“We heard the report of a gun close to the house just now, and we thought something might have happened.”
“Oh!” cried Malachi, laughing, “is that all? Then you may all go to bed again. It’s my trap for the bear—nothing more. I forgot to tell you last night.”
“Well, as we are up, we may as well go and see,” said Alfred. “The day is breaking.”
“Well, sir, I am ready,” said Malachi, coming out with his deer-skin jacket in one hand and his rifle in the other.
They walked to the maize-field on the other side of the river, and found that the trap had been successful, for a large bear lay dead at the foot of the snake-fence.
“Yes, sir, I’ve got him,” said Malachi. “But what was the trap,” said Henry. “You see, sir, I tracked the brute over the rails by his broad foot-mark, and as I knew he would come the same way, I fixed the rifle with a wire to the trigger, so that, as he climbed up, he must touch the wire with his fore-paws, and the muzzle, pointed a little downwards, would then about reach his heart when the gun went off. You see, sir, it has happened just as I wished it, and there’s another good skin for Montreal.”
“It is a she-bear,” said Martin, who had joined them, “and she has cubs; they can’t be far off.”
“That’s true,” replied Malachi; “so now you had better all go back again. Martin and I will hide, and I’ll answer for it, in an hour, we will bring the cubs home with us.”
The rest of the party returned to the house. The Strawberry had already made known to Mr and Mrs Campbell the cause of the report. About an hour before breakfast, Malachi and Martin came in, each with a cub of a few weeks old. The little animals had come in the track of the mother in search of her, and were pawing the dead body, as if trying to awaken her, when Malachi and Martin secured them.
“What a charming pet!” said Emma. “I will rear it for myself.”