The treasure of Mushroom Rock

by Sidford F. Hamp

Accordingly away they rode; while I unpacked the mules—tethering them to prevent their running off in pursuit of Toby—and made preparations for the night. This occupied me for about an hour, and then, taking the shotgun, I wandered off up the pine-clad spur of the mountain to see if I could get a few grouse. These birds were very plentiful, and, either from natural foolishness or because they had not yet learned from experience how destructive an animal is man, they were very easy to shoot. On being disturbed they would fly up into the nearest tree, and one might shoot three or four of them before it would occur to the survivors that it might be dangerous to remain there.

On this particular occasion, however, my hunt for grouse came to nothing. I was about to walk across a little open space in the woods, when, from among the trees on the opposite side, about thirty steps away, there suddenly appeared two little woolly animals which, though I had never seen such a thing before, I knew must be young bears. They were evidently out for a spree. They chased each other over the grass; bit, buffeted, and tumbled over each other, growling all the time with a great show of ferocity. I was so interested in watching them that I forgot for the moment the fact that the old bear must be somewhere close by. As soon as that thought did occur to me, however, I prepared to slip away, but just as I was about to do so the gambols of the little bears brought them over to my side of the open space, when, catching sight of me, they stopped, and, with their heads cocked on one side, stood thoughtfully staring me out of countenance. As I remained perfectly still they gained courage to advance near enough to sniff at my ankles, and finding that nothing alarming followed this act of temerity they next proceeded to worry the legs of my overalls, just as two young puppies would do. It was great fun for them, and it would have been great fun for me, too, had it not been for my fear that the old bear might come and spoil it all.

I had about decided that it would be an act of wisdom on my part to kick the little bears and send them off home, when, happening to look across the open, I saw something which sent my heart into my mouth,—her Ladyship had arrived. From her great size and her grey colour I guessed she must be a grizzly, and remembering with thankfulness that the grizzly is no climber, I cast my eyes from side to side in search of a tree to ascend, the one which sheltered me being too big. Fortunately I was not reduced to this necessity. The old bear, as soon as she saw where her cubs were, uttered a sound which was evidently a note of recall, for the young ones at once ceased to worry my trousers, and ran across to her. The old lady did not appear to be in the best of tempers, for she saluted each of her children with a cuff on the side of the head which sent him rolling over and over,—it seemed to me to be hard enough to knock their heads off altogether,—and turning about, walked off; my two little friends following demurely behind.

As for myself, as soon as they were out of sight, I departed from the neighbourhood with undignified celerity.

Coming down to the camp again, I was surprised to observe that Ulysses, who had been left in charge, was standing guard over the baggage with his bristles all erect, growling away to himself at a great rate. I observed, too, that the mules were standing with their heads held high, gazing intently in the direction of the pass we had traversed that morning, though they could not see it on account of the intervening strip of woods. Thinking that possibly another bear might be prowling about, I ran down to the camp in order to exchange my shotgun for a rifle, but as I was slipping a cartridge into the latter I paused for an instant, for I had heard a sound I had not heard for a long time,—the sound of a strange human voice.

Calling Ulysses to heel, I crept in among the trees and peered out on the other side. There, coming down the pass, was a bunch of horses, and behind them two men; the whole cavalcade looking very dusty and very weary. They made their way straight to the river, where horses and men at once proceeded to quench their thirst. While the horses were still drinking the two men rose from their knees and began to talk; I could hear them, but they were too far off for me to distinguish more than an occasional word.

They appeared to be disputing. The shorter man gesticulated vigorously, and pointing across the river to some high hills whose rocky tops showed above the trees, he made some remark loudly enough for me to catch the word “to-night.” The other, who leaned against his horse as though he were extremely tired, appeared to be remonstrating; whereupon his companion shouted at him:

“You young fool, do you want to be hung?”

It had seemed to me that there was something familiar in the voices, but when the man shouted in that manner I knew in a moment who he was; for at the word “fool,” his voice went off like a whistle-pipe.

As if to confirm my suspicion, one of the herd, more lively than the rest, broke away, and came galloping in my direction, closely pursued by the taller of the two men. When within about fifty yards of my hiding-place it swerved round, and I then obtained a good sight of the rider’s face. As I had supposed, it was Bates.