Lost on a Mountain in Maine Read Online Free PDF Page B

16 I almost gave up. That vine was so strong, it tore pieces out of my jacket and scratched my legs till they bled. Anyway, I got out of that fix and began to eat strawberries again. I had worked down close to the stream once more, and I noticed that it made quite a noise over the rocks.
    Suddenly, as I came around a clump of berry bushes, I came face to face with a bear—a big one, black as ink, and standing on his hind legs. I was stooping over, and when I straightened up, the bear saw me and screamed like a person. Christmas! That scream just turned me cold. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t yell. I couldn’t do anything. I just stood and stared, crouched over a little, because I never finished straightening up. For a second, that bear and I just looked at each other, then the bear made a big leap sideways. I don’t think he touched his forepaws to the ground. He just went sideways as though on springs and splash!—whish!—bobbing up and down, with the water flying around him, he was on the other side of the stream. Was I glad! I straightened up and laughed. I couldn’t help it. I just laughed and laughed, and then I cried and tears ran down into my mouth and then I laughed again. That bear stood a while looking at me and then he got down on all fours and loped off with his black shoulders going up and down like a horse on a merry-go-round.
    I couldn’t eat any more berries—I wasn’t hungry anymore. I just wanted to get into the next camp and find someone who would telephone to Dad. I was getting worried about that trip to Caribou. I didn’t want Dad and the boys to be cheated out of it because of me.
    My feet were bothering me a lot, now, and I was lame. Something in my hip hurt me when I walked. Besides, every time I stepped on a stone or a broken twig, I’d have to cry with pain. I guess I cried a lot that morning. I tried not to, because I knew I had to keep my head, but I did, and I guess that wasn’t so bad, because guides have told me they cried, too, when they got lost in the winter and had to “hole up” for a day or so in a snowbank.
    When I was feeling worst, I got down on my knees and prayed. I had to hunt some moss, because my knees were so sore they almost made me scream when I went down on them, but I found the moss under a tree and I prayed as hard as I could. I prayed out loud, too, asking God to help me, because I needed help and asking Him not to let Mommy and Dad worry and asking Him for food—just something to keep me going till I found a camp and, oh, yes, I asked Him to help me get out and not let my feet go back on me. I had to ask Him about my feet because my toes were so stiff I couldn’t bend them. They stuck straight out and the ends were cut and worn, and my left foot had a slice cut right out of it.
    After I had prayed, I rested a while. Then I got up and, right around a big rock, I found a road. It was just a tote road into a camp, but it was a road just the same and easy to walk on. Here and there, logs had been laid across, corduroy style, and water stood between them, and it was cool there, with beautiful green ferns growing. I knew the road was an old one because there were no signs of any horse or wagon wheel.
    I was happy at last. I knew that road would lead me either into a camp or out to another road. I didn’t care which; so I followed it, going as fast as I could.

CHAPTER 8
    I F IND A C ABIN • F IFTH D AY
    T HE FLIES and mosquitoes were pretty bad in that place because the ground was low and swampy. At first I beat them off, but pretty soon my arms got tired and hurt me so to swing them that I just went on, letting the flies bite. I remember, once, when I slapped down on my wrist, the blood splashed into my face. 17
    I don’t know how long I followed that road, but night came and I had to stop. I picked out a place under a tree and tried to go to sleep, but the frogs kept me awake. Boy! They must have