“I shan’t go in there yet,” answered the old hunter. “I know a trick worth two of that.”
“What will you do?” asked Harry.
“Let us try smoking him out. While I continue to watch the window, you get a damp tree branch and set it on fire. Then chop a small hole in the side of the lodge close to the ground, and let the smoke drift inside.”
“That’s a good plan,” said Joe.
The damp branch was procured without difficulty, and soon it was burning slightly and smoking thickly. While Fred and Joe held the branch, Harry cut a small hole as directed. In answer to the sound of the ax came a growl from the bear, proving that the beast was on the alert within.
“Now, Joe, come alongside of me with your shotgun!” called out old Runnell. “We’ll make sure of him if he does come out.”
Both stood almost facing the window and about twenty feet from it. Then Fred and Harry let down the branch in the snow, so that the thick smoke could drift directly into the hole that had been cut.
In less than half a minute they could hear the bear moving around the inside of the lodge. They heard the beast give a snort, followed by a sneeze.
“He’s catching it,” whispered Joe, with his gun raised. “I don’t think he’ll stand it much longer.”
An instant after there came a savage growl, and then straight through the window shot the black bear, landing at the very feet of those standing to receive it. Crack! went the rifle, and bang! came from the shotgun, and the beast tumbled over and began to claw at the air and the snow, sending the chunks of the latter flying in all directions.