“I tink dat one goot hole for bear, ain’t so?” was the reply.
“You suppose an old fellow has a nest in there?”
“I tink some look in be goot.”
They cut down a sapling standing near, “lodging” it against the big tree. Then they built a fire and, collecting the tips of green boughs and long grass damp with frost, tied them into a bundle at the end of a pole. While Conrad “shinned” up the sapling till the pole would reach the hole, Rodney lighted the bundle which smoked like a “smudge.” Conrad thrust the smoking bundle into the hole and, a minute later, a wheezing sound was heard. Bruin was there and was waking from his winter sleep!
Rodney seized the rifle while Conrad slid to the ground. But the bear looked out and made no effort to descend.
Conrad then relighted the torch and climbed up far enough to thrust it in the bear’s face. This angered him and he began to back down the tree.
Unlike Rodney’s first encounter with a bear, the lad now had ample time for taking steady aim and the brute fell mortally wounded.
How delicious the meal, which followed, tasted after their long fast!
Taking as much of the choicest cuts as they could carry, they returned to the encampment to find the Indians in a famished condition. Ahneota for the two previous days had given his allowance of food to the children.