by Darrel Bird
Part 4
The woman didn’t look any worse for wear except her ankles and feet, and if they didn’t become infected it looked as if she might be ok.
I’ve got too find us something to eat, and she will be no help. I wish she had died on the plane.
He had barely heard the lonely wail of a wolf pack as they hunted during the night. I might be able to find a fresh downed kill.
“You stay in the cabin while I am gone, keep a minimum fire going, do you hear me? A minimum fire so the wood doesn’t go too quickly.”
“There are trees all around, can’t we gather more wood?”
“Wood is difficult to get and the deeper the snow gets the more difficult it will be, do as I tell you.”
He picked up the 30-30 and slid a few shells into the chamber; he jacked a shell into the barrel. I hope these damn things shoots, if they don’t we are in real trouble.
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know… when I find something for us to eat.” He opened the door and walked out onto the porch; the snow was 2 feet deep this morning. He scuffed the snow off the steps as he went down them and walked into the trees.
He made his way through the bush until he came to the lake; the water was low, but with ice already forming at the edges.
It looked as if he could circle the shoreline without too much trouble as he began trudging a bit then stopping to look and listen.
He had gone about a half mile when he heard a chuffing in the brush; he squatted down to wait to see if the animal would come to the shoreline.
Soon he saw a brown shape walking slowly out of the bush; it was a rather large grizzly, enough meat to last for weeks. He tried to keep his hand from shaking as he aimed just above the foreleg and squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out across the lake. The bear stood stock still as the large caliber bullet tore through his heart, and then he slowly lowered himself to the ground and lay still.
Owen carefully walked up to the beast with his rifle pointed at the bear's head, and then he saw the blood gushing from its mouth. One shot, one kill. That left nine bullets to survive an Alaskan winter with if there were no duds. Don’t look good for either of us bear.
He squatted beside the animal and began to take the skin by cutting around the feet, every bit of the skin and meat invaluable in this frozen wilderness.
He got the bear skinned and laying the skin out hair down on the snow began cutting thin strips off the leg. He would hang what meat he couldn’t carry in the trees, by the time he returned for the rest it would be frozen. He figured three trips to the lake to get all the meat.
He finished cutting and storing the meat then looked around at the scene. There was a lot of blood and bones on the ground, when he returned he would have to be careful; he knew the scent would bring the wolf pack he had heard the night before.
He wrapped all the meat he could carry in the skin and slung the load over his shoulder for the trek back to the cabin. By the time he reached the lower steps of the cabin, he was completely exhausted.
He opened the door of the cabin, and the woman was sitting there in one of the two chairs looking fearfully at him.
She had opened and emptied one of the food cans, and put some spruce twigs in it on the little table. She had also made the bed.
He threw the bear skin and meat down on the floor, walked over to the bed and laid down, boots and all and in a few moments, his hard breathing became regular as he fell into a deep sleep.
He awoke three hours later to the smell of meat cooking; she was boiling some of the meat in the cast-iron pot on the stove. The room felt too warm.
She looked at him and smiled, “I had to put more wood in the stove for the meat to cook.”
He didn’t return the smile; instead, he walked over and lifted the lid of the pot, stuck his knife into a chunk of the meat and lifted it out. He blew on the meat a little then began to eat hungrily.
“Have you eaten anything?” He asked her around a mouthful of meat.
“No, I wasn’t sure it was good to eat.”
“Eat.”
She gingerly stabbed a fork into a chunk of the meat, pulled it out and looked at it. “It looks horrible; what kind of meat is it?”
“Grizzly.”
“You mean bear meat? I’ve never eaten a wild animal before.”
“Its good… eat.”
She began to scrape the fat away. “No, eat the fat; you need to eat the fat.”
“Ugh, I hate fat.”
“The fat will help keep you warm, and if you want to survive, you have to keep warm. Eat the damn fat lady!”
She frowned at him but started eating the meat, fat and all. The meat tasted very sweet and when she got a taste, she began to devour the meat.
A small grin began to appear on his lips; he licked the grease off his fingers; he rubbed his beard with his finger tips and the grease shown in his beard.
“I have to go back for the rest of the meat now.”
“But its dark outside.”
“It’s not completely dark, and I can’t wait for the short four hours of light; we have to have that meat.”
“What if you get lost and can’t find this place?”
“I blazed a pretty good trail through the snow; I'll be ok. You stay in the cabin, but reduce that fire, let it burn down to coals, then only add a stick of wood as needed to keep it going.”
