Harry Castlemon

“ The deck on which he stood was so hot that he could not bear his hand upon it, and the flames were bursting out from both sides of the doomed steamer, whose frail, fanciful upper works burned like so much paper, and the light they threw out enabled Bob to see a long way up and down the river. The dark, muddy surface of the stream was dotted with men and women who had taken to the water and were floating down with the current on tables, chairs, or whatever else they could lay their hands upon before trusting themselves to the treacherous element. ”

“ Other boys would sit there in the days to come, as he had done in the days gone by, and Dave Evans would come dashing down the main street at the top of his speed, just as the old carrier had done, and throw off the mail-bag with a shout, and Silas Jones would pick it up and hurry into the store with it, and not one of them would ever give a thought to himself or ask where Bob Owens was now.
“No, sir,” said Bob, bitterly, “there’s no one here who cares whether I live or die. If I had been rich I would have had more friends than I wanted.” ”

“ He longed to be his own master. He had made more than one attempt to induce his father to permit him to go out into the world to seek his fortune, but Mr. Owens had always refused; and Bob, in one of his angry moods, had told himself that he would go some day, no matter whether his father was willing or not. He had read wonderful stories of life on the plains; of boy-hunters, and trappers, and Indian-fighters, who had made themselves famous by their deeds of valor, and Bob, believing every word of it, longed to be with them, and join in their exciting adventures. ”

“ If it would be dangerous to let his father know that he had a hundred and sixty dollars in his possession, would it not be equally dangerous to let him see the new shot-gun, fish-pole and other fine things he intended to purchase with the money? If Mr. Owens would be curious to know how Bob had acquired so great and sudden wealth, would he not be equally anxious to know where the gun and fishing-rod came from? ”

“ Had a city youth been standing by Bob’s side on the top of the ridge, he would have thought that the young hunter had undertaken a hopeless task. The gullies, which ran on each side, were so densely covered with bushes that an army might have found concealment in them. More than that, they were two or three hundred yards wide at the bottom, and more than five miles long; and how could Bob hope to discover a single boy in that wilderness? By the same tell-tale sign that had revealed Godfrey’s presence to him—the smoke of a camp-fire. ”

“ But they did not frighten Don now. He had heard such sounds so often of late that they did not affect his nerves any more than the baying of his own hounds would have done. He ran on faster than ever, and a few more steps brought him around an abrupt bend in the path. There he stopped, greatly astonished at what he saw—a battle between his hounds and a bear. It was not the battle that astonished him, but the size of the animal with which his favorites were contending. It was the largest he had ever seen in all his hunting. ”

“ A SPECIMEN TRAPPER. THE boys, warned by their recent narrow escape, sat on the bank in gloomy silence and watched the Sam Kendall as she was slowly consumed before their eyes. They noticed that her forecastle was deserted now, and Bob shuddered when he asked himself how many of those he had seen there a short half hour before had found a watery grave. Presently the hog-chain braces parted with a loud crash, and the flames blazed up brightly for a moment as the stern of the vessel floated off with the current. ”

“ All you know about this life that you want to enter upon, you got out of some book; and I will venture the assertion that if you could see the man who wrote it, you would find that he had never been within five hundred miles of the plains, that he had never seen anything wild larger than a pigeon, and that he couldn’t tell a rifle from a shot-gun if he should see them together. Why, Bob, the men who are born hunters don’t make anything at it. Take them as a class, and you will find them poor, miserable fellows. ”

“ But Lester was past shooting or doing any thing else. His fear had taken away all his strength, and even the knowledge that his life was in danger could not arouse him. Bob saw that something must be done at once. With trembling hands he raised his rifle to his shoulder, and drawing a hasty bead on the bear’s breast, pulled the trigger. Without waiting to see the effect of his shot he threw down his gun, made one or two quick jumps backward and placing his hands upon a small sapling ascended it with the greatest agility. ”

“ Run for your life!” he cried.
Aroused by the exclamation, Don turned his eyes from Lester to the bear, and saw that the animal had regained her feet, and having knocked down one of the hounds was rushing upon Lester with open mouth. Don was frightened now, for he believed that something dreadful was about to happen; but his nerve did not fail him nor did he hesitate an instant. Dropping his empty rifle, and seizing the double barrel which Bert promptly handed him, already cocked, he drew the weapon to his shoulder, and by a hasty snap-shot saved Lester’s life. ”

“ Scanlan’s words of warning, he struck out vigorously to put a safe distance between himself and the drowning people, and was frightened almost out of his senses when he saw a powerful man spring out of the yawl, and make the most strenuous efforts to seize him. As quick as thought, Bob thrust the blade of his oar into the outstretched hands which closed upon it with a grasp of iron. ”

“ DON SHOWS HIS. “DON the hounds say there’s something on the island,” said Bert.
Don ceased rowing, faced about and looked at his favorites, whose actions he had learned to read like a book. They were beginning to be very uneasy.
“Yes, sir,” said Don, his countenance brightening, and his eye lighting up with excitement, “there’s something there. I hope it is a bear, for if it should turn out to be nobody but Godfrey Evans I should be provoked. You needn’t be afraid,” he added, with a hasty glance at his brother’s sober face. “If it is a bear he can’t take us unawares while the dogs are with us. ”

“ When Bob said “nice things,” he meant breech-loading shot-guns, sail-boats, jointed fish-poles, and handsome saddle-horses.
“But I would change places to-night with any bootblack in St. Louis who has a home and a kind father and mother,” said George, earnestly. “What surprises me is that not one boy in ten appreciates his blessings.”
“That’s so,” thought Bob. “You don’t, for one. You have money and don’t care for it. If I had it I shouldn’t be here now.”
“There’s Tony Richardson, for example,” continued George. ”

“ Come back here. There’s time enough to save you and all the rest!”
But the firemen did not come back. They pulled straight for the shore, and when they reached it, they sprang out and ran up the bank. The yawl, which they did not attempt to secure, swung around broadside to the shore and floated off with the current.
“Now it is time for us to look out for ourselves,” said Mr. Black, as a gust of wind brought a thin tongue of flame up from below and sent it curling across the deck. “Come on, all of us. Where’s Bob?”
“Why, I saw him here just as those men ran off with the yawl,” replied George. ”

“ No sooner did the boys appear in sight than they were surrounded by a crowd of men who asked questions much faster than they could answer them. George told their story, making Bob out a perfect hero (the latter was not a little abashed when he found himself stared at as if he had been some curious wild animal, and could not help asking himself what these men, who complimented him so highly, would have thought of him if they had known how he came to be on board the Sam Kendall) ”

“ Talking thus to himself Dan re-loaded his rifle, picked up his squirrel and slowly and thoughtfully retraced his steps toward his camp. He was now learning the lesson that Bob Owens was destined to learn a few days later, and that was that the possession of money does not by any means make one happy. Dan had more in his hands now than he had ever hoped to earn by his own labor, and he had never been more miserable and discontented in his life. ”

“ She dropped on all-fours and came down the path at the top of her speed, and there was Lester standing as motionless as ever. Bob might have thought he was waiting for the animal to approach within five feet of him so that he could make that famous shot he had so often talked about, had he not seen his friend’s pale face and noted the position in which he held his rifle.
“Run! run!” gasped Bob, who fully expected to see his companion pulled down and torn in pieces before his eyes. “Take to a tree—a sapling, and then you will be safe, for it is too small for the bear to climb!” ”

“ If they don’t find you till I tell them where you are, you’ll never be found. Now here’s a go,” thought Bob, as he brought his rifle to a trail, and struggled slowly up the steep bank toward the top of the ridge, “and the question is, who is going to catch Dan first, Godfrey or I? I shouldn’t be afraid to say that I shall be the successful one, for Godfrey is going to look in the wrong place. He thinks Dan is in the swamp, but I don’t. He has shown himself to be a sly fox, and he wouldn’t be foolish enough to go down there and get lost in those dense canebrakes. ”

“ The answer almost froze the blood in Lester’s veins.
“Do you see that?” replied Bob, in the same startled whisper, pointing to a footprint in the mud which looked as though it might have been made by a bare-footed man. “Do you see these broken bushes? Do you see that smaller track there?” he added, a moment later, in accents of great alarm. “We are in a dangerous neighborhood, the first thing you know. There have been two bears along here—an old one and a cub; and I shouldn’t wonder if they were on the island at this very minute. Yes, sir, they are, and there’s one of ’em now!” ”

“ They would take the money themselves and divide it equally between them. Godfrey did not say what he intended to do with his share when he got it, but he drew the most glowing pictures of the comforts and luxuries with which Dan could provide himself when he received the money that would fall to his lot. Dan wanted to live just as Don and Bert Gordon lived. He wanted a spotted pony, a breech-loading shot-gun, a jointed fish-pole and a sail-boat ”

“ There are boys, and men, too, in the world who can not bear to see other people happy, and we are by this time well enough acquainted with Dan to know that he was one of this class. He was not happy—he could not be with his disposition—and it would have afforded him infinite satisfaction if he could have found some way to render his relations, who now seemed to be getting on so nicely in the world, as miserable as he was himself. ”

“ George opened his eyes and looked at the pilot.
“Yes. That’s worse than snags and bars; and when you have had one boat burned under you, you’ll never want to see a spark of fire again as long as you live. I don’t see why folks patronize such a tub as this, anyhow, and they wouldn’t if they knew as much as I do. She is a rotten old hulk, and when she is under way she shakes as if she was about to fall to pieces. She’s got a cabin full of passengers, a cargo worth sixty thousand dollars in the hold, and the captain owns a big share in it. ”

“ The huge animal he had shot in the path was the mother of the two cubs.
“We’ve got two of them,” he exclaimed in great glee. “Are we not in luck? Don’t you remember father told us that if we could trap a cub Silas Jones would give us twenty dollars for him? We’ll have forty dollars to give David. We don’t need the money and he does.”
“Of course he does,” replied Bert. “We’ll leave the dogs here and go home and get help.”
“That’s the idea. We shall need plenty of it, too, for that bear is pretty heavy, and it will take a strong force to drag her to the bayou and put her into the boat. ”

“ The canoe moved swiftly along the shore of the island until it reached a point opposite the path leading to the little clearing in which the bear trap was located, and then Bert turned it toward the shore, and Don with a few strong pulls drove the bow deep into the mud. The hounds, hardly waiting for the boat to become stationary, sprang ashore and were out of sight in an instant. ”

“ Mr. Owens had remarked that Godfrey knew every nook and corner of the swamps, and that all the constables in the county could not find him. Bob told himself that he knew every inch of the swamps, too, and that if anybody could trace Godfrey to his hiding-place, he was the one. But he did not believe that the fugitive was in the swamp. He thought that Godfrey’s camp could not be very far away—in fact, that their plantation must be nearer to it than any other, or else the man would not have come to Mr. Owens’s smoke-house to steal bacon. ”

“ Why don’t you go to Denver? That is hundreds of miles farther on. You see that western country is settling up rapidly, and if you want to find fur-bearing animals you must go to the mountains.”
Bob looked down at the floor in a brown study. He began to see, now, that he had made some mistakes in his calculations. He supposed that all he had to do to enter upon the life of a trapper was, to provide himself with a horse and rifle at St. Louis, and plunge at once into the wilderness, where he would find all sorts of game, from a mink to a grizzly bear. ”