Jack the Young Explorer

annoyed by them; so much as that they stopped feeding and began to wander off, seeking the thickets of quaking aspen and willow, through which they walked in order to brush off the insects. B

lse to a place where the wind is blowing. Unless we do that

t high up on the hills or else go out on

oke, and then go out and round up the horses and bring them in, so that they can stand in the smoke. Then we'll cache the wagon her

rass and stripping the wet bark off an old rotting cottonwood log, they soon had a line of smokes too strong for any insect. Then, going a little way down the lake,

he bacon he tied with extra ropes and, when the boys had finished with the horses, he had one of them climb into a tree and hang the food where it could not be reached by mice or ground sq

and presently the little train set off up the lake over the trail followed by Jack and Joe the day before. While they were crossing the inlet, and for the first mile or two up the trail on the oth

mountains which rose on either side of the lake. As he passed over a little ridge between two of the many streams that ran down from the mountains, he suddenly saw ahead of him and a little to his right, a huge brown bear, apparently looking not at him, but at something

orse's head, holding the reins over his left arm. He pitched his gun to his shoulder, aimed at the bear just beh

o trouble in remounting, while the bear had given a loud bawl, and had fallen to the ground, turni

uth. The noise of the shot had put every one on the alert, and it made Jack laugh a little to look back and see his two companions and all the pack horses scramble up the hill as hard as they could. The bear covered forty or fifty yards, running fast and strong, and then, seeming to notice the people on the hill above it, turned and rushed toward Jack, but before it had got any

that I couldn't help taking a shot at him. I think he has a good hide, too, but maybe I oughtn't to have fired

out there, just this side of where that big creek comes down, and make camp there. Get as far out toward the water as you can. I think maybe the breeze will keep the flies down,

ere with you now and take the skin off and let Joe go on and make camp. If the flies are not bad he can do it alone just about as well as we could togethe

hat is better. It'll shorte

ed to camp, and Joe went on with the pack horses. Hug

yet nor even to get sunburned, and yet maybe he's been out of his den now for two months or more. He isn't fat;

t bears, when they come out of their dens,

ost people say that when they come out and start wandering about looking for food they keep going all the time and get poor right away. I don't quite believe that is so. I'm pretty sure they don't get much to eat at first, and I've a

" said Jack. "I'd

n silence and the hide began to drop

t summer down in North Park. I think it's fully as big as the biggest one that w

er. You must remember that those we killed last summer were not in good order; the winter coat

Jack. "Won't any woman tan t

s and think they're powerful medicine. A good many of them won't call a bear by his name. They call him Sticky Mouth. Most of them won't sit on a bear robe. There are some medicine men or priests that can wear

hat a bear is mighty smart and has great power, and I know that the Eastern Indians when they killed a bear used t

hat would dare to dress a bear hide. We may find such a woman in camp when we go back, but

and the carcass was slipped off it. Then Hugh, cutting into the bear's stomach, turned out its contents on the ground. It was

n maybe he's been down along the shore of the lake to see if he couldn't pick up a fish or two that had drifted ashore, and not having fou

e struggled and pulled back, and it was only by blinding him with a coat-an operation which took some time and involved some trouble because both men

side hill. The chances are that he'd buck and very likely drop me off on

ahead and lead him and I'll follow, and if he pulls

nd the lashing held, so that, at length, the badly frightened horse followed more or less uneasily along the trail, Hugh riding behind him and having some trouble in controlling his own animal, into whose nostrils the scent of the be

ver it with a knife, scraping from it all possible grease. After supper and just before sundown, Jack, casting at the mouth of the

roublesome, and they sat about the camp fire enjoying its grateful warmth. Presently Joe broke out and said, "

the Piegans don't go much into the mountains. They are a

and the Stonies. Sometimes the Bloods go in a little way to hunt or trap beaver, but not far. Plenty of men in my tribe would stop right here; they would not go any further. Up above here, on this lake, I see

Joe? You've been pretty nearly raised among white pe

we see ahead of us. Only to-day we saw this awful big bear that you killed. Maybe up in the mountains there are more bears and

he river that comes into it and keep on climbing until we got to the head of that river. Somewhere, not very far away, it must begin, and must come falling down fr

he River people,[A] and used to take horses from them and drive them back through the mountains; also, they used to go through the mountains and make long journeys to war to the southwest, and if they found little parties of white men who were t

called Flathead Indians, who dwe

arly days before my time the Blackfeet

gathering their fur in the morning, and kill them, or how they would try to run off their horses. Sometimes they would have big battles with them. The trappers, I think, were mostly at peace with the Snakes and perhaps with oth

he valley is narrow and the mountains high on either side, and we cannot very well get out of that trough, but, on the other hand, it may be pretty bad going there. The whole valley may be a swamp or a succession of little lakes and it's possible that we can't find a way to the head of it at all. The only way to learn about it is to try. Anyhow, i

that no white men have been

events it won't be a bad trip to make, unless the flies are too awful bothersome, and by the way, son, to-morrow morning before w

But what do you suppose we'll find

ought to be lots of sheep and goats up there, some elk, maybe a moose or two, and of course some bears, but that doesn't mean that we're going to get all this game. It only means maybe that we'll see some of it;

e mighty glad to get up th

ll have plenty of things to tell the people