The Youths Companion | Page 3

the pappoose had been left. Then suddenly their noise stopped. There was no pappoose there!
"This discovery sobered them. They thought at first the fellows around the store had played them a trick by taking it away; but by-and-by the Red-Sky-of-the-Morning set up a shriek.
"She had found the board not far off, but no pappoose strapped to it, only something that told the story of what had happened.
"There were bear tracks around the spot. One of the prints showed only two claws.
"The Red-Sky-of-the-Morning went back to the camp with the news; the other squaw followed with the jug.
"When the Water-Snake-with-the-Long-Tail heard that his pappoose had been eaten by a bear, he felt, I suppose, very much as any white father would have felt under the circumstances. He vowed vengeance against Old Two Claws, but consoled himself with a drink of the fire-water before starting on the hunt.
"The braves with him followed his example. It wasn't in Indian nature to start until they had emptied the jug, so it happened that Old Two Claws got off again. Tipsy braves can't follow a trail worth a cent.
"Not very long after that a woman in a neighboring settlement heard her children scream one day in the woods near the house. She rushed out, and saw a bear actually lugging off her youngest.
"She was a sickly, feeble sort of woman, but such a sight was enough to give her the strength and courage of a man. She ran and caught up an axe. Luckily she had a big dog. They two went at the bear.
"The old fellow had no notion of losing his dinner just for a woman and a mongrel cur. But she struck him a tremendous blow on the back; at the same time the pup got him by the leg. He dropped the young one to defend himself. She caught it up and ran, leaving the two beasts to have it out together.
"The bear made short work with the cur, but instead of following the woman and child, he skulked off into the woods.
"The settlers got together for a grand hunt; but Old Two Claws--for the tracks showed that he was the scoundrel--escaped into the mountains, and lived to make more trouble another day.
"The child? Oh, the child was scarcely hurt! It had got squeezed and scratched a little in the final tussle; that was all.
"As to the bear, he was next heard of in our settlement."
The hostler hesitated, winked his one eye with an odd expression, put a fresh quid into his cheek, and finally resumed,---
"A brother-in-law of my uncle, a man of the name of Rush, was one day chopping in the woods about half a mile from his house, when his wife went out to carry him his luncheon.
"She left two children at home, a boy about five years old, and a baby just big enough to toddle around.
"The boy had often been told that if he strayed into the woods with his brother a bear might carry them off, and she charged him again that forenoon not to go away from the house; but he was an enterprising little fellow, and when the sun shone so pleasant, and the woods looked so inviting, he wasn't one to be afraid of bears.
"The woman stopped to see her husband fall a big beech he was cutting, and then went back to the house; but just before she got there, she saw the oldest boy coming out of the woods on the other side. He was alone. He was white as a sheet, and so frightened at first that he couldn't speak.
"'Johnny,' says she, catching hold of him, 'what is the matter?'
"'A bear!' he gasped out at last.
"'Where is your little brother?' was her next question.
"'I don't know,' said he, too much frightened to know anything just then.
"'Where did you leave him?' says she.
"Then he seemed to have gotten his wits together a little. 'A bear took him!' said he.
"You can guess what sort of an agony the mother was in.
"'O Johnny, tell me true! Think! Where was it?'
"'In the woods,' he said. 'Bear come along,--I run.'
"She caught him up and hurried with him into the woods. She begged him to show her where he was with his little brother when the bear came along. He pointed out two or three places. In one of them the earth was soft. There were fresh tracks crossing it,--bear tracks. There was no doubt about it.
"It was a terrible situation for a poor woman. Whether to follow the bear and try to recover her child, or go at once for her husband, or alarm the neighbors, what to do with Johnny meanwhile,--all that would have been hard enough for her to decide even if she had had her wits about her.
"She hardly knew what