Rancho Del Muerto, and Other Stories of Adventure: by Various Authors, from "Outing"King, Charles
General
Rancho Del Muerto, and Other Stories of Adventure: by Various Authors, from "Outing"
King, Charles
Adventure stories; Fiction; Hunting stories; Short stories
Pretty soon Jim hed occasion ter know he war hurt some.
The bar had tore his left arm right smart an' in fallin' his face hed
got skun up dreadful. Th' b'ar walked up an' down, a-smellin' down thet
crack sorter much like, but by-an'-by he went off a leetle an' lay down,
I spect arguin' with hisse'f thet Jim would come out'n th' hole liken he
did out'n th' saplin.'
Jim wrapped up his arm the best he could with a piece uv his shirt
sleeve.
It war daylight when he waked an' th' fust thin' he seed war th' head uv
thet thar b'ar a-lookin' down at him.
He knowed it war'n't no use ter holler, so he jes' lay thar thinkin'
'bout Becky an' th' babies an' leetle Jim--wonderin' ef she'd think he'd
quit her.
The thought uv Becky's thinkin' enny bad uv him made him groan with a
new kind uv pain, an' whin he moved a leetle he fainted away. I reckon
thet war jes' 'bout'n th' time Becky got thar, fer she said she heerd a
groan down in thet hole an' thin all war still. She war jes' a-goin' ter
call whin she spied thet b'ar a-lookin' down inter th' crack.
'Bout ten foot to th' left uv whar Jim war fust the mounting breaks
away, leavin' a pres'pus uv forty foot or more, but thar's a leetle
ledge at th' top whar you kin look inter thet crack in th' bluff.
It war fur thet leetle ledge the b'ar made jes' ez Becky halted. When
it clumb down she made sure it would git ter Jim (she war sure he war in
thet crack), so she follered quiet ez she could, an th' snow bein' soft
kept th' b'ar from hearing her--until she war right behind it--whar it
war leanin' down over th' edge a-tryin' ter git inter th' crack. 'Fore
it could turn on her she gave it a powerful push with her hickory stick,
an' being so fur over an' so heavy the b'ar lost hisse'f, an' down he
went with a crash into th' underbrush.
Becky'd gone too, only her dress war caught in some bushes an' thet
saved her.
She couldn't do nothin' but lay on th' ground an' rest a spell, thin she
crawled ter th' edge an' looked down ter make sure th' b'ar war dead.
Hearin' Jim groan agin she got up an' went ter him.
He war clean gone in a faint agin before she could get down ter him.
When she got him to again she gave him th' flask uv milk she hed
brought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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