PART II.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 38, 22 September 1904, Page 24

PART 11.

Edith and I sio'on .foA^d, ourselves in a very difficult place Vast rocks' were about us, half buried under fallen trees,, brush, and tangled evergreens, and the de-

scent was so steep, so full of pitfalls, that I feared for Judith every moment, to say nothing pt my-, growing apprehension lest 1 mighit -never be: ttble-^to <k>n&uct her back to the railroad. What if she were to fall into one of tihese frigjhtful holes and break a limb or disfigure (herself for Hie. On oiur wedding trip, too ! Etiitfli did bravely. She followed prudently, fcut not 100 closely, on my steps, and put her feet in exactly t|hc right spota. Suddenly we dropped into a narrow, well-m,aide path, the sled road or winter teail where several years before all the tiraibers for the snow-sheds had been, drawn up to the line of the railroad above. The old skids and hand-spikes lay scattered along' the path, aptd in many places it was quite paved -with chips and hewungs. And here we shouted again, but failed, to get the report of the gun in response, as before. ' Perhaps we are too far down among these fir-trees for Turn to hear us,' Edith said. The oM timber trail slanted down, aj»d then led aMng the bank of a brook for a mile or more, past several old log camps, long ago abandoned by the axemen, and now nearly overgrown with rank wild raspberry shrubs. Gangs of several hundred men must have worked -here, prepanng flhe square timbers for "the- -miles of sin'ow-shodsi. They had formerly made openings in tho forest and snnall clearings about the groups of log camps, where they lived ;. and all these -open places were* now 'jungles of raspberry bushes,, growing nine and ten feet m height, showing stalks as large as golf sticks and a p/rbfusi'on of dark green leaves. I,n many places where the trail led through these old openvngs it presented the aspect of an embowered arbored. walk, overhung 'by stalks so loaded with great berries that either of us could have gathered nearly a bushel in an hour. Several times, as we hastened along this trail, Edith stopped and oalled, anxious to get another response- by gun of hail from our missing fellow-passenger. The roar of the brook, however, which here became a torrent, so filled the gorge that tthere was little or no use in scouting. But as the last report of the gun had seomqfd to come from a considerable distance down the \alc, we felt that we must be going toward the place, aiVd therefore held on for fifteen or twenty minutes till we had reached the fourth group of log camps Omo of these camps, half-hidden in greqnery, stood closfc bdside the old trail ; and as the cleated doer hung ajai I swung myself up by it to the low roof— to sain a -vantage-point for more shouting. The roof was unsound aJnid shaky, the cleft fir slabs of which it wamade beflng mtuoh decayed. It was nearly flat, and everlocjked the swamp of thick raspberry shrubs ' ow listen, ' I said, and shouted lona and loud .And I,hen we heard a kind of strangling cough,'accompanied by a mighty scuffling and swaying of the raspberries close to fhe other side of the old camp ♦ What Was that t ' Edith exclaimed, in low tones looking, up at me My first thought was of deer but I ooulid see nothing for the moment but the commotion of the tall green stalks. Then some animal gray almost while, m color, came into view, pushing its 'wav nut to the sled trail It coughad again, tttien reared Isrlf up in tfoe trail,, till its head was on a level with the old roof-a great misshapen, flabby animal in a coat of long silvery hair. Its expression as it rolled it's eyes about, munching a mo.uthßul of berries and greon leaves, was foolish rather than fierce Indeed, my first impulse was to laugh SiUi j f a^ Wl!!ihto ™* °? its siU y vi^ e - Yet at /first *th „Ah\\ I e that !t must be a bear af som e I«n4, aitih,o(u/Jh I had never met a bear in the woods ; asnd in tr,ut,ft, this oho no more resem'blad the inon-g.ray grizzlies J^s?y°?ow &eeTl at the Philadel^ ia ' Zo ° An it did a Meanwhile a great swaying of the raspberry shrubs was gonng on 1 hard by, and presently a second bear struggled out into the trail, a few yards beyond the first, and also reared up to look at me. A third bear also got up a little farther off, and aH three' ogled me wit-h the mos-t innocent wortder, extending their noses and sinning earnestly. Nor did scent of me it tfcey cot it, enrage or disturb them. ' I suppose that I stood quite still fox a taomeht, so | sudden, * odd was the spectacle preseWed. But Edith, who heard only the rustling where she st,ood, was watching mv face. ' What is it, Arthur 7 ' she whispered. ' Edith,* I whispered back, ' make as little noise as you can, but go into- the- camp and pull therfloor to after yolu.' , She did sio at once. The door closed., /. - ' Can you Ifas'ten it *> ' I said, in low t'ohes 1 . ' Yes,' she replied after" a slight pause. c TheYe is a wo>otfp*rt bolt. But what is it ?'• '^Bears, I tlhinik/ said I. ' Some sort of- great ? ottdltfoking, tears.' ' Are they very near ? ' asked Edith.

' One i's near the far corner of this camp,' said I. 'If tiliere are cracks between the logs you can see it there. ' I heard her go on tiptoe to that side, to .peep out ; arid the bear, somehow made aware of her presence, dropiped to his forefeet and moved around the eornei, but immediately rose again, rolling his head roXijid and sniffing in an 1 inquiring manner. There was- a little hole in the old roof, where a stovepipe had once iss.ued upward. I heard Edith moving stealthily about and climbing on something below, and soon she whispered to me through the pipe hole : ' Arthur, it's a monstrous animal ! Do be careful ! Don't enrage it. Can it see you ? ' ...' It is looking right at me,' I replied. That one anjd two more. The place seems swarming with them.' ' Can they reach you on the roof ? ' ' Easily, I should think, if they tried.' ' Oh, Arthur, can't you get inside here with me — and do you suppose they have eaten up that poor Mr. Rib ?' goodness knows ! ' I said. ' They don't seem hungry. But, then, they appear to have been eatmg raspberries.' ' Couldn't you get down insi.de here, somehow ? ' asked Edith. 1 Not unless we could enlar.ge that pi£>e hole,' I iepliqd, moving forward to it on the roof. When I stirred, the bear at the corner of the camp dropped to his feet out of sight, and I saw the shrubs swaying as he drew oft a few steps. The others also dr?dp,pe(d to their feet anld moved away a little. ' They do not seem really dangerous, big as they are,' I said. ' I doubt their attacking us. I think they wolu'ld run off.' '' Frighten tihcm, then ! ' exclaimed EMith. Shout ' ' ' But when I shouted a minute ago they came, instead of going,' said I, ' and since we have begun speaking they have stopped and raised themselves again to look at me.' ' Tigers, I have read, are afraid of umbrellas—opened suddenly,' suggested Edith ' Open my s>'i;n umbrella at them. Rise up quick and open it sf^denly, you know,' and Edith thrust it up through the pipe hole It was a good-si/ed, bright rod sunshade, and when, rising to my feet, I suddenly opened it at the gaping bears, the effect certainly mstified Edith's expectation All three dropped to their feet again, and t'hiee diversely wriggled trails in the raspberry shrubs showed that they were taking themselves off at a good rate of speed. And hero I may add that hunters and others havung experience with these hears have since assured me that it was probably fortunate for us that I attempted Ihe aggressive vwth nothing more deadly than mv ycing wife's sun umbrella , and that if 1 had used a gun and w'oiun'ded one or more of them, tihe ■ap'paacntlv pacific animals might even have pulled the old camp down in their efforts to roach us When the wriggling trails oi the retiring beasts gave evidence that they were at a safe distance and still moving off, Edith ventured foith, and with my assistance "limbed to the low ioof. W'v them sfhauted again, still m the hope of eliciting .some response- from our lost, fellow-passenger , and it v\a> after Edith's third eflort, I believe,' that we vme startled by the near report of a gun, accompanied liy several mufllcd shouts That is he or some one else in trouble '' Edith cried ; and after shouting in reply, we descended from tho carn/p roof and attempted to proceed m the direction of the sounds. The swamp of raspbeny shrubs rcttidcied progress nearly impossible; hut after some futile effo' t wo came acioss a branch sled ti ail which led lhat way. Following this for four or five hundred yatds, the weathered roofs of two other old camps came "into view amiens; tho undergrowth ; and oh shouting again we heard a voice, apparently inside one of the old log camps, although both the camps were closed, and had slab« nailed across the doors on the outside \ Whem are you •" j called ' And i.s it Mr Ril) 9 ' A" 1 doleful voice from within the nearer of the two camps responded, ' Yes I have iniured myself.' ' As I feared !' murmured Edith 1 But how dm you get inside?' I asked aloud, a fter a glance round the camp. ' I fell through the old roof and am unable to get out,' was the reply. ' Part oi" it broke vnder my weight. I heard blacktails in the brush ami climbed en the roof to get sight of them ' After an exertion of strength I wrenched off the slabs across the door, and found young Mr Rib on the floojr, looking very pale and distressed, with 'his coatj off and his left arm apparently shorter than the other and projecting at an unnatural angle from the shoulder. 1 Broker, is it '" I evol aimed • Oh, I don't know. I struck on my hand somehow when Z fell throwh It hurts a good deal,' and then he went off in a dead faint.

' Goad gracious ! What can we do V I exclaimed, loir the young man lay as' if dead. ' Stay by him, Edith, while I go to the brook and get water.' But Eduih bethought herself of her sal volatile bottle in f'he dhatelaine bag at her belt, and we tried that. 'At the gymnasium they taught us that a person who has fainted should be extended on the floor, with the he.yi lower than the booty,' observed Editlh, who in till is emergency proved hciself admirably calm. I attempted to carry out the suggestion, but found that his iert, arm, projecting, backward, prevc&ted this ' Only see, it is as stiffi as a poker '.' I exclaimed. ,' Then it must be out of joint- at the shoulder,' said Editlh, reflectively. ' I was instructed abopt such things, too. You must pull hard on the arm downward, and— as you pull— twist it inward if the arm projects back. That's to get the hea/d of the bone back into the socket. Think you could do it, Arthur ) It pulls back very hard, they said.' ' I don't know the least thing about it !' I exclaimed. 1 But there is no doctor 'at any of these way stations,' said Edith, calmly. ' I have thought of that e\er since we started.' ' Wait tm ne recovers consciousness,' said I, distressed at t,he situation and at my own culpable ignorance of anatomy. Even as I sand this the young man opetied his eyes, and after blinking a little, struggled up to a sitting postuic ' I must have lapsed "of! again/ he said, lliushing ' I have done so two or three times, it pains me so badly ' • Your shoulder is out,' I explained to him, ' and my wife thinks we ought to try to pull it back in place— if yo.u agiee to it.' ' Why, yes, if you can,' he replied, doubtfully. ' There is no idoctor to be got, of course.' ' Mo, Mr. Rib,' said Edith. 'We will try, if you desire it, but it will hurt you, I am afraid.' 'It cannot hurt much worse than it does now ' gioancrd Uw suiterpr llf y O u think you can djo it, 'i will a^rep to bear it.' I was 1 too much afraid of hurting him at first I suppose, and did not pull with stufhcient resolution ' "Pull hafder,' said KdiMi, laying hold of himself to keep him on the floor. I V v >'t forth greater strength. The poor boy screamed with the pain ; and, m f a ct, when I pulted a thud tune he fainted dead away. APuch discomposed, I dropped the arm. ' It's of no use '' T said ' I'm no surgeon ' I-Vlith turned very pale. ' Arthur,' she exclaimed, you do not pull haiU enough. Pull as if you meant i 1 ' ' Hut. he has fainted again '' I remonstrated. « I don't dare I might kill him.' ITt UKcs more than Ihat to kill a person I'm s'hp ' ' cued Edith. ' Try again, before he recovers conscious-ness. lie uill not mind the pain now and see how lav all his muscles ha\e grown.' ' . ' But it's awful to pull on him so, and he lying as if 'dc\i;d i I'm afraid I shall pull his arm off ! ' OJi, ' if only i> had your stiength !•" cried Edith K ""\ R , me a sloSd y look - ' Arthur, Where's yaur cour-(:>->adc<d to recMoss^noss. yet with dreadful misgivings douslv ° f lhC anU agaln aHd pUlled tr6mtln- ' Tuist in ' ' ciied Edith, holding with all her strength aeainst mine. She could not hold him down however, r pulled him away, till at hst, gaining more courage and boldness, or else desperation, I placed my right foot; against his chest and -put forth all my sWncjli'i—o'ioe— twice— three times— when a dull snap re'onmlcd, and the thing was- done' The bone-head was baok m its .socket and the arm tiurned free. ' Bra\o, Arthur ! ' Edith exclaimed, but she had turned a ory white herself. For a moment I thought that she, tco, would faint, and made hasty search for the salt.s. A flu^h h?.d suffused Hie roung man's face. He LTOcUic.d, but >:ame round before Edith had quite steadied herself. For some minutes he was in much pain — and no wonder, considering what we had done ' Ho was soon able to walk, however, and after I had secured his g'u,n and contrived a sling for his arm, we retraced our wav back up the moim tarn-side to the railroad. Tltp sun hod set by the time we reached' the line, and we hid still a walk of four or five miles alexng the tra/'k tio Cilacier House ; but there were no further fidventures, and we went on to Vancouver together the next day. f v> So I have narrated the only incident of 'the trip which coluld properly be termed an adventure. But that ono afternoon in the vale of the Illicilliwaet -afforded me rlrepor insight into my young wife's character ..than all the rest of the tour.—' Youth's Companion,'

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