XII. THE GRIZZLY BEAR.
FROM WHERE Brainerd was on the tree it was to catch a of the steam man, so his return. The was also too great for him to make himself by the miners, who were hard at work twenty miles away.
Fruitful in expedients, it was not long the boy a in his trouble. Tearing a large from his coat, he this into smaller strips, until he had a rope a dozen yards in length. Upon the end of this he a loop, and then, to the limb, he himself to the of it over the end of his gun. It had in such a manner that the was elevated, so that here was a good opportunity for the of his skill and patience.
When the attempt was the at it and it from the boy's hand he it his reach. So he was to make another one.
Nothing discouraged, the boy soon had this completed, and it was more than before. When the a at it, it was out of his way.
This was times, until the with the sport, and the tree, let the boy do all the he chose.
Now was his time, but the boy did not allow his to overcome the of his nerves. It no little skill, but he succeeded in the over the of the gun and it up taut.
With a high with hope, Johnny saw it clear of the ground, and he it up. The looked at his maneuvers, and once as if to move toward the rifle; but, his mind was settled, it was his reach, and the cold was in the hand of the waiting boy.
While it up, he had been with himself as to the best means of killing the brute. Remembering that his had done no harm, he that he had not yet learned the part of the monster.
His gun was very carefully, and when was he a noise, to the attention of the brute. The looked up instantly, when the gun was at his right eye.
Ere the his gaze, the piece was discharged, and the true, into the of the brute. With a grunt, he rose upon his feet, the air a moments, and then dead.
Young Brainerd waited until he was that the last of life had fled, when he the tree, able to the truth that he had a bear, the of the western wilderness. But such was the fact, and he more at the than if he had a dozen buffaloes.
'If I only had him in the wagon,' he reflected, 'I'd take him into camp, for they will I killed a bear.'
However, it to him that he might secure some memento, and he cut and them in his pocket. This done, he that, as the was well advanced, it was time he started homeward.
His from the had him somewhat, and, when he took the direction he to be the right one, he nothing familiar or remembered, from which he he was going astray.
But a little on his part, and he soon himself, and was walking along hopefully, when he another of terror, at the of an Indian, by others.
Immediately he the by the trapper, and looked about, to make sure that he was not already in their hands. His great now was to the steam man and the neighborhood, which was untenable.
So he as as possible, at the same time a for danger. It a half-hour, at this rate, the of the mountain. The moment he did so, he looked all around in of the steam man, he had been to for so long a time.
He it hundred yards away; but, to his dismay, there were a dozen Indians and walking about it, every with the curiosity.
Here was a indeed, and the boy to that he had himself into an difficulty, for how to the steam man and the fire, under the circumstances, was a question which might well puzzle an older to answer.
It was that the machine should have been taken at this great disadvantage, for it was it of its terror to those Indians, who were such to the whites. They had viewed it with wonder and at first; but it undemonstrative, had courage, until they had around it, and as a as they know how.
Whatever or terror they had at was now gone; for they on the most familiar terms with it.
Several into the wagon, others passed in and around the giant, and one him a on the with his tomahawk.
This the boy more than it did the iron man, and he a of pain, as he looked upon the of his friend as almost inevitable.
The savage, however, himself with this demonstration, and after walked away toward the mountain. The boy what this meant, and he from his temporary hiding-place, and started to watch him.
The that the Indian the path taken by him, did not remove the uneasiness, and he up his mind that nothing but was to come to him from this proceeding.
When the Indian had the spot where the lay, he paused in the wonderment. Here was something which he did not understand.
The that somebody had him, and the in the looked as though it had been done by an hunter. A minutes' of the ground that he who had the was in the tree at the time, after which he had and fled.
All this took but a minutes for the to discover, when he gave a of at his success in the matter, and started off on the trail.
Unluckily, this toward the which the boy had himself; and he a new hiding-place the Indian was upon him.
At of the boy, the gave a whoop, and his tomahawk; but the was this, and his gun, he it full into his heart.
As he the of the Indian, and saw him up his arms, he did not wait to or see anything else, but with might and main, looking or he was going.
A time after he himself at the of the mountain, very near the spot where he had come, and again toward the steam man, he saw him motion less, as before, and with not a single Indian in sight!
