Before he could guess what the curious noise meant his eyes told him the truth. An enormous bear, dark in color, came swinging forward from the direction of the ridge. His waddling, lumbering gait, and his vast bulk left no doubt of his identity. In any circumstances he would have been a most formidable foe to meet.
“It’s a grizzly!” whispered Alden, shrinking behind the boulder so low that only by taking off his hat was he barely able to peer over.
In one sense the discovery was a relief, for it explained the panic of the pony. Better a dozen grizzly bears than half as many Indians.
Alden’s belief was that the monstrous animal would keep on with his ponderous gait in the grotesque attempt to overtake the fleet footed horse which was safe beyond his reach; but to the consternation of the watcher the brute halted at the very spot where the fugitive had landed when he dropped from the saddle. He snuffed the ground as if he suspected the truth.
“By gracious!” gasped Alden, who now lowered his head and peeped round the side of the boulder, “he has scented me.”
It did have that look and dropping his rifle, he drew his revolver.
“I wonder if he will mind a little thing like this. Shagbark said it took several rifle bullets to slay a grizzly. If that’s so, he’ll laugh at my weapon, but he’ll have to move lively if he beats me dodging round this rock.”
The scent of the ursus species is by no means as fine as that of many other animals, but this one unquestionably was on the track of something and it looked very much as if that something was an American youngster crouching behind a boulder a few rods off and scared almost out of his wits.
The bear suddenly raised his head and dipped his snout forward in several directions one after the other, snuffing as if he knew something was in the wind. Back and forth the huge front swayed until in a minute or two it remained pointed directly at the boulder! It suggested an immense canine that had flushed its game.