as long as the horse didn’t rear. But maybe Dusty wouldn’t rear with Craig astride him, and being free to run from a threat. Maybe he’d only done that because he was confined, or because he was trying to warn them.
God, she didn’t know the first thing about horses either. She’d come out here with all a tourist’s knowledge, which was to say zip, into an alien world as blithely as if she were taking a stroll down a sidewalk back home. The forest was beautiful, but she was kidding herself if she thought it held no threats of its own.
Just as she considered banging the pots to relieve her own tension, Craig and Dusty emerged from the trees. Craig rode the horse around the clearing in the rain, apparently letting him work out any remaining restlessness. Then he came to the small porch.
“Bear,” he said. “Gone now.”
“Will Dusty be safe?”
“Let’s just say all mama wanted was her cub, and they weren’t thrilled to see me. They took off. I’ll be right in.”
He leaned down to pass her the shotgun and flashlight, then touched Dusty with his heels. She watched them disappear around the corner again, then realized she was trying to juggle too much: a shotgun, a flashlight and two pots. Sheesh.
She hurried inside, dropped the pots on the table along with the flashlight, then checked the shotgun to make sure the safety was engaged. It was, so she put it back on the shelf.
He was crazy, she thought. He’d gone out there in the dark looking for bear. Crazy. Except how could she judge? He understood these woods and probably had an encyclopedic knowledge of bears. He knew what he was doing.
But he was still crazy.
She didn’t have to wait long after she put everything back. He strode through the door after shaking his slicker off and hung it from a hook on the back of the door.
“A bear,” she said. “A bear with a cub. And you went out for a nice little chat?”
“Only to persuade her not to forage around here, at least not right now. I think she was drawn by Dusty’s grain. If no one’s here and we leave a sack outside, it often goes to the bears and other critters. No big deal.”
“No big deal,” she repeated. “A mama with cubs is no big deal.”
“Not as long as you don’t get between them.” He sat at the table and flashed a grin. “It was okay. We had a meeting of minds.” Then his smile faded. “It was strange, though. She was an awful long way from her cub. Like something had disturbed them. I’m wondering if the cub let out a distress howl and that’s what set Dusty off.”
“Like something had disturbed them?” She put her forehead in her hand. “What the hell would...” She trailed off. “Oh. Buddy’s friends. Well, I hope he got mauled by mama.”
“As a rule,” Craig said, “black bears don’t cause unnecessary trouble. Unless someone actually threatened her cub, she’d try to lead him away or scare him off, then go back for her cub. As a rule.”
“But not always.”
“No. And she may be headed for trouble, because right now the smell of humans around here must be thick, and she shouldn’t have come so close. Or maybe all the rain masked the human scent. Regardless, we’ll have to keep an eye out, but for the moment, I’m not worried. She took off with her cub once she knew she’d been spotted. That makes her a smart bear who should live a long life.”
Sky supposed she should be glad about that. “How’s Dusty?”
“Better now that he got some exercise. And now that he knows the bear took off.”
“One more question.”
“Yeah?”
“Who the hell leaves grain outside in bear country?”
He broke into a laugh so hard she could see his eyes moisten.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded.
“You just surprised me. That question was spot-on.”
“Then explain it.”
“Sometimes someone gets forgetful. Right now, though, since I’ve been corralling Dusty, there’s enough feed out there to draw attention. My guess is mama and cub started coming this way a day or two ago, browsing as they went.”
“I still don’t see what’s funny.”
“Only because you have no idea how many times I’ve had to explain to hikers and campers why they shouldn’t sleep close to their food, why they should hang it from trees and so on. Endless explanations. Nobody explained it to you, but you got it right immediately.”