“I shouldn’t be surprised.”
After another wait Joe proceeded to explore the opening behind them. He found it of no great depth, with a passageway leading upward between two of the larger rocks.
Just as he made this discovery he made another, more important. The black bear was squeezing his way downward through the passageway!
“He is coming down after us, Harry!”
“Where?”
“Back here! Come, let us both give him another shot!”
Joe already had his gun leveled, and he blazed away the moment his chum was beside him. Harry followed suit, filling the small opening with dense smoke.
A roar followed the shots, ringing loudly in their ears in that confined space. As they could no longer see the bear they took no chances, but leaped back into the snowbank, and then began to scramble up the rocks as fast as they could. Joe reached the top first, and gave a willing hand to his companion.
The first work of the young pioneers was to reload once more. In the meanwhile they heard several roars and grunts from the bear, the sound reaching them as from under the ground.
“If he backs out, we can give him two more shots in his hind quarters,” said Harry. “Those ought to finish him unless he is as tough as sole leather.”