The Young Alaskans on the Trail Part 26

not go hongree.

"'Oh, Wiesacajac,' he'll pray, 'what for you'll make me dark this a-way, when I'll been hongree? Have pity on me!'

"Well, Wiesacajac, he'll been kin' in his heart, an' he'll hear those _Cigous_ pray, an' he'll say, 'My frien', I s'pose you'll not got any meat, an' you'll ask me to take pity on you. The reason why I'll not make you white like other animal is, you'll been such thief! Oh, _Cigous_, s'pose you'll go live two week all right, an' not steal, an'

not tell any lie to me, then I'll make you white, all same like other animals.'

"'Oh, Wiesacajac,' say _Cigous_, 'it's ver' hard to be good for two week an' not steal, an' not tell lie. But I'll try to do this thing, me!'

"Now, in two week all the family of _Cigous_ he'll not got anything to eat, an' he'll almost starve, an' he'll come in out of the woods an'

sit aroun' on the village where the people live. But all the people can see _Cigous_ an' his family because he'll all be brown, an' he'll show on the snow, plain.

"Now, _Cigous_ he'll got very hongree, an' he'll got under the blanket in the lodge where the people live. Bimeby he'll smell something cook on the fire. Then he'll go out in the bush, an' he'll pray again to Wiesacajac, an' he'll say, 'Oh, Wiesacajac, I'm almost white now, so I can get meat. But it's ver' hard tam for me!'

"Wiesacajac, he'll tol' heem to go back in an' not lie an' not steal, an' then see what he'll got.

"_Cigous_, he'll been happy this tam, an' he'll go back on the lodge an' smell that cooking some more. He'll not know it, but by this tam Wiesacajac has made heem all white, tail an' all. But _Cigous_ he'll smell something cook in the pot, an' he'll say, 'I wonder what is cook in that pot on the fire.'

"He'll couldn't stan' up high to reach his foots in the pot, so he say, 'Ah, ha! My tail he's longer than my foots. I'll stick my tail in the pot, an' see what is cook that smells so good.'

"Now, _Cigous_ not know his tail is all white then. But Wiesacajac, he'll see _Cigous_ all the tam, an' he'll turn the meat in the pot into pitch, and make it boil strong; so _Cigous_ when he'll stick his tail in the pot, he'll stick it in the pitch, an' when he'll pull out the end of his tail, the end of it will be all black!

"Then _Cigous_ he'll go out on the snow, an' he'll look aroun', an'

bimeby Wiesacajac he'll seen heem an' he'll say, 'Ah, _Cigous_, what's on your tail, because I'll see it is all black on the end?'

"_Cigous_ he'll turn aroun' an' ron aroun' an' aroun' on a reeng, but all the tam he'll see the black spot on his tail, an' it won't come off.

"'Now, _Cigous_,' says Wiesacajac, 'I'll been good spirit, else surely I'll punish you plenty for stealing when you tol' me you'll be good animal. Already I'll made you white, all but your tail. Now that the people may always know you for a thief, you an' all your family must have black spot on tail in the winter-tam. I would make you black all over, _Cigous_, but I have take pity on your family, who must not starve. Maybe so you could caught meat, but all the tam your tail will mark you for a thief!'

"From that time," said Moise, concluding, "the ermine, _Cigous_, has always been a good honter. But always he's brown in the summer-tam, an' in the winter-tam he isn't not quite white. That is because he is such thief. I know this is so, because my onkle she'll tol' me. I have finish."

XXVI

TRAILING THE BEAR

"I'll tell you what," said John, in the morning, as they still lingered at their pleasant camp; "we're not apt to have a much nicer stopping place than this, so why not make a little hunt, and come back here to-night?"

"Not a bad idea," said Alex.

"What's the best way to plan it out?" asked John. "Ought we to go by boats down the river, and then come back here?"

"I would suggest that Moise and Rob take the dugout and go down the river a little way," replied Alex, "and that you and I and Jess climb to the top of the bank, taking our time, to see if we could find any moose sign, or maybe a bear trail in the country back from the river.

In that way we could cover both the top and bottom of the valley. We might find a grizzly higher up, although we are out of the grizzly country here by rights."

This plan suggested by Alex was followed out, and at no very late hour in the morning camp was deserted by our travelers, whose hunting spirit seemed still unabated. They did not meet again until almost dusk. Alex and his companions found no fresh game trails on the heights above, and, in short, concluded their hunt rather early in the afternoon and returned to camp, where they remained for some hours before at length they saw the dugout, which the boys had christened _The Plug_, slowly making its way up the river.

John and Jesse, themselves pretty tired from their long walk, summoned up energy enough to go down to the beach and peer into the dugout.

They saw no sign of any game. They did not, however, ask any questions, for they were learning the dignity of Indian hunters. Alex looked at Moise, but asked him no question. He noticed that Moise was whistling, and apparently not very unhappy, as after a time he went about making his evening fire.

"So you didn't get any bear, Mr. Rob?" said Alex at last.

"No, not quite," said Rob, "but I ought to have got one--I had a pretty fair shot, although it was rather dark where the bear was standing."

Alex spoke a few words to Moise in the Cree language.

"Never mind," said he to Rob at length. "We'll get him to-morrow very easily."

"So Moise said to me; but I don't see how he knows. The bear started off as though he weren't hit at all. He came down to the edge of the wood at a high bank and looked right at us when we were pulling the boat up the stream. You know, the canoe is rather teetery, but I shot as well as I could, and thought I hit him. He turned around, and I shot at him again. But he didn't stop. Moise thought we had better come on in because it was so late."

"Sure," said Moise, "I'll tol' those boy he'll shoot those bear two tam, once in the front an' once in the back. With those rifle, he'll not go far. To-morrow we'll catch heem easy."

"He was a big bear, too," said Rob, "although not as big as our grizzly--just a black bear, that's all. I don't like to cripple any animal and then lose it."

"I don't think we'll lose this one," said Alex, rea.s.suringly.

The judgment of the old hunters proved to be correct, for on the next day, when all hands dropped down the river to the point where Rob had shot at the bear, it was not five minutes before they found the trail where a considerable amount of blood showed that the bear had been badly wounded. At once they began to follow this trail back into the high country away from the river.

Alex did not ask any questions, and there was little talk between him and Moise. Moise, however, took the lead on the trail. Alex did not even carry his rifle, but loitered along, picking berries and enjoying himself, after his own fas.h.i.+on.

"Keep close up to Moise, young gentlemen," he said. "This bear, although only a black bear, is apt to be very ugly if you find him still alive. If he comes for you, kill him quick. I doubt, however, very much whether he will be alive when we come up with him."

"How do you know about that, Alex?" demanded John.

"It's our business to know about such things," answered Alex, smiling.

All the boys now could see where the bear had scrambled up the bank, and where it had gone through the bushes on its way to the forest, leaving a plain blood trail on the ground.

"Moise will lead on the trail," said Alex. "He's more Injun than I am.

In some ways I can beat him, in others he can beat me. He is one of the best trailers on the river."

Moise now was a different man from the talkative companion of the camp. He was very silent, and advanced cautiously along the trail, his eyes studying every record of the ground and cover which had been left by the wounded animal. Once in a while he pointed silently to a broken bush or to a drop of blood. After a while he stopped and pointed to a tree whose bark was ripped off.

"Heem awful mad," whispered Moise. "S'pose you'll seen heem here, he'll fight sure. He'll bite all the tree an' fight the bush."

After a while Alex showed them a deep excavation in the soft dirt.

"He'll dig hole here an' lie down," said Moise. "Plenty mad now, sure!"

They kept on after the trail, following it deeper into the forest and higher up the slope, minute after minute, for a time which seemed short, but which really was over an hour and a half in extent. Moise still remained silent and not in the least excited, and Alex still continued to pick his berries and eat them leisurely as he followed along in the rear. Once they lost the trail on an open hillside covered with wintergreen plants, and the boys thought the hunt was over. Moise however, swung around like a hound on the trail, clear to the other side of the hill, and in the course of a few minutes picked up the spoor again when it struck softer ground beyond. They pa.s.sed on then, moving upward deeper into the forest for some minutes, until at length Moise turned about.

"About five minute now, we'll found heem," said he, quietly.

"How does he know, Alex?" demanded Jesse, who was farther to the rear.

"Easy enough," answered Alex. "He says the bear has lain down ten times now, and he would not do that unless he was very weak. He would travel as far as he could. Now he is lying down very often. I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll get any fight out of this bear. Moise thinks you'll find him dead."