While Andy lit two fires, one on the open hearth and the other in the little cook-stove, and shook out blankets to air, Young Dan carried the outfit up from the landing. Then, by lantern-light and firelight, they examined the provisions which Bill Tangler had left behind.
“Jumpin’ Josh-ee-phat, look-a here!” exclaimed Andy Mace. “Here’s a box been bust open—box o’ prunes—and the prunes took. There’s some dried apples gone, too, and some flour, I reckon. Take a look at the windy, Young Dan.”
The window was shuttered on the outside when the camp was not occupied. The shutter was of plank, hinged to the window-frame at the top and, when secured, fastened at the bottom by a hasp and a padlock. But now the shutter was not fastened. The long staple had been wrenched from the tough plank and now hung uselessly from the log window-sill, together with the hasp and padlock.
“A b’ar,” said Andy. “Trust a b’ar to sniff out prunes.”
“A bear wouldn’t take flour,” said Young Dan.
“Ye can’t never tell what a b’ar will do, for b’ars are natural born jokers,” replied Andy. “I’ve knowed the critters for nigh onto a hundred years, and that’s my opinion of them.”
“It wasn’t done yesterday, nor even the day before,” said the youth. “The prunes he’s left in the box are pretty dry. And he has had a go at the molasses, too. He’s left the stopper out, see; and look at the track of dried molasses down the front of the jug. It’s a wonder he didn’t upset it. And he’s ripped the bean-bag open, darn his hide! But how come it he didn’t upset the jug? Maybe it wasn’t a bear at all, Mr. Mace. A man could have done it, I guess.”
“It be a reg’lar b’ar trick,” replied Andy. “He didn’t upset the jug o’ molasses, that’s true—and I’m glad he didn’t—but all that shows is some b’ars is smarter or more careful nor others. He h’isted the jug in his two paws and took a swig, that’s what he done. Look at the beans he’s chawed and spit out on the floor. D’ye reckon a man would do that?”
“Some men are smarter and more careful than others,” replied Young Dan.
They closed the inner glazed sash of the window and nailed a strong bar of wood across it. Then they cooked and ate their supper and retired to their bunks, for they were bone-tired. The affair of the thieving bear would keep very well until morning.