‘When I woke up, it was raining. It was daylight, and I could feel movement around me. I was still groggy from the previous night…remember I was an intelligence guy and not as battle hardened as these other guys. I opened my eyes a little to have a look at who or what was moving around.’
He pauses to poke a few sticks in the fire, and everyone leans forward in anticipation.
‘I was shocked to find that it was a goat pissing on me!’
He is rewarded with roars of laughter. He waits for it to die down and then lifts his hand to silence them.
‘I heard voices around me, and after listening carefully, I made out that somehow we had stumbled into the middle of a grazing area of the hostiles we were after. I tried to look around for where the rest of my team was but couldn’t see anyone. Occasionally I saw a couple of hostiles walk past my hideout, fully armed. If they had bothered to look down, they would have seen me, and I would have had more holes than a sieve.
‘All day long goats pissed on me, even dumped on me. Then, in the evening, to my horror, one of the goats started munching on the brush covering me like it was dinner at the Carnegie Deli.
‘It was pulling it away and then eating it. I pulled the brush back over me as stealthily as possible, and the goat pulled it right back again. Tug-of-war between goat and Broker, smack in the middle of hostile country.
‘I got desperate because I was practically exposed. I lifted my head a little and looked around. A few hostiles, but none too close to me, and none looking in my direction. I took my rifle and smacked the goat a good one in the breadbasket.
‘The goat jumped up and ran away, but that action got noticed by one of the hostiles, and he approached me. I could see him from the corner of my eyes.
‘This is it. I wrote a long letter to Mama in my head and told her that when we met in heaven, she could smack me all she wanted for kissing seven-year-old Peggy in the kitchen.
‘And by the way, I was seven too when that happened, so stop those dirty thoughts right now!’
Rory is rolling around in laughter by now, and the rest of them are close to following him.
‘But as luck would have it, that damned goat took it in his mind to charge that guy. He just put his head down and butted him, throwing him on his ass. That guy forgot about investigating my ditch and started wrestling with the goat.
‘When night fell and those guys were asleep, I crawled out and crept away. My team was waiting for me not far from these hostiles, and we regrouped.
‘That goat saved my life! From that day, I decided I’ll let any goat pee all over me as much as he wants.’
That sets off Rory laughing again.
When he has calmed down, he asks, ‘Where were Zeb and the rest of your team?’
‘What I asked! Zeb had been sent scouting, so he was nowhere near the camp. The rest of our team was scattered in similar ditches, but I was the only one smack dab in the middle of the hostiles. When they realized where we were, it was too late to warn me.’
A night owl calls in the distance a few times as Broker feeds more wood in the fire.
‘But never drink goat’s piss. Not a pleasant taste.’
Mark chuckles. ‘I guess when you guys have lived in the rough, you have to eat and drink all kinds of stuff, don’t you?’
Before Broker can reply, a, ‘Halloo the camp,’ rings out, and two trappers step into the firelight.
‘Hi, guys, pretty late to be wandering around,’ Connor greets them.
‘Nope, this is the right time for us guys, as we lay our traps and check on them,’ replies the taller of the two, glancing around, adding, ‘Howdy, ma’am,’ in the women’s direction.
‘Care for some coffee?’ Connor offers. He realizes that Bear and Chloe are hanging back, nearly shrouded in darkness, while there is no sign of Zeb. Broker is sitting easy and relaxed by the fire, with Rory next to him.
‘No, sir, thanks for asking. We were tramping across to check our traps when we spotted your fire. There’s a big black bear around here with cubs. Thought we should warn you.’
‘Much appreciated. Bear meat’s not my favorite, but we’ll keep that in mind,’ replies Broker.
Zeb is with Bwana. He slipped away once he heard the owl hoots.
‘Just two trappers, harmless enough. I was tracking them for some time and overheard some snippets of conversation. There is a bear in the vicinity. I overheard them and also spotted some tracks.’
‘You need any rations? Anything?’
‘We’re good, man. Fishing and having a great time.’
Zeb pats him on the back and returns to camp.
‘There you are,’ Connor says, pointing his pipe at him.
‘All okay?’ Bear murmurs as Zeb walks past him.
Zeb nods imperceptibly.
Rain pours down late that night, waking Lauren up. She pokes her head out of the tent to see the camp silent and lit by the dim light of the lanterns within the tents. As she scans the trees, something catches the corner of her eye.
A figure is standing at the edge of the tents, motionless. She stares hard through the rain, trying to see who it is.
It’s Zeb.
He has his face raised to the rain, standing motionless as it beats down on him. She is about to call out when Connor places his hand on her shoulder.
‘Leave him be.’
She takes one last look at him, a tall solitary figure unmoving, the rain washing down on him.
The ground is soggy the next day, but the water has drained away, something Connor is very proud of since he chose the campsite. Lauren refrains from mentioning that Broker and Bear nudged him to this site.
Bear has returned from scouting and mentions bear tracks not far from their site, and when they set out on a hike, they detour to show Rory the tracks.
Broker whistles when he sees them. He kneels down, motioning Rory to do the same, and points out the bear’s tracks to him, as well as two other sets of tracks a little to the side.
‘Cubs,’ he says.
Zeb is looking over his shoulder at the three sets of tracks. He nudges Broker, who rises and pulls Rory to his feet.
‘Let’s get back to our hike.’ He leads the way back to their trail.
Lauren and Anne catch up with Zeb. ‘What’s the hurry? It would have been great to follow those tracks and show Rory the bears.’
‘It’s better if the bears find us than us go looking for them, ma’am,’ he replies. ‘Besides, mama bear is large — bigger than I’ve seen in a long time.’
They meet the trappers halfway through their trek and stop to have coffee with them.
‘I would be extra careful if I was you.’ The taller of the two looks at Broker. ‘There’s one more bear in the vicinity, a male, who has gone through some camps, ripped some tents, and stolen food. Those cubs might be his.’
‘We’ll keep a watch.’ Broker nods in thanks.
‘We seem to be surrounded by bears,’ Cassandra says once they resume their hike.
‘Yup, and we have one along with us, too!’ Rory guffaws, pointing to Bear.
It’s close to dusk when they come across it.
They’re in a small clearing surrounded by thick brush and woods, and Broker is doing what he does best, spinning yarns and entertaining them. Zeb is bringing up the rear, and as Rory doubles up in laughter, he spins around, looks at Zeb, and screams.
Lauren and Anne look back too and join the chorus of yells. Zeb has felt its presence long before the others spotted it but didn’t sense any danger radiating from it. He has been subtly falling behind the group to distance himself from them and was planning to lead it away before anyone spotted it.
He turns around slowly and faces the largest bear he has ever seen, nearly ten feet away and close to six hundred and fifty pounds. The bear has crept up on them silently on all fours and is looking directly at Zeb, with its ears back.