Frank in the Woods

by Harry Castlemon

But Frank had great confidence in himself, and worked away industriously, now and then pausing to look down into the cave and listen. He had cut away most of the bushes before the opening, and as soon as he could get a good view of the interior, threw himself flat upon the snow and looked in. It was dark as midnight inside the cave, but he could see two fiery eyeballs glaring upon him through the darkness, which appeared to be approaching the opening. This afforded a fine mark, and one that he thought he could not possibly miss; so, throwing forward his gun, he took a steady aim, and fired.

The report was followed by a howl that made the cold sweat start from every pore of his body; but, without hesitating a moment, he discharged the other barrel, and then, springing to his feet, rapidly retreated, just as the enormous head and shoulders of the bear rose out of the opening. After running a little distance, and finding that he was not pursued, he turned and looked behind him, and saw the bear, in front of the cave, rolling over and over in the snow. The “Ole Settler” was fast to one of her hind-legs, and the clog had caught and was holding her fast.

Frank immediately commenced to reload his gun, keeping his eye on the bear, ready to retreat again if she should succeed in freeing herself. He hastily rammed down the charges, and poured a handful of buck-shot into each barrel, and then crawled toward the bear, which, almost beside herself with rage and pain, was tearing at her wounds, and pulling up all the bushes within her reach.

Frank felt comparatively safe now, knowing that the bear could not escape; and besides, if she should succeed in getting the clog loose, she could not overtake him, incumbered as she was with the heavy trap. He waited until a fair mark was presented, and then fired again. The wound was mortal. After a few struggles, the bear lay motionless on the snow.

The next work was to draw her away from the mouth of the cave and take off the trap. This was no easy task, for the animal was very heavy, and, as Dick had predicted, the “Ole Settler” “stuck tighter nor a brother.” After much exertion, this was accomplished, and Frank was about to commence skinning the bear, when, all at once, the thought struck him, Where was the father of the family? This thought made him spring to his feet rather hurriedly, and cast anxious glances at the cave.

“The old fellow can’t be in there,” he soliloquized, “or he would certainly have come out before this time; but I’ll just keep an eye open for him, and if he shows himself, and undertakes to interfere in this business, he’ll get the worst of the bargain.”

He was not disturbed, however. The old bear, if he was about, probably thought that his family was capable of taking care of itself and fighting its own battles.

As soon as he had taken off the bear’s skin, he began to make preparations to enter the cave and bring out the cubs, which, all the while, had kept up an impatient cry. He first cut down a stout sapling, and, after he had lopped off all its branches, fastened his hunting-knife firmly to it. This he intended to use as a spear, in case he should be attacked while in the den. Grasping it in one hand, and his gun in the other, he crawled down into the cave. It was so dark that he could scarcely see his hand before him; but, after a few moments’ search, he discovered the cubs, nicely covered up in a bed of leaves. There were two of them, and they were about the size of a cat. They fought and screamed furiously as Frank took them up, but he unceremoniously thrust them into the capacious pockets of his hunting-shirt, and crawled out of the cave.

When he reached his camp he found that the fire had gone out. It was soon rekindled, when, after wrapping the cubs up in his overcoat, and putting them carefully away in one corner of the tent, he sat down on his bed of boughs, and made a hearty breakfast on cold venison and bread. While he was eating, he began to think seriously of setting out for “home,” as he called the encampment where he had left his companions. He had accomplished much more than he had expected he could during the two days that he had been in the woods, and now had about as much on hand as he could conveniently attend to. The skins of the panther and bear must be prepared for stuffing, which would require his close attention; the cubs, also, must be taken care of and watched, for they would escape, if left to themselves. If he was at home, they could be shut up in the cabin while he was off hunting, and he could have his cousin’s assistance in curing the skins. So, after resting an hour, he pulled on his overcoat again, stowing the cubs away in his pockets, folded up his blanket, strapped it fast to his belt, shouldered his gun, and set out.