“Yes, and last year up on the Peace River we helped kill a big grizzly,” added Jesse, “only Alex MacKenzie was along, and he shot, too.”
“But this time, Leo,” continued Uncle Dick, “you must admit that only one shot was fired, even if we were in the woods near by.”
“That’s all right,” admitted Leo, who still felt aggrieved at the humiliation of not being allowed to use his own rifle in the bear-hunt. “S’pose only one bear, and only one boy, what then?”
“Well, in that case the best thing the bear could do would be to run away. As I told you, a rifle will shoot just as hard for a boy as for a man if the boy knows how to hold it.”
“Did you ever have a bear come at you, Leo?” inquired Rob.
“Sometam bear come, not many,” said he, indifferently. “Sometam bear get scared, not know which way he’s ron—then people say he’s got mad.”
“And didn’t you ever get scared yourself, Leo?” inquired Jesse.
“Too much kill ’um bear long time for me to get scare’,” said Leo, proudly. “Kill ’um more bear pretty soon,” added he, pointing over to the steep country on the other side of the valley.
“Well, I was just thinking,” said Uncle Dick, “we could very likely get more bear. But why? Some one will have to go down to camp and carry this hide, or else take word to the other men to come up and get it. Besides, this isn’t the only bear valley in the country. What do you say, boys? Shall we stay up here, or go back and run on down the river farther?”
The boys were silent for a time. “Now, Uncle Dick,” said John, at last, “no matter where you are, you’re always in a hurry to get somewhere else. It’s pretty hard to climb up into the real bear country even when you get near to it. Now here we are, already up, and we know that this is good bear country. We would only lose time if we hunted up any other country lower down.”