Hector, who had come down from his perch, expressed his regret at having caused his friend so much anxiety. He had been following up the track of the horses, when he caught sight of the bear, which he unwisely fired at and wounded. She at first had gone off with her cubs, but just as he had reached the wood, she had turned and rushed at him. He had again fired, but having no time to reload, in attempting to escape up the tree had dropped his gun, when the bear, seizing it, had gnawed and twisted it in such a manner as to render it perfectly useless. Had not the dogs held her in check, he acknowledged that he should have been caught.
“Had we our horses, we might supply ourselves with bears’ flesh sufficient to last for the whole of our journey; as it is, we can only take as much as we can conveniently carry,” observed Loraine. They speedily, if not very scientifically, cut off a portion of the meat, which they did up with strips of the cubs’ hides into two packages, the dogs meantime enjoying a magnificent feast off the remains. They then retired to the camp, still as much in the dark as ever as to what had become of Greensnake and the horses.
“I don’t know what I shall do without my gun,” said Hector, as they walked along. “If we meet with enemies, I shall be unable to help you to fight; nor can I kill any game.”
Loraine did his best to comfort him. “We must keep out of the way of enemies, and my gun will enable me to obtain as much food as we shall require, while you can assist me with your advice, as you know more about the country than I do,” he observed.
When Loraine pointed to the articles they must abandon, Hector suggested that they should be placed en cache by hanging them up to the bough of a tree, deep in the wood, so as to be concealed from passers-by.
They might thus some day have an opportunity of sending for them.
“There, you see how at once you can help me,” remarked Loraine. “I have been sadly puzzled to know what to do with them.”
Having taken a substantial meal of bears’ flesh, they carefully put out their fire, and obliterated as far as they could the traces of their encampment. They then strapped on their packs, and Hector supplying himself with a pointed stick, in the place of his damaged rifle, they set off, followed by the dogs, in the direction, as they supposed, of Fort Duncan.