Both girls listened a moment. “It surely does,” agreed Peggy, “but how could that be?”
“We must’ve gone around in a circle and’ll come out not far from our spring. Come on, let’s see.”
They started eagerly up the steep narrow path. A moment later they were startled by the sound of a shrill squeal above the roar of the river.
“Oh, do you suppose the bear’s after another pig?” whispered Peggy, grabbing Jo Ann by the arm. “What’ll we do?”
“I don’t know. I wish I’d brought the gun.”
“Let’s go back,” begged Peggy, but Jo Ann shook her head. “Wait a minute.”
They listened intently a moment, then, to their relief, the squeals changed to contented grunts.
Jo Ann laughed. “Juan must be feeding the pigs, but it did frighten me for a minute.”
A moment later they came in sight of a crude enclosure built against the overhanging wall of the cliff. Tall poles were lashed together around a recess in the wall, making a small circular pen. The next moment they spied Juan working at strengthening a weak place in the wall. It appeared impenetrable, as it was, to them, and they wondered that any animal, even one as large as a bear, could break through such a barricade.
Juan turned from his work as he saw the girls approaching. After the customary salutation he went on in Spanish. “The bear very bad—very ferocious. He like much the pig.”