Harta-ak spurred his horse away from camp, found the trail that led directly into the salt deposit, and rode straight toward the gargantuan, sleeping bear.
When the godat-ta heard the pounding of the horse’s hooves, it sleepily opened its one eye, then sat straight up. It blew out an incredulous blast of air and sprang to its feet. Harta-ak’s horse saw the bear and from that point forward, Harta-ak was no longer in control—he was simply trying to hold on.
The horse skidded to a stop and reared. Before it could turn and run, Harta-ak nocked an arrow in Senta-eh’s bow and shot it at the bear.
It was the equivalent of a squirt gun on a three-alarm fire. The arrow lodged briefly in godat-ta’s throat, then fell harmlessly away. It may not have injured him, but it did give an instant reaction. The bear stood on its hind legs, threw its head back and roared with a ferocity that echoed around the basin and made every animal within half a mile go into hiding.
The horse did not have a place to hide, so it relied on its sole asset—speed. It raised a cloud of dust as it found its footing and scrambled away. It was at full speed after just a few bouncing strides. The bow flew out of Harta-ak’s hands and clattered to the ground.
Godat-ta dropped back onto all fours and tore after the frightened horse.
Harta-ak hit the opening with a lead of seventy-five yards and the horse was doing everything it could to lengthen the lead.
As the bear ran through the opening, Alex felt the ground shake beneath his feet, and he reached out and touched the huge boulder on the lip of the opening. If the vibrations sent it skittering over the edge, everything they had done was for naught.
The rock held and Alex rushed to the back edge of the lip, watching the impossible scene of the largest bear to ever exist chase after a frightened horse. Under normal circumstances, Alex gauged, the bear might have been faster. Its legs were so long that each stride ate up the ground. But in this case, it was chasing an animal that was also built for speed and saw its own mortality coming up fast behind it.
Seconds later, both the horse and the bear had disappeared from view.
Alex held his arm out and Versa-eh tossed the lasso over it from across the opening. Alex pulled the loop open wider and wider until it was big enough to fit around the boulder perched on the edge.
When he had accomplished that, he signaled Versa-eh, who pulled the rope taut.
Alex dropped down the back of the hill. Alex grabbed his axe and chopped at the base of a tree that sat next to the opening. It wasn’t exactly a sapling, but it was a young tree—no more than forty feet tall.
Senta-eh and Versa-eh stood guard on top of the berm on either side of the opening while Alex worked. They had no idea how far godat-ta would chase Harta-ak. It was possible he would tire of the chase very quickly and might turn around sooner than they wanted. The last thing Alex wanted was to get caught chopping at the tree when godat-ta ran up on him.
It was a warm day and sweat poured off of Alex as he chopped at the base of the tree again and again. The axe was sharp, but it was more of a weapon than an actual axe, so the going was slower than he would have liked.
Eventually, the tree started to sway and lean with each chop. Alex gave it a few more blows, then pushed on the tree and it toppled over in the direction he wanted it to. There wasn’t room for the tree to fall completely to the ground. Instead, it lodged across the opening about six feet off the ground.
“Any sign of him?”
“No,” both women said in chorus back to him.
Alex hustled across the opening to the bowl to another tree he had picked out. He repeated the process and that tree also fell, partially blocking the opening.
Neither tree was enough of an obstacle to stop godat-ta. He could easily clamber over both trees. Alex’s goal wasn’t to completely stop the bear from entering, though. He just wanted to slow him down somewhat.
Moments after the second tree fell, Senta-eh shouted, “I see godat-ta!”
Alex hurried back up the hill and took his place.
Godat-ta had ripped out of the basin like his tail was on fire, but he was much more languorous on the return trip. He stopped at every berry bush and helped himself. At one point, Alex thought he was going to lay down and take a nap. At another, he answered the age-old question as to whether a bear defecates in the woods.
Finally, he reached the opening to the salt deposit and was obviously puzzled to see that the trees had fallen in his brief absence. He sniffed and snuffled around them, then reached out a giant paw and scratched at them.
From seventy-five feet above, Alex shouted, “Now!”
Versa-eh tightened the rope that had been wrapped around the boulder and pulled. At the same time, Alex stuck the pole he had crafted into a small space between the boulder and a smaller rock he had wedged against it.
Give me a lever long enough... Alex didn’t take the time to finish the expression. He put all his weight on the pole.
Between Versa-eh pulling and Alex using a fulcrum to push it, the boulder did not want to move.
Godat-ta had heard Alex shout though and climbed straight up the hill toward him.
The more Alex strained, and the more the pole bent, he was afraid that the boulder simply wasn’t going to move.
And then we are all dead. There will be no escaping from godat-ta.
Alex redoubled his efforts, but the boulder refused to budge. From
