“Why don’t we all ride around together?” Chris wanted to know. “What’s the point of leaving anyone here?”
Thorsen stroked his silky beard. “Because if Mr. Bear is hiding in the ravine, we have him trapped. One group can flush him out into the guns of the other group.”
“That seems sound,” Stern acknowledged. “Which of us will stay here?”
“Jerry and I will,” Sandy volunteered. “Both of us are pretty tired, and it’ll give us a chance to rest.”
“All right,” Stern said. “Better make sure your guns are ready for action in case that bear surprises you.”
As the three men rode off along the edge of the ravine, the boys dismounted and tethered their horses to a bare, crooked sapling. Sandy sat down on a boulder with his buffalo gun across his knees, but Jerry remained standing.
“I may never sit down again,” he told Sandy.
Soon the three men passed out of sight where the ravine curved back behind a ridge, and the boys turned their attention to the birch trees below them.
“Think our bear is down there?” Sandy asked.
“Naw, I bet he’s miles away from here by now.”