The Bear Hunt

Elizabeth pulled an apple cake from the oven and set it on the table. It was beautiful and it made the whole house smell good. She glanced out her kitchen window at the cloudy spring day and did a double take.  A bear! A bear was waddling quickly into the woods with two small cubs hurrying after her. The mama paused to let her little ones catch up. As she glanced toward the house, her eyes met Elizabeth’s. Did she imagine it or was there a worried, pleading look in those eyes?

The animal disappeared among the trees. While Elizabeth stood at the window, staring after her, she heard the excited baying of a hound. As it grew louder, she rushed to her front door and looked out. Two neighbors, Jig Allen and Tom Evans trotted toward the house, Jig holding the leash of his hound.

Doubtless, they were after the bear and with that dog on the trail, it wouldn’t take long for them to catch up with her. The long guns the two men carried over their shoulders left no doubt as to their intention.

Without a plan, Elizabeth stepped onto the porch. “Good morning!” she called. “Why are you two out so early? Don’t you know it’s going to rain?”

“We shore know that and it’s why we don’t have time to stop and talk, Miss Elizabeth,” Jig said, panting a little as he held the eager dog back. “We’re after a bear that’s been breaking into me and Tom’s corn cribs. I reckon we’ll catch it this time.”

“A bear? Goodness! I didn’t know there were any left in these parts. Come on in and sit for a spell and rest a bit. You look all worn out,” she said, holding the door open.

“No, Ma’am, we’ve got to…” began Jig.

“Now, wait a minute,” Tom broke in. “I am plumb tuckered out and I reckon resting a spell won’t hurt nothing.” He leaned against the porch post and wiped sweat from his forehead.

“Just leave your dog tied to the porch. He could use a rest too, I expect,”  Elizabeth said as she led the way back to her kitchen.

Tom breathed in appreciatively. “Oh, my! Is that cake I smell?”

Elizabeth took saucers from the shelf and forks from the drawer. Setting them on the table, she quickly sliced two warm pieces of the apple cake and pulled out a couple of chairs. “It sure is,” she said, smiling. “Rest a bit and you’ll be all refreshed to continue your hunt. I’ll  pour you some coffee to go with that cake.”

“No, wait, Tom, I do think…” Jig broke off. “Fresh from the oven, is it?”

Elizabeth watched the men eat. She grabbed a platter of bacon she’d just fried and started toward the porch. “Your old dog looks played out too. He’d probably enjoy a bite.”

Jig looked up, alarmed, “No, Miss Elizabeth, that dog don’t need no…”

She pretended not to hear and went on to the porch. The hound looked up at her, tail wagging as she set the bacon in front of him. Jig always kept his dogs lean, didn’t feed them enough, she was sure.  She gave him a pat as he wolfed down the bacon.  With grease on his nose and food in his stomach, he wouldn’t be all that eager to pick up the bear’s trail again.

Back in the kitchen, Elizabeth folded her arms and smiled at the two men. They pushed back their chairs and got to their feet.

“Much obliged for the cake,” Jig said. “Now, we gotta get goin’ before that rain wipes out all the bear scent.”

Tom shook his head. “Too late for that, I’m thinkin’.”

Elizabeth heard rain pelting the metal roof of her house. “Oh, what a shame,” she said.

Jig sighed. “Guess we might as well get on back home. No use wastin’ time trying to get old Pal to sniff up a trail that ain’t there no more.”

He untied Pal from the porch post and the three started back the way they had come, hurried along by the downpour.

Elizabeth looked out her kitchen window. The woods were dark and thick. With luck that Mama Bear and her two little ones had crossed the creek by now and were holed up somewhere in a cave on one of those high and thorny bluffs. She smiled as she put the used saucers and cups into the sink. It had been a good morning.