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162
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
THE YOUNG EXPLORERS;
OR, 80Y-MKE IN TEXAS*
BY JOHN C. DUVAL,
Author of “ Jack Dobell; or, A Boy's Ad
ventures in Texas," “ The Adventures
of Big-Foot Wallace," etc
CHAPTER XIX.
The Scrimmage with the Bear —Oudjo Beats an
Ignominious Retreat —Bruin “Smoked Out"
and Killed —The Boys Quiz Oudjo — Uncle
Seth Comes to his Relief— Uncle Seth’s "Bar”
Stories.
V f
said Uncle Seth, to
that sable individual, who had
abandoned his pots and pans,
and seized his blunderbuss, with the
evident intention of taking a hand in
the anticipated sport, “ I reckon you’d
better bring a chunk of fire ’long with
with you, for maybe so we shall have
to ‘smoke’ the gentleman out’n his
den.”
In a few minutes we reached the
cave, which was at the foot of a high
bluff. The entrance was not much
larger than a barrel, and we eagerly
peered into it, to see if we could dis
cover the whereabouts of Mr. Bruin ;
but all was dark within, and we could
discern nothing distinctly beyond a few
feet from the opening.
“I don’t see how we are to rouse
him out of his den,” said Henry, “ un
less we send Cudjo in after him. What
do you say to it, Cudjo ? ”
“ Bress de Lord! Mass Henry, I aint
gwying into dat hole, es you trow a bag
of money down and I aint.”
“ Oh ! there’s no danger,” said Hen
ry, “for a bear was never known to at
tack a man in his den.”
“ Umph ! ” replied Cudjo, “de ole
boy trus’ ’em, for I won’t. Dar aint
no tellin’ what dey might do, if de no
tion tuck ’em.”
“ Well, boys,” said Uncle Seth, “ there
aint but one chance that I see to git
Cuffee out, and that is to ‘ smoke’ him
out. Let Cudjo start a fire jest inside
the cave, and we’ll stand outside with
our guns, and when the smoke fetches
him we’ll be ready to give him the lead
before he kin git out’n our reach.”
Uncle Seth’s suggestion was acted
upon at once, and while Cudjo was
kindling -the fire within the mouth of
the cave, we stood outside with our
guns all ready to give him a feu dejoie
as soon as he should make his appear
ance.
After a while, Cudjo, who was still
within the mouth of the cave, busily
engaged in blowing up the fire, called
out: “I tink he gib in purty soon now.
I hear him snuffin’ mighty hard for he
breff.”
Scarcely had the words passed Cud
jo’s lips, when we heard a rush in the
cave, and the next instant Cudjo pitch
ed head foremost from the den, closely
followed by the bear —who could no
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
longer endure the stifling smoke with
which it was filled.
“Oh! Lord a marcy!” screamed
Cudjo, rolling over and over in his
frantic efforts to get out of the way of
the way of the bear; “ Lord a marcy,
Mass Seth! please, Mr. Pitt, shoot
him 1 shoot him fore he eats me up ! ”
Bruin was almost as badly frightened
as Cudjo, and evidently only wanted to
make his escape as soon as possible;
but the moment he showed his snout
outside, a half-dozen guns poured their
contents into and with one con
vulsive bound, he sprang forwards,
and, as ill luck would have it, fell
dead right across Cudjo’s body, who
was lying prostrate upon the ground,
completely paralysed with terror.
“Oh! Mass Seth,” he screamed, “for
de Lord’s sake take him off me. Don’t
let de varmint eat me up right ’fore
your eyes.”
Lawrence and I seized the bear by
his hind legs, and dragged him off of
Cudjo ; but it was some time before we
could make him comprehend that the
animal was dead, and no longer capa
ble of doing him an injury.
“Why, you coward!” said Willie,
“the bear wasn’t after'you at all; he
only wanted a little fresh air.”
“Maybe so,” said Cudjo; “but I
tink he want nigger too. I see de ole
boy in his eye, when he came snortin’
by me, and dey look jess like two coal
ob fire. And I tell you what’s de trufe,
Mass Willie,” continued Cudjo, “I’m
mity fond of bar meat, it’s a fact; but
de next time you tree one in a hole
like dis, you kin go in dar and make a
smoke youself, for dis nigger aint
gwying to do it, sartain.”
The bear proved to be a young one
(about half-grown), and though not fat,
which they seldom are in the spring of
the year, was nevertheless in pretty
fair condition. Having cut down a
good stout pole, we tied Mr. Bruin’s
legs securely to the centre of it, and
Lawrence and myself shouldering one
end, and Uncle Seth and Mr. Pitt the
other, we lugged him into camp, where
we butchered him at our leisure, whilst
Cudjo was cooking some of the choice
pieces for our supper.
By the time we had finished butcher
ing the bear, supper was announced by
Cudjo with his usual flourish, and we
took our seats convenient to the hot
steaks and other “ fixins,” to which we
did ample justice.
“Boys,” said Willie, as he helped
his platter a second time to a pound or
so of steak, “I’m afraid we’ll never
make a backwoodsman of Cudjo. I
never saw a fellow so badly scared in
my life as he was when the bear chased
him from his den. He looked right
ashy, and his eyes stuck out like two
white teacups turned bottom upwards.”
Cudjo overheard (as Willie intended
he should) this disparaging remark up
on his courage, and indignantly replied :
“Now, I jess tell you, Mass Willie, if
I was a leetle mite scared, you’d have
been so too, if you had been in dat dark
hole, and seed dat ugly varmint come
snortin’ and tearin’ out arter you. But
I wouldn’t have been affeared a bit, es
I had been in the daylight.”
“Well, how about the wild hogs
yesterday?” asked Henry, with a grin.
But Cudjo pretended to be very busy
just then turning some “flap-jacks,”
and “let on” as if he hadn't heard
what Henry said.
“Boys,” said Uncle Seth, “you
mustn’t be too hard on Cudjo for run
ning from the bar, for I remember
mity well I wa.s almost as bad scared
as he was, the fust time I ever tackled
one of ’em.”
“ How was that?” asked Willie, who
was always “ready, cocked and prim
ed ” for a yarn.
“ Well, you see,” said Uncle Seth,
“a little while arter I fust come out to
Texas, I concluded one day I would
take a turn in the woods, and see if I
couldn’t kill a bar. I had gone I reckon
about a couple of miles, when I seed
one busy rootin’ among some dead lim
ber a hundred yards or so ahead of me.
About half-way bertwixt me and the
bar, I noticed a big oak tree that had
been blowed down, and as I thought
the bar hadn’t seed me, I detarmined
that I would crawl up to this tree,
which would bring me in fifty or sixty
yards of him, and then with a dead rest
from the top of it I made sartain I
should be able to fetch him the first
fire. So I got down on my hands and
knees, and crawled along slowly to
wards the log, ‘ snaking’ my gun arter
me as I went. I never got up to look
for the bar till I came to the log, for
fear he might see me ; but when I got
to it, I cautiously raised up to take a
peep at the gentleman, and jest as my
head riz above the top, the bar poked
his over from the other side, and we
met face to face! He gin one yowl
and tumbled backwards, and I gin one
squawk and tumbled backwards too on
my side of the fence. When I come to,
sorter, and riz to my feet agin, I saw
the rascal tearing off like a house afire
for the swamp, and as soon as he struck
it, he made the cane pop and crack as
if a wagon and team had been going
full split through it. I don’t know to
this day which was the worst scared of
the two, me or that bar.”
“I don’t wonder at your both being
astonished,” said Mr. Pitt, “meeting
each other unexpectedly in that w r ay,
face to face.”
“Yes,” said Uncle Seth, “I must
say we were both tuck rather by sur
prise, and considerably stampeded in
the bargain—leastways I kin speak for
myself —but not as much prehaps as
Bill York was, when me and him was
trappin’ beaver on the head of the San
Saba.”
“Tell us how that was,” said Willie;
“ I like to hear about people being
astonished, and to sec ’em too. I think
it’s mighty funny,” he added, glancing
over towards Cudjo.
But that Ethiopean hero was just
then polishing one of the roasted ribs
of his enemy, and paid no attention to
Willie’s insinuation.
“Well, you see,” said Uncle Seth,
throwing out his old quid, and replac
ing it with a fresh one—a preliminary
he always went through with before be
ginning one of his yarns, “Tou see
when me and Bill York got up to the
trappin’ grounds, it was jest arter a big
huntin’ party of Ingens had left, that
had been camped there for a long time,
and in consequence game of all kinds
was mity scace in the neighborhood,
and we found it purty diffikilt to keep
ourselves in meat.
“ Well, once when we had been out
huntin’ all day without findin’ any
thing to shoot, jest a leetle before
sundown, we came in sight of an old
bufferlo bull, that was grazing by him
self in the middle of a small perara.
“ ‘ Bill,’ said I, ‘ bufferlo bull is tol
er’ble tough and stringy, it's a fact; but
I don’t see much chance of gitting any
thing else to-day, and I reckon we had
better try for that chap yonder.’
“‘ I reckon we had,’ said Bill; ‘ his
marrow bones and hump won’t be hard
to take, anyhow; but I don’t see ad
zactly how we are going to git in gun
shot of him in that open perara.’
“‘Well, Bill,’ said I, ‘l'll tell you
how we kin manage it. You have got
the biggest bored gun,’ and Bill was a
crack shot with it too, I kin tell you ;
‘ so the best plan I think is for you to
crawl out behind that bunch of bushes
you see yonder, fifty or sixty yards this
side of the bull, and es you kin make it
without his noticin’ you, you kin git a
dead rest at him thar, and be purty sure
to up him; but es you only wound him,
jest as soon as I hear your gun crack,
I’ll run out and help you finish him.’
“Bill thought my plan was a good
one enough, so he re-capped his rifle,
and we both sneaked down to the edge
of the timber. I tuck a tree thar, and
Bill got down on his ‘all fours,’ and
commenced crawling slowly towards
the bull, keeping the bunch of bushes
all the time bertwjxt him and the buf
ferlo. Arter a while, Bill got to the
bushes, and I seed him raise up and
take a look above ’em at the bull, who
was still munching away at the grass,
without any suspicion that a man was
in a mile of him. Presently 1 seed Bill
level his gun, and the next minute I
heard it crack, and then I seed the old
bull stagger to his knees, but he soon
riz, and made like a hurricane right for
the smoke of Bill’s gun. I knowed
then it was time for me to interfere,
and I put out fur Bill as hard as I
could go, and Bill riz and put back
towards me as fast as he could, with
the old bull tearin’ arter him, and gain
ing on him every jump.
“When Bill and me got in about
forty yards of one another, the bull