CHAPTER XXI

NEWS OF MOMENT

Oriole was so excited that she did not even scream. Not that she did not feel like screaming. But her tongue seemed fairly to stick to the roof of her mouth.

She had never seen a bear at close range before. And to her mind this was a very savage looking one indeed. She could not, in truth, understand how a bear could look anything but savage. She had no idea that, among all the beasts of the fields and woods, the brown bear is the clown, _par excellence_.

Just as though he had been trained to stand upon his hind legs and perform certain tricks, bruin continued to march along the edge of the stream, pawing the air clumsily and uttering as he walked a sort of whining grunt which Oriole at another time might have thought very funny indeed.

Naturally a big brown bear could not be played for long on a silk line and catgut leader. The big beast followed the tug of the line as Oriole moved backward only for a little way. Then he uttered a loud "Wuff!" dropped to all four paws, and the line snapped.

He turned to depart in haste, having evidently swallowed the trout, hook, fly and all. But the cries of Teddy and Oriole had brought the others to the scene. Sadie Brown appeared, a twin dragging from each hand. George Belden caught up his rifle as he ran from behind the shack.

The bear galloped up the opposite bank. The shot the foreman made was a perfect one--for it broke the bear's neck and he came tumbling back again into the shallow water.

"Well, of all things!" gasped Nurse Brown. "What kind of actions is this? Are you children fishing or bear hunting? I'd really like to know."

The trout were forgotten. The capture of the bear was a much more interesting incident than mere trout fishing. The twins were delighted by the event, and even Oriole took some pride in the thought that she had been the means of the bear's capture.

Teddy roped the dead animal quite skillfully, and then dragged it across the stream and out on the near bank with the aid of his own horse. The horses did not like the scent of the animal, and they had to be finally picketed to keep them from running away.

Breakfast was postponed until the foreman and Teddy had skinned the big and fat carcass. Some of the tenderer parts of the animal were cut out and broiled for breakfast. They all made a hearty meal, and the lack of trout did not so much matter.

"'Tisn't everybody that can go fishing and bring home a bear," declared Sadie Brown. "You see that you cut it up nice, George. Don't make a mess of it if you can help it."

"Yes, ma'am," murmured the foreman.

"What's that?"

"I mean 'No, ma'am,'" he hastened to reply.

There was no moonlight to affect the brusque Miss Brown on this morning, and she seemed to be quite as sharp with Belden as ever.

Oriole had something to say to Teddy in private--and she was very serious about it after breakfast when they were alone again.

"Such an idea, Teddy! But I can't get it out of my head."

"All right, Miss Jaybird. Tell it to me if you think it will relieve your mind."

"I wish you wouldn't call me all kinds of birds. I'm just one kind--Oriole. Now listen," she said.

"I've got my ears as wide open as a mine-shaft," he chuckled.

"Now, don't! It's just about that mine-shaft--maybe."

"What do you mean?" he wanted to know, startled.

"Well, those two men didn't ride up here last night for just nothing."

"Wow! You mean Ridley and Mudd?"

"That is just who I mean," Oriole said seriously.

"Of course they didn't. They were looking for Shaffer all right. And I wonder if he is crazy."

"Dear me, Teddy! don't you remember what I told you they said that time I overheard them?"

"What are you getting at?" he asked curiously.

"Don't you remember that I told you that Shaffer man was unwilling to wait around any longer--he said so? He wanted to go to that prospect-hole right away and not wait for the other two. And they got mad and threatened him. You know I told you!"

"Shucks! So I do remember. Well?"

"I guess that that is what has happened. Hank Ridley and that Mudd person were hunting for Mr. Shaffer last night. They thought he had come up this way. Don't you see?"

"I bet!" cried Teddy in sudden excitement. "They think Shaffer has double-crossed them. Jiminy! I see."

"But there is something more I wanted to speak about," Oriole hastened to say.

"Go on. Let's hear," Teddy returned.

"I saw something up that cross gulch last evening--don't you remember? It was something moving--something big----"

"That old bear!" exclaimed Teddy, laughing.

"_Was_ it?" questioned Oriole. "It looked like a man. It was as tall as a man. I don't know. Suppose Shaffer is up in these hills?"

"Shucks! you get me all stirred up, Oriole," the boy complained. "If--if Shaffer is up there," he turned toward the Three Sisters, their tops quite visible even from the bed of the canyon, "we ought to know about it."

"Let's tell George Belden," she suggested slowly.

"And he'll tell Brownie," returned Teddy with disgust. "He's just that soft."

"Oh, Teddy!"

"Well, isn't he?" the boy demanded warmly. "See how she wound him around her finger last night, and now this morning she's as prickly with him as a porcupine."

Oriole had to giggle at that. It was true. But she was just as much in earnest about the affair of the three bad men as Teddy was.

"I tell you that they didn't ride up here last night just for fun."

"No," agreed Teddy, "of course not. But Shaffer must have been ahead of us then, if you saw him flitting up that gulch. Our trail must have erased his trail."

"He did not come this way--not on horseback," said Oriole positively. "George Belden told Ridley he didn't see any trail--and he wouldn't have told a story about it."

"I suppose not. And I didn't see any myself," admitted Teddy. "So it must have been the bear you saw, after all, Oriole," and he laughed again.

However that might be--bear or man--the two friends had no opportunity of searching the branch canyon, down which the brook tumbled, on this occasion. They did not take back to the ranch many trout, either; for it took so long to cut up the bear's carcass and pack it on the excited horses and the burro that little time could be spent in fishing.

They left the shack at noon and arrived at the ranch house just at dark, being welcomed by Ching Foo with acclaim. The bear meat made a change from "bull beef" which change the Chinese cook welcomed.

Mr. Langdon returned from town that evening. He had found several new hands; but it was not the scarcity of help that made his face so grave as he joined his little family at the supper table. It was the way he looked at Oriole that warned Sadie Brown of the possible nature of his trouble.

"Has something turned up about our Oriole?" the nurse asked the ranch owner after the children had been excused from the table.

"That's just it. Something seems to have become known at last about the fate of Mr. and Mrs. Putnam," said Mr. Langdon quietly. "I don't know how to tell the girl. Nat Jardin warned me it would be mighty hard to take from the child all hope of her ever seeing her parents again."

"Oh, Harvey Langdon! that isn't the way of it, I hope? _All_ hope gone?"

"Well, I told you what that old sailor in the East Boston Hospital told me. He was pretty sure Mr. Putnam was lost. And my agent in Boston writes me that, without doubt, that was true. Mr. Putnam was knocked out of one of the boats and drowned at the time the _Helvetia_ sunk, after the collision."

"Poor, poor Oriole!" murmured the good-hearted nurse.

"Well, there it is. How can I tell her? And with such uncertain news of her mother----"

"There is something you have not told me!" cried the nurse.

"It is about Mrs. Putnam. My agent found another seaman of the _Helvetia_ that is sure the woman was taken aboard the ship that collided with the _Helvetia_--a three-masted sailing vessel named _Edgerton_, or _Ellerton_."

"Mercy's sake! can't you get the name of it right?"

"Chapman writes me that he will search Lloyd's records and the maritime registers for the record of any three-master of either name. It is a chance----"

"But for goodness' sake!" interrupted Nurse Brown, "where was the ship sailing to that she hasn't been heard of in all this time?"

"Strange things happen at sea, and about ships," said Mr. Langdon, shaking his head. "You ought to realize that, Sadie Brown, after what happened to you and the twins. Evidently the _Ellerton_, if that was the name of the ship, had a small crew--less than fifty aboard. Otherwise she would have been obliged to carry a wireless outfit. Not having a wireless, her movements subsequent to the collision were not recorded."

"It seems terrible," murmured the nurse. "How shall we tell Oriole?"

"Do you think we had better tell her at all until we know more?" asked the ranchman hastily.

"Perhaps not. Wait, at least, till your friend in Boston can tell you something definite about that sailing ship. Dear me! I hate to stir the child all up again with worriment."