bob fully realized that he was in a bad fix but it was not until darkness came that the thought occurred to him that he might not get out of the scrape alive. he had been in tight places before but never had he felt so entirely helpless and alone. to make matters worse a swarm of mosquitoes began to besiege him and he was kept busy slapping first one place and then another.
his ankle no longer pained him but instead felt numb as though it had gone to sleep. he uttered a short but fervent prayer that god would send him help before it was too late and then feeling more calm he tried to sleep. but it was of no use. the mosquitoes tormented him so that sleep was out of the question. how dark it was. there was no moon and he was unable to see his hand held before his eyes.
“they say that everything has some use,” he thought. “but blest if i can see why mosquitoes were ever made.”
he had a few matches in his pocket and from time to time he lit one to see if his leg was still bleeding. it grew no worse in this respect and after a time he believed that it had stopped altogether.
“if only i could build a fire,” he thought, “the smoke would drive these mosquitoes away.”
but there was nothing within his reach to serve the purpose and he had to abandon the idea. he thought it must be nearly twelve o’clock when a glance at the luminous face of his watch told him that it was only a few minutes past nine.
“morning will never come at this rate,” he thought. “oh, if these mosquitoes would only let me alone. then i could sleep.”
another hour passed and to the boy it seemed almost endless. he was so drowsy that he could hardly keep his eyes open when he tried to but yet he could not sleep. once he fancied that he did drop off but a glance at his watch told him that only two minutes had passed since he had looked at it before.
“it’ll be a wonder if my hair isn’t white before morning,” he thought.
just at that moment his heart gave a great leap. a faint but unmistakable buzzing reached his ears.
“the radio!” he thought. “why in the world didn’t i think of it before.” in an instant he had the instrument out of his pocket.
“hello,” he almost shouted into it.
“that you, bob?”
never, he thought had a voice sounded so sweet. “yes, it’s what there is left of me.”
“did they get you?” jack’s voice was filled with anxiety.
“they didn’t but it did.”
“what’s it?”
“a bear trap.”
for a moment the phone was silent and bob feared that something had happened to it. then jack’s voice came again.
“do you mean that you are caught in a bear trap?”
“you guessed it.”
“but how in the world did it happen?”
“i imagine i must have stepped on it,” bob answered dryly.
“i know that,” jack’s voice came back impatiently. “i didn’t suppose that you climbed up in a tree and stuck your foot in it. what i mean is didn’t you see it?”
“i think not. if i had i doubt if i would have stepped in it.”
“oh, bob, i don’t mean to talk like an idiot but honest i’m so scared that i don’t know what i am saying i guess. now tell me where you are and if you’re badly hurt.”
“no, i don’t think i’m very badly hurt. of course the trap has got a pretty good hold on my leg but it doesn’t pain me so badly now. in fact i can hardly feel it at all. as to where i am i don’t know of course. i fancy i’m eighteen or twenty miles from where you are and i came directly west. i know i’m not far from the line, but don’t know just how far.”
“all right. you just sit tight and i’ll be there before you know it.”
“steady son, you couldn’t find me in this darkness to save your soul. you’d only get lost. no, the best way will be to wait till daylight. it’ll only be a few hours now and i can stand it. remember you can get no sense of direction in these phones so i couldn’t guide you till you got near enough to hear me without the phones.”
“i suppose you’re right as usual, but bob, i’m scared stiff.”
“you needn’t be. i’m all right and if it wasn’t for these pesky mosquitoes i could go to sleep. now you hit the hay and get some rest. you’ll likely have some hunt before you find me tomorrow and you’ll need all your strength.”
“but why didn’t you call me on your phone? i’ve been trying to get you ever since it began to get dark but i just discovered a loose connection on my condenser and i guess the thing didn’t work till just now.”
“to tell the truth,” bob replied, “i never once thought of it. funny wasn’t it? but now you get to sleep.”
at first jack protested that it would be impossible for him to get to sleep, but after bob had again assured him that he would be all right and that the best way in which he could help him right then was to sleep so as to be fresh for his hunt on the morrow, he consented to try and they bade each other good night.
bob, much cheered by the conversation with his brother, now accepted the situation philosophically.
“well,” he thought, “i little dreamed while we were working on these phones that they would so soon be the means of saving my life. it’s a mighty lucky thing for me that we made them.”
hope made the time pass more quickly than it had before jack called, but, nevertheless it seemed as though several nights had had time to go by before his watch told him that it was three o’clock. he was badly bitten by mosquitoes in spite of his efforts to keep them off, and his leg was beginning to pain him again.
“too bad i didn’t bring along a flash light,” he thought as he struck his next to the last match to see if the leg was bleeding.
he did not think that it was but was quite sure that it was swelling pretty badly.
“guess that’s what’s making it ache,” he thought, “but it’ll be light in less than an hour and jack’ll be starting. pray god he finds me quickly.”
a few minutes later a light breeze sprang up and as it increased in strength the mosquitoes vanished. with a sigh of relief bob sank back and was almost instantly asleep despite the throbbing pain which was now manifesting itself in his leg.
he could have slept but a short time for it was still dark when he awoke conscious of a sound in the woods a short distance behind him. he listened and in a moment he heard it again. some heavy animal was making its way slowly through the woods.
“that’s either a moose or a bear,” he thought. “hope he don’t take a notion to come this way. i’m not exactly in a position to put up much of a fight.”
the animal was evidently in no hurry and for some minutes the boy was uncertain whether it was coming in his direction or not. but the uncertainty did not last long for soon a snapping of dead branches close at hand told him only too plainly that the animal was coming directly toward him. and a minute later all doubt regarding the identity of the visitor was dispelled by a low ominous growl.
“it’s a bear sure as smoke,” he told himself as he twisted around and managed to draw his automatic. “now if i only had a flash light.”
by this time bruin was only a few feet away as bob could tell by the growls which came almost continually.
“he knows there’s something here but is not sure just what it is, and is wondering what he had better do,” bob thought as he waited. “hope he decides to let well enough alone and go on about his own business.”
his gun was a forty-five easily capable of killing a bear with a single shot provided that shot landed in the right place. but to hit that place in the intense darkness was he knew a thousand to one shot. unless very hungry or with cubs a bear will rarely attack a man and knowing this bob hoped that the bear would let him alone. but fear sprang to his heart when, a moment later, he heard the low whine of a small cub.
“she’ll get me if i don’t get her at the first shot,” he thought gripping his revolver. “and it’ll be in a minute, too,” he muttered as he heard the bear now but a few feet away. “oh, for a bit of light!”
he waited until he knew that the bear was almost near enough for him to touch with his hand and was about to pull the trigger and trust to luck when something hit him a blow on the side of the head and he felt himself falling through what seemed miles of space then came oblivion.
day was just breaking when jack awoke. it had been long after he wrapped himself in his blanket before sleep came. he knew bob’s penchant for putting the best foot forward and he feared that he was much worse off than he had let on. he sprang to his feet as soon as he could throw off his blanket and the first thought which entered his mind was the radio. eagerly he began to call but there was no response. hastily but thoroughly he looked the apparatus over to be sure that it was in order and when he could find nothing amiss he tried again.
but as before he could get no reply.
“mebby he’s asleep,” he thought, and then his heart almost stopped beating as the possibility of his brother being dead entered his mind.
as quickly as possible, not stopping to eat, he rolled his pack and throwing both it and bob’s over his shoulder, he started at almost a run.
for a time he had little trouble in being certain that he was on the right track as, in the thinly wooded section, it was easy to locate the boundary stones and he remembered that bob had told him that he was not far from the border line. several times during the first two hours he stopped long enough to try the radio but each time he met with disappointment. and each time also he became more frightened. surely bob must be awake by this time and why did he not answer? the boy refused to permit an answer to enter his mind. bob could not be dead. he would not have it so.
as he entered the more thickly wooded district he was forced to go slower. several times he had to hunt for what seemed an almost endless time before he could locate the marking stone and he dared not proceed until he had found it for fear of missing bob altogether.
“he can’t be a great way off now,” he thought as he glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly ten o’clock.
he had just spent nearly a half hour hunting before he located the last stone and he was almost sure that he had come nearly if not quite twenty miles. for the hundredth time he gave vent to the call of the whip-poor-will giving it the accent which he knew bob would recognize.
“why don’t he answer?” he moaned.
all at once he realized that he had eaten nothing since the night before and more because he knew how necessary it was that he should maintain his strength than through any desire for food he stopped long enough to swallow a few mouthfuls of bread and cheese, washing it down with water from a small brook which he was about to cross.
“bob, oh, bob!” he shouted at the top of his voice throwing caution to the winds.
it is doubtful if any thought of their mission up there in the wilderness had once entered his head since he had started. his one and only thought was to find his brother. and then his cup of misery seemed filled to the brim when he was unable to locate the next stone. for all of an hour he searched even crawling on his hands and knees a part of the time thinking that it might be covered with the dead leaves with which the ground was carpeted. the thought that his brother was lying, perhaps at the point of death, somewhere in that vast forest, perhaps but a few yards away and that he could not find him was maddening.
in fact, a few minutes later and he was wandering about aimlessly while dry sobs shook his body. was he losing his mind, he wondered as he finally sank down at the foot of a great pine.
how long he sat there he never knew but he was brought back to himself by the sound of a peculiar whining. instantly he jumped to his feet. there not ten feet away was a tiny bear cub. now jack knew that a cub of that size was not apt to be very far away from its mother and the thought that the old bear had probably killed his brother suddenly, as he afterward expressed it, made him see red. he started for the cub, which turned and scurried away as fast as its little fat legs would take it the boy had a half insane idea that if he could only catch and kill the cub he would be helping his brother.
the thought that he might be running straight toward the mother bear never entered his mind and it is doubtful if it would have made the slightest difference if it had. in his present state of mind he would have attacked a dozen bears and that without thought of his own danger.
it was surprising how fast that fat little cub could run. jack had all he could do to keep it in sight and once he thought he had lost it. but he caught sight of it again just as it plunged into a thick growth of bushes. straight through the bushes jack pushed himself heedless of the scratches he received.
as he emerged from the clump a moment later the cub was out of sight, but as he stopped to get his bearings he saw a sight he never forgot. there, not ten feet from where he stood, lay bob and stretched across his legs was the body of an enormous black bear. jack stood for a moment petrified at the sight. he knew instinctively that the bear was dead, but how about his brother?
fear clutched at his heart as he sprang forward and threw himself on the ground by bob’s side.
“oh, bob,” he moaned.
then he steadied. bob might not be dead after all. he laid his ear over his heart and the next moment he gave a great cry of joy. he was alive! his heart was beating regularly albeit somewhat faintly. and now jack was himself again. the past hour seemed like some horrid nightmare. quickly he unscrewed the top from his canteen and soaking his handkerchief with the water he laid it on bob’s forehead. then he began chafing his wrists. in a short time he noticed a slight flutter of the eyelids and as he quickly wet the cloth again and again placed it on his head the eyes slowly opened.
“jack.”
it was but a faint whisper, but it put new life into the boy who heard it.
“dear boy, thank god you’re alive.”
“but the bear?” bob whispered. “he was right on me.”
“and he still is, but he’s dead. just a minute and i’ll roll him off.”
only the bear’s head was on bob’s legs but even so it took all the strength jack could muster to swing it off.
“there now let’s see if we can get that trap off,” he said as he knelt down to examine it.
he saw that bob’s leg was badly swollen and he greatly feared that the bone was broken. but he said nothing of this to bob.
it takes a strong man to open the jaws of a bear trap and probably not one man in a hundred could do it while the trap was closed on his own leg. but, as he afterward told bob, jack knew that it had to be done and he did it. necessity must have lent him strength for he tried it again later, and although he exerted all the strength he could muster, he could not spring the strong jaws apart.
assuring himself again that bob was still alive he examined the injured leg. it was badly swollen nearly to the knee and after carefully removing the legging and stocking he found that it was badly lacerated in a couple of places where the sharp teeth had bit through.
“does it hurt much?” he asked anxiously.
“it’s pretty sore. think it’s broke?” bob asked faintly.
“i hope not but it’s hard to tell while it’s so swollen.”
fortunately jack could hear a gurgle of water only a few feet away and in a few minutes he had bathed the leg with cold water and bandaged it.
“it’s a good thing we had that first aid kit along,” he finished.
“yes, one never ought to be without one in the woods,” bob replied and jack was rejoiced to note that his voice sounded much stronger.
“now you lie still while i get dinner,” jack ordered.
it was surprising in what a short time he could get a meal ready when he was in a hurry and now he exerted himself to the utmost and in a very few minutes they were eating together.
“my, but that tastes good,” bob declared as he reached for another sandwich.
“do you feel strong enough to tell me about it?” jack asked as soon as they had finished.
“sure. i feel all right except for the leg and a sore head. but there isn’t a whole lot to tell.”
“there’s a whole lot of bear anyhow,” jack interrupted as he glanced at the huge animal.
“how did it happen?”
“well, it was early this morning. i remember looking at my watch and it was three o’clock. then the mosquitoes left and i fell asleep. some noise woke me up a few minutes later and along came this fellow. i tell you, jack, i thought my time had come. it was so dark that i couldn’t see a thing. it came closer and closer till i had just decided to pull the trigger when something hit me on the side of the head and that’s all i know. the next thing i knew you were bending over me. did you shoot the bear?”
“shoot nothing. why you must have been unconscious for six hours or more. and you must have pulled that trigger just in time for she’s shot right through the heart. must have killed her instantly.”
“it was a sure enough lucky shot for me,” bob sighed.
and then with one accord they both bowed their head and it is doubtful if two more heartfelt prayers ever ascended to heaven.
“give me a hand, jack, and let’s see if i can stand on this leg.”
“think you better try it so soon?”
“sure. i’ll go easy.”
“better let me give it the once over again, first.”
he unwrapped the bandage and was glad to note that the swelling had subsided considerably.
“does that hurt?” he asked as he moved the ankle a bit.
“no, not to amount to anything.”
“then it’s not broken.”
“i didn’t think it was, but i’m sure some glad to be sure.”
jack again bandaged it and as soon as he had finished bob insisted on trying to stand.
“i could walk on it if i had to,” he declared after he had tested.
“well, you don’t have to today.”
“i know. but she’ll be all right by tomorrow.”
“here’s hoping, but we’ll camp right here for the present.”
“you’re the boss,” bob smiled as he leaned back against a tree.
“what’ll we do with that bear?” jack asked a little later.
“i don’t see what we can do except leave it here. did you see what became of the cub?”
“no. i was chasing it when i found you. in fact if it hadn’t been for that cub i might never have found you at all.”
“suppose you take a look and see if you can find it. now that its mother is dead it’ll likely starve to death.”
but though jack hunted for more than an hour he failed to catch sight of it.
“do you suppose it’s gone off far?” he asked as he returned and reported his failure.
“more likely it’s hiding somewhere close by.”
but although jack made another long search they never saw the cub again.
the swelling in bob’s leg continued to subside until by supper time it had nearly reached its normal size.
“she’ll be fit as a fiddle by morning,” bob declared as he took a few steps.
“it was a good thing,” he said a little later after they had finished supper and were sitting beside the fire, “that that wasn’t a regular sized bear trap.”
“what do you mean, regular sized?”
“why that is a number four, the smallest size made. didn’t you ever see a number ten. it’s about twice that size and no man living can set one without a clamp.”
“then i guess mebby i’m not quite so powerful as i thought i was. here i’ve been all puffed up thinking i’d sat a full sized trap and then you come along and make out that it’s only a mink trap.”
“well, you’d have been satisfied to have it no bigger if it had been on your leg last night. but, jack, one thing i can’t understand is how that trap happened to be there.”
“i don’t think that’s very hard. probably some trapper set it there and then forgot or lost it.”
“just what i thought at first but if you’ll stop and think a minute you’ll remember that they don’t set bear traps that way. don’t you remember two or three years ago kemertok was telling us how they set them?”
“i don’t seem to recall it. guess you must have been there without me that time. but how is it? guess that part of my education has been neglected.”
“why, they set them in houses. no, i mean it. you see they find a tree which has fallen partly over and then they lean other trees against it and pile boughs on till they have a kind of a little lean-to with a door just large enough for mr. bear to enter. in the back part they put the bait, a chunk of meat or fish, and set the trap right in the doorway. then to make sure that the bear will step on the trap they stick little pieces of wood sharp at both ends in the ground all around it so that he will be sure to step on the right spot.”
the night passed uneventfully. they had decided to risk it without keeping watch and neither awoke until the sun had been up an hour.
