It must have been a pretty sight in the
last flickering light of the smouldering fire
to see the three boys huddled closely to
gether, covered by the bearskins. I have
no doubt had you seen them upon that
night they would have appeared to you
like a sleeping bear. In fact, before the
night was over they did appear to but I
must not go ahead of my story.
The swift-winged hours of darkness sped
like moments to the sleeping boys. The
smouldering coals in the fireplace were
black and lustreless. The night wind softly
moaned through the branches of the syca-
256 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
more, and sighed as it swept the bare limbs
of the willows and the rustling tops of the
underbrush. Jack Frost was silently at
work, and the cold, clear air seemed to
glitter in the moonlight. It was an hour
past midnight. Had the boys been awake
and listening, or had Tige and Prince been
attending to their duties as sentinels, they
would have heard a crisp noise of footsteps,
as the icy surface of the snow cracked, and
as dead twigs broke beneath a heavy weight.
Ah, could the boys but awaken ! Could
the dogs be aroused but for one instant
from their deep lethargy of slumber!
Balser! Tom! Jim! Tige! Prince!
Awaken ! Awaken !
On comes the heavy footfall, cautiously.
As it approaches the castle a few hurried
steps are taken, and the black, awkward
form lifts his head and sniffs the air for
signs of danger.
The baron has returned to claim his own,
and Jim's prophecy, at least in part, has
come true. The tracks upon the snow
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 257
left by the boys and dogs, and the sleds
leaning against the tree, excite the bear's
suspicion, and he stands like a statue for
five minutes, trying to make up his mind
whether or not he shall enter his old domain.
The memory of his cozy home tempts him,
and he cautiously walks to the doorway of
his house. The deerskin stretched across
the opening surprises him, and he carefully
examines it with the aid of his chief coun
sellor, his nose. Then he thrusts it aside
with his head and enters.
He sees the boys on the opposite side of
the tree, and doubtless fancies that his mate
has gotten home before him, so he com
placently lies down beside the bearskins, and
soon, he, too, is in the land of bear dreams.
When a bear sleeps he snores, and the
first loud snort from the baron's nostrils
aroused Balser. At first Balser's mind was
in confusion, and he thought that he was at
home. In a moment, however, he remem
bered where he was, and waited in the dark
ness for a repetition of the sound that had
258 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
awakened him. Soon it came again, and
Balser in his drowsiness fancied that Tom
had changed his place and was lying beside
him, though never in all his life had he
heard such sounds proceed from Limpy's
nose. So he reached out his hand, and at
once was undeceived, for he touched the
bear, and at last Balser was awake. The
boy's hair seemed to stand erect upon his
head, and his blood grew cold in his veins,
as he realized the terrible situation. All
was darkness. The guns, hatchets, and
knives were upon the opposite side of the
tree, and to reach them or to reach the door
way Balser would have to climb over the
bear. Cold as the night was, perspiration
sprang from every pore of his skin, and
terror took possession of him such as he
had never before known. It seemed a long
time that he lay there, but it could not
have been more than a few seconds until
the bear gave forth another snort, and Tom
raised up from his side of the bed, and
said : " Balser, for goodness' sake stop snor-
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 259
ing. The noise you make would bring a
dead man to life."
Tom's voice aroused the bear, and it im
mediately rose upon its haunches with a
deep growl that seemed to shake the tree.
Then Jim awakened and began to scream.
At the same instant Tige and Prince entered
the tree, and a fight at once ensued between
the bear and dogs. The bear was as badly
frightened as the boys, and when it and the
dogs ran about the room the boys were
thrown to the ground and trampled upon.
The beast, in his desperate effort to es
cape, ran into the fireplace and scattered
the coals and ashes. As he could not escape
through the fireplace, he backed into the
room, and again made the rounds of the
tree with the dogs at his heels. Again
the boys were knocked about as if they were
ninepins. They made an effort to reach
the door, but all I have told you about took
place so quickly, and the darkness was so
intense, that they failed to escape. Mean
time the fight between the dogs and the
2<5o THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
bear went on furiously, and the barking,
yelping, growling, and snarling made a noise
that was deafening. Balser lifted Jim to his
arms and tried to save him from injury, but
his efforts were of small avail, for with each
plunge of the bear the boys were thrown to
the ground or dashed against the tree, until
it seemed that there was not a spot upon
their bodies that was not bruised and
scratched. At last, after a minute or two of
awful struggle and turmoil a minute or
two that seemed hours to the boys the
bear made his exit through the door followed
closely by Tige and Prince, who clung to
him with a persistency not to be shaken off.
You may be sure that the boys lost no
time in making their exit also. Their first
thoughts, of course, were of each other, and
when Balser learned that Jim and Tom had
received no serious injury, he quickly turned
his head in the direction whence the bear
and dogs had gone, and saw them at a point
in the bend of the creek not fifty yards away.
The bear had come to bay, and the dogs
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 261
were in front of him, at a safe distance,
barking furiously, Then Balser's courage
returned, and he hastily went into the tree,
brought out his carbine, and hurried toward
the scene of conflict. The moon was at its
full, and the snow upon the trees and upon
the ground helped to make the night almost
as light as day. The bear was sitting erect
upon his haunches, hurling defiant growls at
the dogs, and when Balser approached him,
the brute presented his breast as a fair mark.
Tom also fetched his gun and followed
closely at Balser's heels. The attention of
the bear was so occupied with the dogs that
he gave no heed to the boys, and they easily
approached him to within a distance of five
or six yards. Tom and Balser stood for a
moment or two with their guns ready to fire,
and Balser said : " Tom, you shoot first. I'll
watch carefully, and hold my fire until the
bear makes a rush, should you fail to kill
him."
Much to Balser's surprise, Tom quickly
and fearlessly took three or four steps toward
262 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
the bear, and when he lifted his father's long
gun to fire, the end of it was within three
yards of the bear's breast.
Balser held his ground, much frightened
at Tom's reckless bravery, but did not dare
to speak. When Tom fired, the bear gave
forth a fearful growl, and sprang like a
wildcat right upon the boy. Tom fell to
the ground upon his back, and the bear
stood over him. The dogs quickly made an
attack, and Balser hesitated to fire, fearing
that he might kill Tom or one of the dogs.
Then came Jim, who rushed past Balser
toward Tom and the bear, and if Jim's cour
age had ever before been doubted, all such
doubts were upon that night removed for
ever. The little fellow carried in his hand
Tom's hatchet, and without fear or hesitancy
he ran to the bear and began to strike him
with all his little might. Meantime poor,
prostrate Tom was crying piteously for help,
and, now that Jim was added to the group,
it seemed impossible for Balser to fire at the
bear. But no time was to be lost. If Bal'
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 265
ser did not shoot, Tom certainly would be
killed in less than ten seconds. So, without
stopping to take thought, and upon the im
pulse of one of those rare intuitions under
the influence of which persons move so
accurately, Balser lifted his gun to his shoul
der. He could see the bear's head plainly
as it swayed from side to side, just over
Tom's throat, and it seemed that he could
not miss his aim. Almost without looking,
he pulled the trigger. He felt the rebound
of the gun and heard the report breaking the
heavy silence of the night. Then he dropped
the gun upon the snow and covered his face
with his hands, fearing to see the result of
his shot. He stood for a moment trembling.
The dogs had stopped barking ; the bear
had stopped growling; Jim had ceased to
cry out; Tom had ceased his call for help,
and the deep silence rested upon Balser's
heart like a load of lead. He could not take
his hands from his face. After a moment
he felt Jim's little hand upon his arm, and
Tom said, as he drew himself from beneath
266 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
the bear, " Balser, there's no man or boy
living but you that could have made that
shot in the moonlight."
Then Balser knew that he had killed the
bear, and he sank upon the snow and wept
as if his heart would break.
Notwithstanding the intense cold, the ex
citement of battle had made the boys un
conscious of it, and Tom and Jim stood by
Balser's side as he sat upon the snow, and
they did not feel the sting of the night.
Poor little Jim, who was so given to
grumbling, much to the surprise of his
companions fell upon his knees, and said,
" Don't cry, Balser, don't cry," although the
tears were falling over the little fellow's own
cheeks. " Don't cry any more, Balser, the
bear is dead all over. I heard the bullet
whiz past my ears, and I heard it strike the
bear's head just as plain as you can hear
that owl hoot; and then I knew that you
had saved Tom and me, because nobody can
shoot as well as you can."
The little fellow's tenderness and his
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 267
pride in Balser seemed all the sweeter, be
cause it sprang from his childish gruffness.
Tom and Jim helped Balser to his feet,
and they went over to the spot where the
bear was lying stone dead with Balser's
bullet in his brain. The dogs were sniffing
at the dead bear, and the monster brute lay
upon the snow in the moonlight, and looked
like a huge incarnate fiend.
After examining him for a moment the
boys slowly walked back to the tree. When
they had entered they raked the coals to
gether, put on an armful of wood, called in
the dogs to share their comfort, hung up the
deerskin at the door, drew the bearskins in
front of the fire, and sat down to talk and
think, since there was no sleep left in their
eyes for the rest of that night.
After a long silence Jim said, " I told you
he'd come back."
"But he didn't eat us," replied Tom,
determined that Jim should not be right in
everything.
" He'd have eaten you, Limpy Fox, if
268 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
Balser hadn't been the best shot in the
world."
"That's what he would," answered Tom,
half inclined to cry.
" Nonsense," said Balser, "anybody could
have done it"
" Well, I reckon not," said Jim. " Me
and Tom and the dogs and the bear was as
thick as six in a bed ; and honest, Balser, I
think you had to shoot around a curve to
miss us all but the bear."
After a few minutes Jim said : " Golly !
wasn't that an awful fight we had in here
before the bear got out ? "
" Yes, it was," returned Balser, seriously.
" Well, I rather think it was," continued
Jim. " Honestly, fellows, I ran around this
here room so fast for a while, that that I
could see my own back most of the time."
Balser and Tom laughed, and Tom said :
"Jim, if you keep on improving, you'll be
a bigger liar than that fellow in the Bible
before you're half his age."
Then the boys lapsed into silence, and the
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 269
dogs lay stretched before the fire till the wel
come sun began to climb the hill of the
sky and spread his blessed tints of gray and
blue and pink and red, followed by the
glorious flood of day.
After breakfast the boys skinned the bear
and cut his carcass into small pieces that
is, such portions of it as they cared to keep.
They hung the bearskin and meat upon the
branches of their castle beyond the reach of
wolves and foxes, and they gave to Tige and
Prince each a piece of meat that made their
sides stand out with fulness.
The saving of the bear meat and skin
consumed most of the morning, and at noon
the boys took a loin steak from the bear and
broiled it upon the coals for dinner. After
dinner they began the real work of the
expedition by preparing to set the traps.
When all was ready they started up the
creek, each boy carrying a load of traps over
his shoulder. At a distance of a little more
than half a mile from the castle they found a
beaver dam stretching across the creek, and
2/o THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
at the water's edge near each end of the dam
they saw numberless tracks made by the
little animals whose precious pelts they were
so anxious to obtain.
I should like to tell you of the marvellous
home of that wonderful little animal the
beaver, and of his curious habits and in
stincts ; how he chops wood and digs into
the ground and plasters his home, under the
water, with mud, using his tail for shovel
and trowel. But all that you may learn from
any book on natural history, and I assure
you it will be found interesting reading.
The boys placed five or six traps upon the
beaver paths on each side of the creek, and
then continued their journey up stream until
they found a little opening in the ice down
to which, from the bank above, ran a well-
beaten path, telling plainly of the many
kinds of animals that had been going there
to drink. There they set a few traps and
baited them with small pieces of bear meat,
and then they returned home, intending
to visit the traps next morning at an early
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 271
hour, and hoping to reap a rich harvest of
pelts.
When the boys reached home it lacked
little more than an hour of sunset, but the
young fellows had recovered from the ex
citement of the night before, which had
somewhat destroyed their appetites for
breakfast and dinner, and by the time they
had returned from setting their traps those
same appetites were asserting themselves
with a vigour that showed plainly enough a
fixed determination to make up for lost time.
" How would a wild turkey or a venison
steak taste for supper ? " asked Balser.
Jim simply looked up at him with a greedy,
hungry expression, and exclaimed the one
word "Taste?"
" Well, I'll go down the creek a little way
and see what I can find. You fellows stay
here and build a fire, so that we can have a
fine bed of coals when I return."
Balser shouldered his gun and went
down the creek to find his supper. He
did not take the dogs, for he hoped to kill
272 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
a wild turkey, and dogs are apt to bark in
the pursuit of squirrels and rabbits, thereby
frightening the turkey, which is a shy and
wary bird.
When the boy had travelled quite a long
distance down stream, he began to fear
that, after all, he should
be compelled to content
himself with a rabbit or
two for supper. So he
turned homeward and
scanned the woods care
fully for the humble game,
that he might not go home entirely empty-
handed.
Upon his journey down the creek rabbits
had sprung up on every side of him, but
now that he wanted a pair for supper they
all had mysteriously disappeared, and he
feared that he and the boys and the dogs
would be compelled to content themselves
with bear meat.
When the boy was within a few hundred
yards of home, and had almost despaired of
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE.
obtaining even a rabbit, he espied a doe
and a fawn, standing upon the opposite side
of the creek at a distance of sixty or sev
enty yards, watching him intently with their
" ESPIED A DOE AND A FAWN, STANDING UPON THE OPPOSITE
SIDE OF THE CREEK."
great brown eyes, so full of fatal curiosity.
Balser imitated the cry of the fawn, and
held the attention of the doe until he was
enabled to lessen the distance by fifteen or
twenty yards. Then he shot the fawn,
knowing that if he did so, its mother, the
doe, would run for a short distance and
274 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
would return to the fawn. In the mean
time Balser would load his gun and would
kill the doe when she returned. And so it
happened that the doe and the fawn each
fell a victim to our hunter's skill. Balser
threw the fawn over his shoulder and car
ried it to the castle; then the boys took
one of the sleds and fetched home the doe.
They hung the doe high upon the branches
of the sycamore, and cut the fawn into small
pieces, which they put upon the ice of the
creek and covered with snow, that the
meat might quickly cool. The bed of coals
was ready, and the boys were ready too,
you may be sure.
Soon the fawn meat cooled, and soon each
boy was devouring a savoury piece that had
been broiled upon the coals.
After supper the boys again built a fine
fire, and sat before it talking of the events
of the day, and wondering how many beavers,
foxes, coons, and muskrats they would find
in their traps next morning.
As the fire died down drowsiness stole
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 275
over our trappers, who were in the habit of
going to bed soon after sunset, and they
again crept in between the bearskins with
Jim in the middle. They, however, took
the precaution to keep Tige and Prince in
the same room with them, and the boys
slept that night without fear of an intru
sion such as had disturbed them the night
before.
Next morning, bright and early, the boys
hurried up the creek to examine their traps,
and greatly to their joy found five beavers
and several minks, coons, and muskrats
safely captured. Near one of the traps
was the foot of a fox, which its possessor
had bitten off in the night when he learned
that he could not free it from the cruel
steel.
The boys killed the animals they had
caught by striking them on the head with
a heavy club, which method of inflicting
death did not damage the pelts as a sharp
instrument or bullet would have done. After
resetting the traps, our hunters placed the
276 THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
game upon the sled and hurried home to
their castle, where the pelts were carefully
removed, stretched upon forked sticks, and
hung up to dry.
Our heroes remained in camp for ten or
twelve days, and each morning brought
them a fine supply of fur. They met with
no other adventure worthy to be related,
and one day was like another. They awak
ened each morning with the sun, and ate
their breakfast of broiled venison, fish, or
quail, with now and then a rabbit. Upon
one occasion they had the breast of a wild
turkey. They sought the traps, took the
game, prepared the pelts, ate their dinners
and suppers of broiled meats and baked
sweet potatoes, and slumbered cozily be
neath their warm bearskins till morning.
One day Balser noticed that the snow
was melting and was falling from the trees.
He and his companions had taken enough
pelts to make a heavy load upon each of the
sleds. They feared that the weather might
suddenly grow warm and that the snow
A CASTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE. 277
might disappear. So they leisurely packed
the pelts and their belongings, and next
morning started for home on Blue River,
the richest, happiest boys in the settlement.
They were glad to go home, but it was
with a touch of sadness, when they passed
around the bend in the creek, that they
said " Good-by " to their " Castle on Brandy-
wine."
By CHARLES MAJOR
Author of " When Knighthood Was in Fl&oxr," etc.
With eight full-page illustrations by HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY
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