Charlie's adventures with savages and bears--Trappinglife. It is one thing to chase a horse; it is another thingto catch it. Little consideration and less sagacityare required to convince us of the truth of that fact.
The reader may perhaps venture to think this rathera trifling fact. We are not so sure of that. In thisworld of fancies, to have any fact incontestably provedand established is a comfort, and whatever is a sourceof comfort to mankind is worthy of notice. Surely ourreader won't deny that! Perhaps he will, so we canonly console ourself with the remark that there arepeople in this world who would deny anything--whowould deny that there was a nose on their face if yousaid there was!
Well, to return to the point, which was the chase ofa horse in the abstract; from which we will rapidlydiverge to the chase of Dick Varley's horse in particular.
This noble charger, having been ridden by savages untilall his old fire and blood and mettle were worked upto a red heat, no sooner discovered that he was pursuedthan he gave a snort of defiance, which he accompaniedwith a frantic shake of his mane and a flingof contempt in addition to a magnificent wave ofhis tail. Then he thundered up the valley at a pacewhich would speedily have left Joe Blunt and Henriout of sight behind if--ay! that's the word, if! Whata word that if is! what a world of if's we live in!
There never was anything that wouldn't have beensomething else if something hadn't intervened to preventit! Yes, we repeat Charlie would have left histwo friends miles and miles behind in what is called"no time," if he had not run straight into a gorgewhich was surrounded by inaccessible precipices, andout of which there was no exit except by the entrance,which was immediately barred by Henri, while Joeadvanced to catch the run-away.
For two hours at least did Joe Blunt essay to catchCharlie, and during that space of time he utterly failedThe horse seemed to have made up his mind for whatis vulgarly termed "a lark.""It won't do, Henri," said Joe, advancing towardshis companion, and wiping his forehead with the cuffof his leathern coat; "I can't catch him. The wind'sa'most blowed out o' me body.""Dat am vexatiable," replied Henri, in a tone ofcommiseration. "S'pose I wos make try?""In that case I s'pose ye would fail. But go ahead,an' do what ye can. I'll hold yer horse."So Henri began by a rush and a flourish of legs andarms that nearly frightened the horse out of his wits.
For half-an-hour he went through all the complicationsof running and twisting of which he was capable, withoutsuccess, when Joe Blunt suddenly uttered a stentorianyell that rooted him to the spot on which hestood.
To account for this, we must explain that in theheights of the Rocky Mountains vast accumulations ofsnow take place among the crevices and gorges duringwinter. Such of these masses as form on steep slopesare loosened by occasional thaws, and are precipitatedin the form of avalanches into the valleys below, carryingtrees and stones along with them in their thunderingdescent. In the gloomy gorge where Dick'shorse had taken refuge the precipices were so steep thatmany avalanches had occurred, as was evident from themounds of heaped snow that lay at the foot of most ofthem. Neither stones nor trees were carried down here,however, for the cliffs were nearly perpendicular, andthe snow slipping over their edges had fallen on thegrass below. Such an avalanche was now about to takeplace, and it was this that caused Joe to utter his cryof alarm and warning.
Henri and the horse were directly under the cliff overwhich it was about to be hurled, the latter close to thewall of rock, the other at some distance away from it.
Joe cried again, "Back, Henri! back vite!" whenthe mass flowed over and fell with a roar like prolongedthunder. Henri sprang back in time to save his life,though he was knocked down and almost stunned; butpoor Charlie was completely buried under the avalanche,which now presented the appearance of a hill of snow.
The instant Henri recovered sufficiently, Joe and hemounted their horses and galloped back to the camp asfast as possible.
Meanwhile, another spectator stepped forward uponthe scene they had left, and surveyed the snow hillwith a critical eye. This was no less than a grizzlybear, which had, unobserved, been a spectator, and whichimmediately proceeded to dig into the mound, with thepurpose, no doubt, of disentombing the carcass of thehorse for purposes of his own.
While he was thus actively engaged the two huntersreached the camp, where they found that Pierre and hisparty had just arrived. The men sent out in search ofthem had scarcely advanced a mile when they foundthem trudging back to the camp in a very di............