Courage by Joseph G. Udvari Read Free Book Online

late afternoon it was finished. The shape of the basket well, it was hard to describe; it was sort of oval at one end and kind of square on the other end with sides of about ten to fourteen inches or so. It was roughly two feet by one foot, an odd shape to be sure, but quite sturdy.
    â€œSo how does it work?” Mary asked.
    â€œHere, let me show you!” Jim exclaimed excitedly.
    He turned the basket upside down, lifted one end and carefully positioned a branch about 6 inches long to support the raised end, then scattered some berries on the ground underneath.
    â€œWhen a bird goes in to eat the berries, it moves around and knocks the stick out like this. The basket then falls down, trapping the bird and voila, we have fowl for supper. You really should have a long string tied to the stick that holds the basket up, but we don’t have anything like that.”
    â€œLet’s try it out dad!” Lucas shouted.
    Jim set the trap up a short distance from camp and they all hid and very quietly waited. After about an hour, Lucas grew tired of waiting and said,
    â€œDad, maybe there aren’t any birds here.”
    So for their supper that night, it was fish again.
    â€œGuess what Alicia?”
    â€œI know, it’s time for supper and bed”.
    â€œYou are one perceptive little girl, you must take after Grandma.”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Next morning Lucas was the first one up again. He crawled out of the tent and looked around for the trap.
    â€œDad, mom the trap is gone!”
    The others crawled from the tent and Jim said, “We have to look for it, it was set up just over there and it couldn’t have just disappeared, could it?”
    They walked over to where the trap had been set up and realized that somehow the trap had been dragged into the bushes. Lucas ran around a small spruce tree shouting, “Dad it’s still moving!”
    â€œDon’t touch it!” Mary warned Lucas.
    They surrounded the trap and looking between the woven branches saw, much to their surprise, a rabbit staring back at them.
    â€œDad it works, you caught a rabbit!” Jill exclaimed.
    â€œThis will be so awesome, no fish tonight!” Lucas said.
    â€œI never would have believed it, my husband, the hunter,” Mary said proudly.
    For the next four days the trap remained empty, so fish and berries were back on the menu.
    They tried to dry some fish since they were so plentiful, but that didn’t work; by the time the fish dried, they had spoiled. The kids were also getting pretty tired of eating fish. They were losing weight and had lost some of the spunk they had shown earlier. Jill became more and more homesick and was crying most days now. Mary was much better, but she too felt the strain of the unknown and was worried. The weather was changing, becoming more fall-like and a very cold rain lasting three days dampened their spirits even more. It was late September now and while the fish were still plentiful, they just didn’t feel like eating them anymore. They would toss ten fish to the wolf. It was becoming quite friendly; one morning when they woke up, they found him sleeping, curled up at the front of the tent.
    â€œDad, there is that plane again.”
    â€œIt’s probably another commercial flight, but they are at least thirty-forty thousand feet up, they can’t possibly see us.”
    That day they all went to pick the last of the berries. When they got there, they came face to face with a large black bear that was also foraging for berries. Jim quietly told them to just back up slowly and not make eye contact. Luckily the bear was intent on eating berries and didn’t pay too much attention to the family.
    â€œYou know, I remember reading someplace that there’s a berry called Bearberry. I wonder if that’s what we have here?” Jim explained.
    â€œDad, are you just saying that because of the bear?” Lucas asked.
    â€œNo, no I’m serious,