Part 21 (2/2)

They came in at noon, having covered some new ground, and brought the best part of an elk with them. Mr. Mabie laughed, and wished it might have been an antelope instead. He was not partial to elk meat, which was perhaps natural in a stockman, who could kill young beef whenever the spirit moved.

”How about that bear den, Reddy?” asked Jerry, as they lounged about the camp in the early afternoon.

”Any time you say the word. I was only waitin' till Frank felt himself again,” was the other's reply.

”Oh, don't let my condition keep you from that little entertainment.

Besides, I feel much better now. Perhaps a little excitement might put me in just the right kind of trim,” declared that individual promptly.

”Hear! hear!” exclaimed Bluff, making a pretense of clapping his hands.

”Talk to me about your dyed-in-the-wool sportsman! Frank, here, could give any fellow points,” declared Jerry.

”I understand the principle he works on. It's the same as what they call h.o.m.oepathy, that 'like cures like.' I've seen a man, when struck by a rattler, chase the reptile, kill him, and apply his crushed body to the wound, in the belief that one poison would counteract the other,” said the stockman.

”Did it succeed?” asked Jerry, eager for information along these lines.

”Well,” said Mr. Mabie, ”the poor chap died, I'm sorry to say. In another case, the fellow insisted on filling himself up with whiskey. He lived through it, too, which proved the rule, though I believe there are better things to save a man than liquor. But Frank has the right idea.

The excitement of the chase will cause him to forget, and take some of the stiffness out of his joints.”

”Then we go this afternoon?” queried Reddy anxiously.

”Whenever you're ready,” answered Frank.

They set out within half an hour. Of course, the whole four chums insisted on being in the party. Besides, there were the guide, Mr. Mabie and Billy. Each of the cowboys carried his rope, for of late it had seemed as though a lariat might be a very necessary accompaniment to these side hunts.

They headed in a quarter where, as yet, none of the boys had been. This led them directly into the thickets that lay at the base of the mountain barrier, stretching away up against the blue heavens.

None of the chums had forgotten the fierce appearance of the grizzly that had fallen before the rifle which Jerry wielded so cleverly.

”Remember, lads,” said Mr. Mabie, as they trailed along through rocky gulches, ”every Mountain Charlie isn't going to keel over as easily as the one Jerry got. He was lucky to send his lead to a vital point. I've seen veteran hunters shoot a bear a dozen times, and then have to finish him with a knife.”

”I've always read that they can stand a tremendous amount of shooting without caving under,” admitted Frank.

”And it isn't considered at all disgraceful, when stirring such a terrible monster out of his den, for the hunters to post themselves in trees near by. While at first blush such a procedure might seem silly or cowardly to you, take an old hunter's advice, and give the rascal no more chance than you can help. Even then I've known him to shake a fellow out of a small tree, and only for the a.s.sistance of the others he must have killed the youngster.”

”A grizzly can't climb a tree, then, sir?” questioned Will uneasily.

”Not ordinarily. He might manage to swarm up if the trunk was inclined about forty-five degrees. Select straight ones, and of some size; then you're safe.”

”Thank you, Mr. Mabie. I'll follow your advice. You see, I'm only the photographer of the club, and they could hardly afford to lose me,”

remarked Will, thinking some sort of an apology might be necessary for his seeming timidity.

But the others did not laugh. They knew their chum too well for that. He had proven more than once that when it came to a pinch he could conquer his natural weakness, and show the right spirit of bravery, especially if it were one of his comrades who was in peril.

”Well,” remarked Reddy a short time later, ”we're close to the place now.”

”I imagined as much,” said Mr. Mabie, with a significant look around.

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