Flight From Bear Canyon by Anita Daher

Author:Anita Daher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2004-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

Sausage scrambled down the narrow path, and faced the bear, growling and snarling.

“Sausage!” Kaylee wailed. “Sausage! Come back, boy!” She snatched Jaz’s rock from her hands and launched it toward the bear.

Jaz pulled her back. “Are you crazy?” she cried.

Kaylee turned back to the clearing, nerves on fire. She tried whistling. “Here, boy! Come on back, Sausage!”

The dog ignored her.

“If Sausage jumps at him,” Jaz said, “he’ll make the bear mad. It might even come after us.”

“What can we do?” Kaylee blinked through gathering tears, watching the terrible ballet play out below. Sausage circled, growling, and the bear stood its ground, bellowing back.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jaz whispered.

“No!” she cried. She couldn’t leave without Sausage. He was only trying to protect her. It hurt to swallow. “Besides, unless you’ve got a back door we’re stuck.”

Jaz frowned and pulled her flashlight out of the crate. “Maybe I do.” She pointed the light toward a dark corner, showing an opening not much bigger than a cupboard.

“A tunnel?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Haven’t you checked it out?”

“Just the opening … I never had a reason to go farther. Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s a place to hide. The bear can get into the cave, but it would never fit in there.” She bit her lip. “I hope not, anyway.”

Kaylee looked back at Sausage and whistled again, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference. It didn’t. Sausage growled and snapped, and the bear was beginning to snarl back, slapping at the hound with one of its great paws.

“I can’t leave him,” she said, tears sliding down her cheeks.

“Come on, Kaylee,” Jaz said. “We’re only making things worse by being here.”

She knew Jaz was right. If she stayed in the cave, Sausage would continue to try and protect them. If she were out of sight, there was a chance he might run away.

“Okay,” she said weakly. Her stomach flipped — she felt she might throw up.

Reluctantly, she followed Jaz, crawling on hands and knees through the opening. She could hear water trickling all around as it pooled against her knees.

Jaz cast the light on slightly higher ground. “Come on,” she said.

They pulled themselves out of the wet onto a beach of loose stone, hunching forward to fit under the sloping ceiling. It was like some strange black shore on another planet. Jaz continued to poke the light into dark corners.

Kaylee strained to hear past water, trickling, pattering and dripping, tinkling like a xylophone. Nothing. At least she hadn’t heard Sausage cry out.

This new part of the cave was spooky, nothing like Jaz’s hideout.

A crash sounded nearby, and the girls looked at each other in alarm. Could it be the bear? Was it in Jaz’s cave?

They listened as the crash was followed by heavy snuffling, a crinkling sound and chewing.

“My chips,” Kaylee mouthed at Jaz, who nodded. It had to be the bear. Kaylee knew Sausage’s sniffing and eating sounds, and this wasn’t him.

Sausage got away, she thought with relief. He’d likely follow the scent of Jaz’s earlier footprints and find his way back to the lodge.

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