Monarch, the Big Bear of Tallac by Ernest Thompson Seton
page 41 of 73 (56%)
page 41 of 73 (56%)
|
So the yellow cur was put on the track, and led away with funny little yelps, while the two hunters came stumbling along behind him as fast as they could, calling, at times, to the dog not to go so fast, and thus making a good deal of noise, which Gringo Jack heard a mile away as he ambled along the mountain-side above them. He was following his nose to many good and eatable things, and therefore going up-wind. This noise behind was so peculiar that he wanted to smell it, and to do that he swung along back over the clamor, then descended to the down-wind side, and thus he came on the trail of the hunters and their dog. His nose informed him at once. Here was the hunter he once felt kindly toward and two other smells of far-back--both hateful; all three were now the smell-marks of foes, and a rumbling "woof" was the expressive sound that came from his throat. That dog-smell in particular roused him, though it is very sure he had forgotten all about the dog, and Gringo's feet went swiftly and silently, yes, with marvelous silence, along the tracks of the enemy. On rough, rocky ground a dog is scarcely quicker than a Bear, and since the dog was constantly held back by the hunters the Bear had no difficulty in overtaking them. Only a hundred yards or so behind he continued, partly in curiosity, pursuing the dog that was pursuing him, till a shift of the wind brought the dog a smell-call from the Bear behind. He wheeled--of course you never follow trail smell when you can find body smell--and came galloping back with a different yapping and a bristling in his mane. |
|