the campfire was stamped out with care, so that there would be no danger of a conflagration in the forest so close at hand, and then the five lively chums leaped into the saddle once more and started off in the direction in which ben had said he had seen the game.
“what made you think they were a couple of bears?” questioned dave, as they rode along as rapidly as the roughness of the trail permitted.
“they looked as much like bears as they looked like anything,” answered his chum. “of course, they were quite a distance away, and i may have been mistaken. but anyway, they were some sort of animals, and quite large.”
“were they standing still?”
“no. they appeared and disappeared among the rocks and bushes. that’s the reason i couldn’t make out exactly what they were.”
“perhaps they were deer,” suggested phil.
“i think they were too chunky for deer—and even for goats. besides that, they didn’t leap 143from one rock to another as deer and goats do.”
“could they have been bobcats?”
“no. they were larger than that.”
the chums soon had to leave the regular trail, and then found themselves in a section of the mountainside sparingly covered with bushes and an occasional tree. the rocks were exceedingly rough, and in many places they had to come to a halt to figure out how best to proceed.
“say, we don’t want to get lost!” remarked phil.
“i don’t think we’ll do that, phil,” answered dave. “roger and i know the lay of the mountains pretty well around here. and besides, i brought my pocket compass along. just at present we are northeast of the construction camp.”
they could not go in a direct line to where ben had noticed the game, and it therefore took them the best part of an hour to reach the vicinity.
“now i guess we had better be on the watch,” announced dave, and unslung the shotgun he carried, while roger did the same with the rifle. seeing this, the others looked to their automatic pistols, to make certain that the weapons were ready for instant use.
for fully half an hour the five chums rode up and down along the side of the hill and had ben point out to them just where he had seen the two animals.
144“it looks to me as if they had cleared out,” said phil in a disgusted tone of voice. “and if they have, we have had a pretty nasty ride for our pains.”
“oh, don’t let’s give up yet!” pleaded shadow. “i want to get a shot at something—even if it’s nothing more than a squirrel.”
“if you don’t watch out, you may have an elephant crashing down on you,” laughed phil.
“humph, i suppose you don’t care whether we bring down any game or not!” retorted shadow. “you put me in mind of a fellow who went hunting. he came back at night, and his friends asked him if the hunting was good. ‘sure, it was good!’ he declared. ‘i hunted all day long, and not a bit of game came anywhere near me to disturb my fun!’”
“one thing is certain,” broke in dave. “you’ve got to be quieter if you expect to find any game at all. you don’t suppose a bear is going to come out on the rocks just to listen to stories.”
“that’s right! he couldn’t bear to do it!” cried roger gayly.
“my, my, but that’s a bare-faced joke!” cried phil; and then there was a general laugh over the little puns.
after that the youths became silent, and the only sound that broke the stillness was the clatter 145of the horses as they passed over the rocks between the brushwood. thus another half hour passed, and still nothing in the way of game was brought to view.
“i guess we’ll have to give it up and continue our trip,” said roger at last.
to this the others agreed, and then all started off in another direction to hit the regular trail where it wound off towards the railroad station.
“i think we can make a sort of semicircle,” said dave. “and if we don’t lose too much time we’ll be able to get back to the construction camp by seven or eight o’clock.”
all were disappointed that they had not seen any game, and the others began to poke fun at ben, stating that his eyesight must have deceived him.
“it didn’t deceive me at all,” insisted the son of the crumville real estate dealer. “i know i saw them as plain as day. but what the animals were, i can’t say.”
“oh, well, never mind!” cried phil gayly. “if we can’t bring down any game, we can have a good time anyway. let’s have a song.”
“all right, boys. everybody go to it!” cried dave. “oak hall forever!” and then all present began to sing, to the tune of auld lang syne, a song they had sung ever since they had first gone to oak hall.
146“oak hall we never shall forget,
no matter where we roam;
it is the very best of schools,
to us it’s just like home.
then give three cheers, and let them ring
throughout this world so wide,
to let the people know that we
elect to here abide!”
they sang it exceeding well, dave and roger in their tenor voices, phil and ben filling in with their baritone, and the long and lanky shadow adding his bass voice, which every day seemed to be growing deeper. then, after the verse was finished, at a signal from roger, all let up the old school cry:
“baseball!
football!
oak hall
has the call!
biff! boom! bang! whoop!”
“oh, my! wouldn’t it be grand if we were all going back to school to-morrow?” burst out phil.
“oh, those good old baseball days!” cried ben.
“and the skating and snowballing!” burst out shadow.
“and the football!” added dave. “don’t you remember how we used to make rockville academy bite the dust?”
“and all those funny initiations in the gee eyes!” came from roger.
“i think if i could do it, i’d like to go back to 147my first days there, even if i had to stand gus plum’s insolence,” said dave, his eyes glistening.
“yes. but we wouldn’t stand for such fellows as merwell and jasniff,” added roger quickly.
“oh, let’s forget all those bullies!” broke out phil. “if we should——”
phil did not finish, for dave had suddenly put up his hand as a warning to be silent. now our hero motioned his chums behind some of the rocks and brushwood beside the trail. then he pointed to a large, flat rock a distance farther on.
“a bear!” gasped shadow.
“two of them!” burst out ben, in a low tone. and then he added quickly: “i’ll bet they are the two animals i saw when i was taking those pictures!”
“perhaps so, ben,” answered dave in a whisper; “although we are a pretty good distance from where you spotted them. however, that doesn’t matter just now. the question is—what are we going to do?”
“shoot ’em!” came promptly from all of the others in a breath.
evidently the horses had either scented or sighted the bears, for they showed great uneasiness. the bears, however, did not seem to be aware of the presence of their enemies. both were bending down on the rocks, as if examining something intently.
148“they are eating something,” said roger, a moment later. “see how eagerly they are lapping it up.”
“maybe it’s some wild honey,” suggested phil. “i understand bears are all crazy about anything that is sweet.”
the shipowner’s son was right. the bears had come upon the remains of a “bee tree” which had been blown down by the recent high winds. a section of the tree containing a large portion of the honey had struck the rocks, and the honey had spread in every direction. now the two animals were frantically lapping up the sweet stuff, each trying to get his fill before the other got it away from him.
“i guess roger and i had better fire first,” said dave. “i’ll take the bear on the left, and you, roger, take the one on the right. then, as soon as we have fired, you other fellows can let drive for all you are worth with your automatics while we are reloading. then, if the bears are not dead by that time, we’ll try our best to give them another dose of lead.”
so it was arranged, and a moment later the crowd of five dismounted and tied their horses to some trees. then they crept forward, keeping as much as possible behind the rocks, so that the feeding bears might not see them.
ordinarily the bears would have been on the 149alert, and their quick sense of smell would have made it impossible for the youths to get within shooting distance. but now both animals were so absorbed in lapping up the honey spread around on the rocks, that they paid absolutely no attention to anything else. it is also possible that the smell of the honey was so strong that it helped to hide every other odor.
“now then, fellows, are you ready?” whispered dave, when they had gained a point behind the rocks which was not over a hundred and fifty feet from the bears.
“all ready!” was the whispered return.
it must be confessed that some of the youths were nervous. shadow’s hand shook as he started to level his automatic pistol. had he been called on to face a bear all alone, it is quite likely that he would have been struck with what is known among hunters as “buck fever,” and would have been totally unable to do anything.
bang! crack! went the shotgun and the rifle. and almost immediately came the crack! crack! crack! of the three automatic pistols.
then, as the bears whirled around and started to run, dave fired again, and so did roger, and the others continued to discharge their small firearms as rapidly as possible.
dave’s first shot had been a most effective one, taking one of the bears directly in an ear and an 150eye. this had been followed up by the second shot, and also several shots from the pistols, and presently the animal raised up on his hind legs and then came down with a crash, to roll over and over among the rocks and brushwood.
“he’s done for, i think!” cried our hero with much satisfaction.
“don’t be too sure,” remonstrated ben, who was close behind. “he may be playing ’possum.”
in the meantime, the other bear had leaped out of sight behind some of the rocks. now, as dave stopped to reload the double-barreled shotgun, the others went on, intent, if possible, on bringing the second beast low. that he had been hit, there was no doubt, for he had squealed with pain and flapped one forepaw madly in the air.
the youths with the pistols were the first to again catch sight of the second bear. he stood at bay between a number of large rocks, and snarled viciously as soon as he caught sight of them. he arose on his hind legs and made a movement as if to leap directly toward them.
“shoot! shoot!” yelled roger, and discharged his rifle once more. but the shot whistled harmlessly over the bear’s head. then the other youths took aim with their pistols, hitting bruin on the shoulder and in the thigh.
these wounds were not dangerous, but they 151maddened the beast very much; and, with a roar of rage, the bear suddenly leaped from between the rocks and made directly for the crowd of young hunters.
