“He succeeded pretty well in stopping the flow of blood,” observed Jo Ann. “The trail isn’t nearly as plain now.”
They followed the faint marks upward a short distance. Suddenly they heard something moving just ahead of them. They stopped instantly. Jo Ann threw the gun to her shoulder, then cautiously crept around a boulder so she could get a better view.
Just at that moment she saw Juan rise up to his feet.
“Oh, Juan!” she cried. “I thought you were the bear! I nearly shot you.”
Juan did not understand a word of what Jo Ann had said, but he pointed excitedly, “Look! Here is the bear! You killed him!”
The three girls hurriedly climbed up beside Juan. Their eyes widened in amazement as they saw the size of the shaggy black animal lying on the ground before them.
“My, isn’t he immense!” gasped Florence.
“No wonder he could tear down those poles so easily,” Jo Ann remarked.
“If I’d known he was that big I’d have been scared to death!” exclaimed Peggy.
Hunter-like, Jo Ann stooped down and pointed to the bullet wound in the animal’s left side. “See! Here’s where my bullet came out. I hit him in the right shoulder when he was reaching for that other pole.”