Again, Abagail sighed. Well, at the very least she had a model now for the man she might hope to marry in the future, if, indeed, any man would have her at the old age of four and twenty.
As she gazed out at the crisp red, orange, gold and green autumn colors, she thought the trees were screaming at her to be noticed, so vibrant were they. She breathed in, taking in a whiff of the crisp autumn scent as well as the meat as it was being dried; as she did so, she relaxed.
It was a beautiful sunshiny day outside, and the pale blue of the sky was in sharp contrast to the bright autumn colors. Looking up, her eyes traced a white cloud drifting across the sky, causing her to wonder if God knew of the troubles she had.
With so many people in the world, and they each one with their own interests in life, she—
Crack!
She heard the noise outside, although it hadn’t been loud. Glancing outward, she beheld a sight she had hoped to never see: a bear—a big black bear on all fours—was tramping through the woods, and his direction was right toward this cave.
Was this cave the bear’s home? And, if this were so…
Beneath her breath, she prayed, “My dear Lord, what am I to do?Help me.”
The first action she had to take was to stand up, then she had to position her musket at her shoulder, aim at the animal and shoot. But, hadn’t she heard the hunters say that even a bullet would not stop a bear?
She let out a gulp. She had never killed anything in her life, except perhaps some insects. But, if she couldn’t kill the bear coming in her direction, it would surely kill her.
Should she run back into the cave and awaken Skenan? No. He was sleeping and she must let him recover his strength, since he had been awake continuously for over twenty-four hours.
Tremors raced over her body and her hands were shaking as she held up the gun, trying to point it at the animal and—
“Your aim is off,” said a deep voice from behind her. “You will have only the one shot and then you must reload the gun, and before you can do it, the bear will be upon you. Perhaps there is another way. This is a black bear, and they sometimes will scare easily. We might try to do this before we shoot it.”
“Is this possible to do?” she asked as she almost collapsed. Thank goodness Skenan had awakened.
“I have seen it done,” he answered. “I think we should at least try to do it.”
Quickly, he took out his bow and an arrow from his quiver, and before she could stop him, he paced forward, out of the cave. And, there he stood, an arrow to his bow, awaiting only the opportunity to send the projectile flying.
Why hadn’t he taken the musket she was still holding?
She could barely believe her ears when Skenan started shouting at the bear with words she didn’t understand. But, the bear ignored him, as though it considered Skenan to be little more than a buzzing bee.
And, when the shouting seemed to do nothing to alter the bear’s path toward the cave, Skenan lifted up his hands, including the bow and arrow and brought them up over his head. Then he screamed at the same time, but, again, Abagail had no idea of what he was saying. When this caused no effect upon the bear’s behavior, Skenan started growling loudly, and, with bow and arrow now pointed directly at the bear, he paced forward, one step at a time.
The bear stopped and looked at Skenan as though considering this turn of events. The bear did nothing at first, but then it growled right back at Skenan, the sound of its scream more terrifying perhaps than an enemy’s cry, because at least an enemy warrior’s behavior could be predicted.
Not so the bear’s.
It was a terrifying sight to behold as both man and bear shrieked at one another. And, then the bear slowly, carefully, closed the distance between it and Skenan.
Loudly, Skenan growled and snarled at the bear, his voice thunderous and ominous. Again in reaction, the bear stopped, sniffed at the air, but then plodded on forward on all fours.
Startled out of fear, Abagail picked up the musket and aimed it at the bear. But, she’d never shot at anything in her life. What if she shot Skenan instead?
As she debated what to do, she saw Skenan pace right up to the bear. It was either the most courageous act she had ever seen or the most reckless. Coming in close enough to the bear, Skenan stuck his face right into the bear’s, which was now only a few inches away from him. Skenan snarled, snappedand growled at the creature as though to tell the bear that he, Skenan, was the more dangerous of the two of them.
But, the bear held its ground and yowled right back at Skenan.
“Make noise!” shouted Skenan at her. “The more noise, the better!”
Immediately, Abagail clapped her hands and screamed.
Backing up one slow step at a time, Skenan shouted at her, “Now, we back up as though to tell him we are no threat to him. He may have the cave. Slowly, you are to back up and make as much noise as possible so I might get to my musket.”
Shaking, Abagail did as he instructed, until at last she realized she still held the gun within her arms, and she ran toward Skenan, whereupon she pushed the musket at him.
