"Oh, Black Dan's bullet broke no bones that time," replied the village doctor, who had tended the dog's wound as carefully as if his patient had been the Deputy himself. "It's a biggish hole, but Jim'll be all right in a few days, never fear."
Blackstock looked relieved.
"Ye don't seem to be worryin' much about Black Dan's gittin' away, Tug," grumbled3 Long Jackson, who was not unnaturally4 sore over the loss of his money.
"No, I ain't worryin' much," agreed the Deputy, with a confident grin, "now I know Jim ain't goin' to lose a leg. As for Black Dan's gittin' away, well, I've got me own notions about that. I've 'phoned all over the three counties, and given warnin' to every place he kin5 stop for a bite or a bed. He can't cross the river to get over the Border, for I've sent word to hev every bridge an' ferry watched. Black Dan's cunnin' enough to know I'd do jest that, first thing, so he won't waste his time tryin' the river. He'll strike right back into the big timber, countin' on the start he's got of us, now he's put Jim out of the game. But I guess I kin trail him myself—now I know what I'm trailin'—pretty nigh as well as Jim could. I've took note of his tracks, and there ain't another pair o' boots in Brine's Rip Mills like them he's wearin'."
"And when air ye goin' to start?" demanded Long Jackson, still inclined to be resentful.
"Right now," replied Blackstock cheerfully, "soon as ye kin git guns and stuff some crackers6 an' cheese into yer pockets. I'll want you to come along, MacDonald, an' you, Long, an' Saunders, an' Big Andy, as my posse. Meet me in fifteen minutes at the store an' I'll hev Zeb Smith swear ye in for the job. If Black Dan wants to do any shootin', it's jest as well to hev every thin' regular."
There were not a few others among the mill-hands and the villagers who had lost by Black Dan's cunning pilferings, and who would gladly have joined in the hunt. In the backwoods not even a murderer—unless his victim has been a woman or a child—is hunted down with so much zest7 as a thief. But the Deputy did not like too much volunteer assistance, and was apt to suppress it with scant8 ceremony. So his choice of a posse was accepted without protest or comment, and the chosen four slipped off to get their guns.
As Tug Blackstock had foreseen, the trail of the fugitive9 was easily picked up. Confident in his powers as a runaway10, Black Dan's sole object, at first, had been to gain as much lead as possible over the expected pursuit, and he had run straight ahead, leaving a trail which any one of Blackstock's posse—with the exception, perhaps, of Big Andy—could have followed with almost the speed and precision of the Deputy himself.
There had been no attempt at concealment11. About five miles back, however, in the heavy woods beyond the head of the Lake, it appeared that the fugitive had dropped into a walk and begun to go more circumspectly12. The trail now grew so obscure that the other woodsmen would have had difficulty in deciphering it at all, and they were amazed at the ease and confidence with which Blackstock followed it up, hardly diminishing his stride.
"Tug is sure some trailer," commented Jackson, his good humour now quite restored by the progress they were making.
"Jim couldn't 'a' done no better himself," declared Big Andy, the Oromocto man.
And just then Blackstock came abruptly13 to a halt, and held up his hand for his followers14 to stop.
"Steady, boys. Stop right where ye are, an' don't step out o' yer tracks," he commanded.
"Oh, I've got him, so fur, all right," continued Blackstock, pointing to a particularly clear and heavy impression of a boot-sole close behind his own feet. "But here it stops. It don't appear to go any further."
He knelt down to examine the footprint.
"P'raps he's doubled back on his tracks, to throw us off," suggested Saunders, who was himself an expert on the trails of all the wild creatures.
"No," replied Blackstock, "I've watched out for that sharp."
"P'raps he's give a big jump to one side or t'other, to break his trail," said MacDonald.
"No," said Blackstock with decision, "nor that neither, Mac. This here print is even. Ef he'd jumped to one side or the other, it would be dug in on that side, and ef he'd jumped forrard, it would be hard down at the toe. It fair beats me!"
Stepping carefully, foot by foot, he examined the ground minutely over a half circle of a dozen yards to his front. He sent out his followers—all but Big Andy, who, being no trailer, was bidden to stand fast—to either side and to the rear, crawling like ferrets and interrogating17 every grass tuft, in vain. The trail had simply stopped with that one footprint. It was as if Black Dan had dissolved into a miasma18, and floated off.
At last Blackstock called the party in, and around the solitary19 footprint they all sat down and smoked. One after another they made suggestions, but each suggestion had its futility20 revealed and sealed by a stony21 stare from Blackstock, and was no more befriended by its author.
"I don't mind tellin' ye, boys," said he, "it beats me fair. But one thing's plain enough, Black Dan ain't here, an' he ain't likely to come here lookin' for us. Spread out now, an' we'll work on ahead, an' see ef we can't pick up somethin'. You, Big Andy, you keep right along behind me. There's an explanation to everything—an' we'll find this out afore along, or my name's Dinnis."
Over the next three or four hundred yards, however, nothing of significance was discovered by any of the party. Then, breaking through a dense23 screen of branches, Blackstock came upon the face of a rocky knoll24, so steep, at that point, that hands and feet together would be needed to climb it. Casting his eyes upwards25, he saw what looked like the entrance to a little cave.
A whistle brought the rest of the party to his side. A cave always holds possibilities, if nothing else. Blackstock spread his men out again, at intervals26 of three or four paces, and all went cautiously up the steep, converging27 on the entrance. Blackstock, in the centre, shielding himself behind a knob of rock, peered in.
The place was empty. It was hardly a cave, indeed, being little more than a shallow recess28 beneath an overhanging ledge29. But it was well sheltered by a great branch which stretched upwards across the opening. Blackstock sniffed30 critically.
"A bear's den," he announced, stepping in and scrutinizing31 the floor.
The floor was naked rock, scantily32 littered with dead leaves and twigs33. These, Blackstock concluded, had been recently disturbed, but he could find no clue to what had disturbed them. From the further side, however—to Blackstock's right—a palpable trail, worn clear of moss34 and herbage, led off by a narrow ledge across the face of the knoll. Half a dozen paces further on the rock ended in a stretch of stiff soil. Here the trail declared itself. It was unmistakably that of a bear, and unmistakably, also, a fresh trail.
Waving the rest to stop where they were, Blackstock followed the clear trail down from the knoll, and for a couple of hundred yards along the level, going very slowly, and searching it hawk-eyed for some sign other than that of bear. At length he returned, looking slightly crestfallen35.
"Nawthin' at all but bear," he announced in an injured voice. "But that bear seems to have been in a bit of a hurry, as if he was gittin' out o' somebody's way—Black Dan's way, it's dollars to doughnuts. But where was Black Dan, that's what I want to know?"
"Ef you don't know, Tug," said MacDonald, "who kin know?"
"Jim!" said the Deputy, rubbing his lean chin and biting off a big "chaw" of "black-jack."
"Jim's sure some dawg," agreed MacDonald. "That was the only fool thing I ever know'd ye to do, Tug—sendin' Jim after Black Dan that way."
Blackstock swore, softly and intensely, though he was a man not given to that form of self-expression.
"Boys," said he, "I used to fancy myself quite a lot. But now I begin to think Nipsiwaska County'd better be gittin' a noo Deputy. I ain't no manner o' good."
The men looked at him in frank astonishment36. He had never before been seen in this mood of self-depreciation.
"Aw, shucks," exclaimed Long Jackson presently, "there ain't a man from here to the St. Lawrence as kin tech ye, an' ye know it, Tug. Quit yer jollyin' now. I believe ye've got somethin' up yer sleeve, only ye won't say so."
"Well, boys, there's one thing I kin do," said he. "I'm goin' back to git Jim, ef I hev to fetch him in a wheelbarrow. We'll find out what he thinks o' the situation. I'll take Saunders an' Big Andy with me. You, Long, an' Mac, you stop on here an' lay low an' see what turns up. But don't go mussin' up the trails."
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1
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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2
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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3
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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4
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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5
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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6
crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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7
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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8
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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9
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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10
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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11
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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12
circumspectly
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| adv.慎重地，留心地 | |
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13
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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14
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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15
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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16
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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17
interrogating
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| n.询问技术v.询问( interrogate的现在分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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18
miasma
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| n.毒气；不良气氛 | |
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19
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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20
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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21
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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22
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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23
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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24
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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26
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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27
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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28
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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29
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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30
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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31
scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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32
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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33
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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34
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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35
crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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36
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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37
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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