CHAPTER XIII
AN ISLAND LIFE
Tom was awakened by the sun streaming down into his face. It came through the vent-hole in the roof. At first he could not recall for the life of him where he was, and for a time thought that the vent hole was the port hole of his cabin, oddly misplaced by some accident to the roof. But he soon realized all that had happened, and aroused the others, who at first were equally confused.
"The steward has called for breakfast!" said Tom laughing.
"Humph! And where is the breakfast coming from?" grunted Sandy, looking at the remains of the fried fish and thinking of the scant store of crackers and tinned beef that remained.
The others did not reply to this, and Tom devoted himself to dressing. As he had taken off only his outer garments, this did not take long. Shoving open the door he looked outside.
"Gee whiz, fellows, a dandy day!" he exclaimed. "Clear as a bell and the sea is quite calm."
In a few minutes the others joined Tom at the door. They stood looking about a while, when suddenly a loud splash not far off made them all exclaim.
"What was that?" asked Jack.
"Don't know. Sounded like somebody throwing a big rock into the water," was Tom's reply.
"It did, too," declared Sandy. "Hark! there it is again!"
"It's down by the creek," announced Tom. "I tell you what, fellows, it's fish!"
"Fish!"
"Surely. Fish leaping. Big ones, too, by the sound of them."
Two or three more splashes came while the boys were talking. They hurried down to the creek, and as they went they noted that a great cloud of crows and ravens were hovering above it. Wondering greatly what all this could mean, they quickened their footsteps.
Arrived at the creek, they found the shallow sand bar between its mouth and the sea all aboil with confusion. Masses of fish seemed to be trying to get from the sea into the creek. All at once a great fish eagle swooped down out of a cottonwood on the opposite side of the creek. It struck the water with a splash. There was a brief struggle and then the bird of prey shot upward again. In its talons it held a silver-scaled fish of large size.
"Well, he's going to breakfast all right," remarked Jack ruefully. "My, what a whumping big fish!"
"No wonder: it was a salmon," declared Tom. "This must be the season when they rush up into the rivers to spawn."
"Look! there's lots of them wriggling about on the sand bar!" cried Jack.
"Hookey! So there are. If only we could grab some of them we'd solve the breakfast problem in jig-time."
All this time Sandy had been quietly whittling a long stick to a sharp point. Now he rushed suddenly forward, wading waist deep in the creek to the sand bar. Half a dozen salmon lay wriggling there, their silvery scales flashing in the sun. Sandy's arm holding the spear shot up and then descended, spearing one of the stranded fish. Before he could strike again, the others had escaped and joined the rest of the "run" in their mad rush up the creek for their spawning grounds. With a cry of triumph Sandy came ashore again and received the congratulations of his comrades. Broiled salmon and the remainder of the crackers formed their breakfast, which they ate with much gusto.
The food problem appeared to be solved by the salmon run and the other fish with which the creek abounded; but a bread supply offered a further puzzle. However, the boys did not worry much about this at the time. After breakfast they visited the dory and found everything all right with the boat.
"I don't know that we'll be so badly off here for a time," said Tom.
"Yes, but we can't stay here forever," objected Jack gloomily.
"Oh, dinna fear but they'll find us oot," declared Sandy hopefully. "What do you say if we hoist up a flag on the point yonder?"
"That's a good idea," declared Tom, "but in any event we won't stay here long. If no help comes before many days, we'll set out in the dory and keep along the coast till we reach some settlement where we can get into communication with our friends."
The flag question bothered them sadly for a time, but it was solved by utilizing an old bit of canvas that was in the dory. With this they improvised a signal, affixing it to a tall limb of a tree which they had lopped off and anchored on the rocky point by piling stones about its base.
They were coming back from this task, having vainly scanned the sea for a sail, when Tom halted suddenly and pointed toward the hillside that sloped upward behind the hut. The others likewise came to a standstill at his sudden exclamation.
Among the bushes, which grew thickly on the lower part of the slope, some large animal was moving. A glimpse of a shaggy back could be seen and the bushes waved and swayed as some big body came lumbering through them.
"What can it be?" wondered Jack, round-eyed, gazing at the disturbance.
The mystery was soon explained and in no very pleasant way. Out into an open space there suddenly emerged the huge, clumsy form of an enormous bear. It was almost as big as a colt, and shaggy and ferocious looking.
"O-o-oh!" cried Sandy, his cheeks turning white.
There was good reason for the boys to feel scared. The bears of Kadiak Island are the largest in the world. The specimen the boys were now gazing at with awestruck faces was a giant even among his own kind.
"Cracky!" cried Jack. "That fellow could eat us all without salt. What'll we do?"
"Get back to the hut as soon as possible. We must make a detour to avoid him," decided Tom quickly.
"Is he after us do you think?" asked Sandy.
"No, I guess he's come after salmon. See, he's heading for the creek."
"Wow! Christmas!" yelled Jack suddenly. "Look, there come two more!"
Out of the brush from which the first bear had emerged there came two more shaggy, lumbering brutes. One was quite tiny, plainly a cub. The larger animal, which was a sort of yellowish-gray color, the boys guessed to be the little fellow's mother. It certainly was an exciting moment as, crouching behind a friendly patch of brier bushes, the boys watched the mother and cub join the head of the family.
Luckily the wind was blowing offshore, that is from the bears toward the boys. But, nevertheless, the great animals appeared suspicious. The mother stopped suddenly and sat up on her haunches. Then she began swaying a huge head from side to side as if puzzled. But evidently her suspicions were lulled soon afterward, for after a few minutes in this attitude of listening, she dropped on all fours and the three bears began to advance once more.
"Now's our chance," declared Tom as the bears vanished in the tall, thick growth between the hillside and the creek.
The boys raced down the hill at top speed. They were between the bears and the sea, and it was their object to cross the creek and gain the hut on the further side before the bears sighted them. They made good time and reached the creek and crossed it, while the bears were still in the thick growth.
They reached the hut and Tom closed the door. Then the boys exchanged blank glances. Unless the bears went away they would be prisoners, for the hut was quite visible from the creek. Tom found a peephole in the sod covering of the shack and peered through. Then he beckoned to the others. The bears had reached the creek and were fishing. The old mother sat in midstream with her offspring beside her, while father bear was further up the creek on a sand bar.
Serious as their position was, the boys could hardly help laughing at the antics of the old bear and her cub. The cub was apparently learning to fish. And it was not an easy lesson. His mother proved a hard task mistress. The boys could see her long hairy paw swoop out in scoop fashion, land a fine salmon and throw it up on the bank. The cub wanted to start for the bank every time this was done. But the old lady would have none of this.
Every time it happened, she raised her huge paw and struck the cub a box on the ears that knocked him into the water. He would get up whining and crying pitifully and then try to fish on his own account. But his small paws failed to land the fish. All his efforts were failures. At last his mother appeared to relent. She waded ashore followed by Master Bruin, who was then allowed to regale himself on the pile of fish the old bear had landed.
While both mother and son were eating greedily, up came the old father bear. He, apparently, was not much of a success at fishing. At any rate, with growls and blows he drove his wife and son away from their pile of fish and pitched into it himself. His blows must have had the force of a sledge hammer, for huge as she was, the mother bear reeled under them.
"One of those blows would mean good-night to the strongest man that ever lived," declared Tom.
"And to think that if they don't go away we've got to stick in here, or run the risk of getting a dose of the same medicine or worse," groaned Jack despairingly.
"Hoot, mon, we're nae sae safe even in here," put in Sandy. "We're caught in a fine trap and yon bears hae the key."
CHAPTER XIV
THE GREAT BEARS OF KADIAK
This appeared to be only too true. The bears, so far as the boys could observe through their peephole, were thin and famished from the long winter they had spent in some cave back in the mountains, and intended probably to remain camped by the creek as long as the salmon were running.
Having finished his meal, the father bear lay down and rolled over in sleep, while the mother and cub set about catching some more fish, which they devoured. But instead of going to sleep as the boys hoped, the old mother kept herself on sentry duty. Once or twice they caught her looking toward the hut. It caused an uncomfortable sensation to run through them.
Luckily they had a little water in the place, although none too much. At any rate it would not satisfy more than their immediate needs. For food there were a few crackers, the remains of the salmon that they had broiled for breakfast, a few fragments of tinned beef and that was all. The situation was about as serious as it could well be. All that afternoon they took turns watching the creek, awaiting an opportunity to sally forth after water. But the bears remained as if they meant to take up permanent quarters there.
The question of how they were to make their escape began to be a serious one with the practically imprisoned boys. The door of the hut opened toward the creek and to attempt egress by that way would at once attract the attention of the monster bears, with what results the boys guessed only too well.
So the afternoon hours dragged away. Although tormented with thirst, the boys decided to refrain from drinking more than enough of the precious water to cool their mouths. From time to time one of them would relieve his comrade at the peephole. But the bears remained there as if firmly determined to stay. When the old mother bear took a snooze, either the cub or the largest of the bruins was on sentry duty.
"If only we had some rifles," sighed Tom. "This is a lesson to me as long as we are in this country, I'll never leave ship or camp again without a weapon of some sort."
"Wait till we get back to the ship or to a camp," scoffed Jack; "it's my belief that we will be prisoners here till winter."
"Nonsense," said Tom sharply. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Jack Dacre, for talking like that. It's no use giving way to despair. Maybe we'll hit on some way of getting out before long."
"Not unless those bears change their minds and go back to their happy mountain home," said Jack positively.
They sat in silence for a while.
"If it would only get dark up here like it does in more southerly latitudes, we could take a chance on sneaking down to the dory and getting away to some other part of the coast," said Tom at length.
"Couldn't we make it anyhow?" inquired Sandy.
Tom shook his head.
"I don't see how. The minute we came out of the hut one of the bears would be bound to see us and take after us. They can run mighty fast, too, in spite of their clumsy forms."
Another silence ensued. All the boys were thinking hard, from time to time approaching the peephole to watch the bears.
"We might as well eat, I guess," said Tom at length.
The embers of the fire were still alive and fresh wood was piled on till there was a cheerful blaze. The boys warmed their salmon above it and fell to on what was the gloomiest meal they had ever eaten. In the middle of his supper, Jack got up and went to the peephole. He turned from it with a face full of alarm.
"The wind has carried the smoke down toward the bears and they are sniffing at it suspiciously," he announced.
"Maybe it'll drive 'em away," suggested Sandy.
"They're not mosquitoes," scoffed Jack.
"Wow! they are coming this way, Tom! What in the world shall we do now?"
"Sit tight. I don't know what else to do."
"But suppose they claw down the door?"
"In that case, our troubles will soon be over," was the brief reply.
What Jack had said was correct. The smoke drifting down on the bears had caused them to sniff suspiciously. Hunters came to Kadiak Island frequently, and doubtless they knew that smoke betokened the presence of human beings. The big bear's fur bristled angrily. He gave a low growl, which was echoed by his mate.
After sniffing and listening for a few seconds the great creatures, the most formidable foes the boys had ever encountered, began slowly to lumber up the slope from the creek toward the hut.
That they did not advance hastily made their approach even more sinister in its effect. It was as if they were in no hurry to reach the hut, as though they realized that they could afford to take their time, their prey was so certain. The boys all realized, too, that when animals are accompanied by their young they are rendered three times as ferocious as on ordinary occasions.
"Maybe they'll sheer off after all," suggested Tom hopefully.
But his confidence was misplaced. The bears lumbered steadily forward till they were wading through the tall, half dry grass that grew almost up to the shack's sides. Then the female and the cub stopped, and the big father bruin came on to investigate. For all the world like some huge dog, he began sniffing around the walls at the base of the oven-shaped structure.
Then, all at once, in an unlucky moment, he discovered the door. There was quite a big crack under it, and the boys watched with horror-struck eyes as the huge creature's sniffing and poking sent the dust on the floor of the place flying up in little clouds. Then they heard a heavy body hurled against the door and the scratching of feet shod with claws as keen and sharp as steel chisels.
It was a thrilling moment for all of them. Jack and Sandy in particular were badly scared. Their faces blanched and their knees knocked. It hardly seemed possible that the door could survive the attack of the monstrous creature that assailed it. But although built of driftwood fastened together with old iron bolts and strips of skin, the portal held its own much better than might have been expected. It shook and trembled, but remained standing. After a while the bear appeared to tire of this method of attack and ceased.
The boys breathed more easily.
"Perhaps he'll go away now," suggested Jack.
But a glimpse through the peephole showed that the bear had no intention of doing anything of the sort. With the stubbornness of his kind, he began pacing up and down in front of the hut, from time to time emitting a low growl.
"Looks as if he meant to keep up the campaign on these lines if it takes all summer," said Tom with grim pleasantry.
CHAPTER XV
HEMMED IN
"We must get to the boat," said Tom.
"Yes, but how?" questioned Jack.
"If only we'd gone to the boat at first instead of bolting in here, we'd have been safe the noo," spoke Sandy.
"That's obvious," agreed Tom, "but having foolishly allowed ourselves to be bottled up, it's up to us now to devise some means of getting out."
"Well, we're all open for suggestions," struck in Jack. "Bother that smoke, it was that which brought the bears to the hut to investigate."
"No question about that," agreed Tom, "but I've just got an idea, fellows."
"Good, let's have it," chorused his young companions.
"Well, it is granted that we can't stay in here forever."
"Nor even for many more hours," supplemented Jack.
"Very well. Then it is up to us to take a chance on escaping, no matter how desperate the scheme may appear."
"It's a case of life or death, it seems to me," said Sandy soberly.
"What's your plan?" asked Jack impatiently.
"Just this. We must burn those bears out."
"Burn them out!"
Sandy and Jack stared at the lad, who, by common consent, was their leader.
"That is what I said. Don't look at me as if I was crazy. This hut is surrounded almost up to its walls by semi-dry grass which ought to burn easily, isn't it?"
"Yes; but I don't see your drift," spoke Jack.
"We'll set the grass on fire. That will drive the bears off, and while they are on the run we can make our escape to the boat."
"But the grass will burn all round the hut. How can we get out through the flames ourselves?" objected Jack.
"Hold on a minute. Wait till I explain. We can set the grass alight by throwing out some of the hot brands from our fire."
"Of course, that's easy," assented Jack, and then with the air of somebody pronouncing an unanswerable question he went on: "But how are you going to get your burning embers outside? If you open the door, the bears will rush us at once."
For answer Tom indicated the hole in the top of the roof.
"I must get up there and roll the blazing embers down the roof into the grass. Then when it is on fire, we'll have to scramble out somehow, slip down to the boat before the fire surrounds the hut, and then row out to sea."
"Sounds delightfully easy," said Jack rather sneeringly, for the plan did not appeal to him, "but in the first place, how are you going to get on the roof?"
"The simplest part of it. This hut isn't more than seven feet, or so, high. You 'give me a back' and then I can reach the hole easily and boost myself through."
"Well, I admit that is possible, but after the fire is started, and supposing everything goes all right, how are Sandy and I going to get up?"
"Sandy is the lightest. He will have to give you 'a back' and I'll haul you through somehow. Then Sandy must stand up, and together I guess we can hoist him through without much difficulty."
Jack shrugged his shoulders. Sandy looked dubious.
"I know it's a desperate chance," admitted Tom, "but ours is a desperate situation. Now then, let's lose no time in putting it into effect. If it fails, we can't be much worse off."
"No, that is true enough, unless the hut burns down."
"Oh, the damp, thick sod that covers it wouldn't ignite as easily as all that," declared Tom, who was waxing enthusiastic over his plan.
Jack got down on all fours and Tom mounted on his back. He was able in this way, being a tall boy, to grasp the edges of the hole. This done he hoisted himself up with his muscular young arms, much as a lad "chins the bar." Once up on the roof, he reached down into the hole for the firebrand, which it had been arranged that Jack was to hand up.
He had hardly grasped it when an angry growl from close at hand apprised him that the bears had perceived him. There was no time to be lost. Raising a wild, blood-curdling yell that awoke the echoes of the cliffs, Tom flung his firebrand down into the thick grass.
Almost instantly it ignited and a thick smoke curled up. The bears sniffed uneasily. Any boy who has seen marsh land burned off in the spring knows how swiftly flames spread among dried grass and weeds. The herbage amidst which Tom had flung the blazing bit of wood proved no exception. Fanned by a brisk breeze it ran literally like wildfire among the dried grasses. Luckily the wind was from the side of the hut in which Tom was perched and blew toward the bears. As the flames swept down on them, they uttered loud snorts of terror and turned tail ingloriously.
The mother bear, with her frightened cub, was the first to depart, and she stood not on the order of her going, but galloped off at top speed. The huge male bear lingered but a few minutes longer, then he, too, fled before the fiery terror which Tom's clever strategem had kindled.
"Hooray, boys, they're on the run!" shouted Tom, unable to restrain his enthusiasm.
He swung down his arms and dragged up Jack without much difficulty. Then came Sandy's turn. They had just hauled the Scotch lad to the roof, however, when an alarming thing occurred. The covering of the Aleut hut had not been built to withstand any such strain as the weight of the three lads now perched upon it.
Without warning, save for a sharp crack, it suddenly sagged.
"Look out! It's caving in!" roared Tom.
"Cracky, so it is!" echoed Jack as he felt the sod roof begin to sink under them.
"Roll!" shouted Tom. "Roll down it!"
He seized Sandy, who appeared to be paralyzed from alarm, and gave him a shove. Down the roof rolled the Scotch lad, landing in a heap on the ground, shaken and bruised, but not otherwise injured. Close behind him came Tom and Jack. Behind them the roof fell in with a roar, leaving a big gaping cavity.
But the boys had no time to notice this just then. Scrambling to their feet they dashed off toward the beach where the dory lay. The flames almost reached them as they left the hut. But looking back Tom saw something worse than the flames pursuing them. They could easily distance the blazing grass and that gave him no alarm. But what did cause his heart to stand still for an instant and then resume beating furiously was the sight of the bears.
They had rallied from their fright and perceived the escape of the boys. Now, skirting the flames by outflanking them, they were lumbering toward the fugitives at a speed that would not have been thought possible in such bulky creatures.