Fortunately his stout legging furnished considerable protection and he was quite certain that it had not broken the bone. But it hurt so that for a moment he nearly fainted. But he resisted the giddiness with all his strength and soon the pain became less.
“I’m in a pretty pickle,” he thought, “unless I can spring it open.”
Before trying, however, he listened a moment. He could still hear the men talking but now their voices were growing fainter and he judged that they had started on again. For a moment he hesitated whether or not to call and take his chances of getting away from the latter. But his knowledge of their character quickly decided him. “Better take a chance with the trap than with them,” he thought.
He waited until he could no longer hear them and then reaching down he seized the jaws of the trap, one in each hand and, exerting all his strength, tried to force them apart. But to his dismay he was unable to so much as move them. A bear trap is made to hold once it has caught its prey, and his heart sank as he realized his inability to extricate himself.
“If I had only taken Jack with me,” he moaned as he sank down on the ground.
For a few minutes he rested. The leg did not pain so much now, only a dull ache. He knew that the jaws were shutting off the flow of blood. After a bit he felt stronger and renewed his efforts but they were in vain. Then he looked about to see if the trap was fastened and found that it was locked by a strong chain to a nearby tree.
“No chance of dragging it,” he thought. Again he rested and thought. Miles away from anyone except his enemies and even they were doubtless out of hearing by this time, and night coming on, he realized that his position was most serious. Glancing down at the jaws he saw that blood was beginning to soak through the legging. It was, however, not bleeding fast enough to cause him any anxiety on that score.
“Guess I’d better keep as still as I can, though,” he thought. “The more I wiggle round the deeper those jaws will bite and first thing I know I’ll be bleeding to death.”
Dusk was beginning to fall and he knew that in a short time darkness would be upon him. He thought of Jack back there anxiously awaiting his return and wondered what he would do when he failed to show up.