Never Say Die by Will Hobbs Read Free Book Online

thinking, should rightly be called tundra grizzlies.
    Ryan broke the silence. “I like our chances without a gun, Nick. Listen to this. For the last twenty-plus years, the Arctic River Company out of Whitehorse has been taking people down the Firth, three trips every summer. They’ve never had a firearm along—they take the same protection I’m talking about—and they’ve never had a bear injury. The same goes for the few private parties that raft the Firth every summer. There’s never been a mauling on the Firth River.”
    â€œThere’s a first time for everything,” I countered. “We never go out on the land—or the ice—without a rifle.”
    â€œHey, Nick, I hear what you’re saying and I respect that. My father—our father—felt the same way I do when he kayaked the Northwest Passage. He had a number of encounters with barren-ground grizzlies and one with a polar bear. He didn’t take a rifle along for the same reason I don’t. If it came down to it, he wasn’t willing to kill a bear, and neither am I.”
    â€œI still don’t get it. Why not?”
    â€œIt’s their world, not ours. There have to be a few places left where we aren’t the top dog.”
    â€œI won’t use the rifle unless I really have to. That’s okay if you can’t kill a bear. I’d do it for you.”
    I could hear the wheels grinding. He scratched his beard and said, “If you killed a bear on my account, I would be responsible.”
    â€œThe park wouldn’t think that if I was the one who killed it.”
    â€œI know they wouldn’t, but I would.”
    I hesitated. I’m slow to anger but this was a bit much. “You’re saying you don’t want me to come unless I don’t bring my rifle?”
    â€œI wouldn’t put it that way. It means the world to me to have you along. I’m sorry if this sounds crazy to you.”
    â€œIt’s more like, it doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œWe’re coming from very different points of view.”
    â€œThat’s for sure,” I said, and looked at the floor. I couldn’t talk about it anymore. I was so upset, I grabbed my baseball cap, sunglasses, and mosquito repellent, and bolted from the room.
    â€œNick, I’m sorry, we’ll do fine,” Ryan called down the hallway. I was already in the lobby and didn’t look back.
    I wandered through the streets of Inuvik and down to the river, where a barge was unloading. It took me an hour just to settle down, a couple more hours to wrestle with myself over what to do. I didn’t want to call home and ask my mother. This was my decision to make. Was it worth the risk?
    My mother wouldn’t like the idea of me being out on the land for weeks without my rifle. Jonah would say it was pure foolishness.
    Still, this was my one chance to have a brother in my life. My mother and grandfather had thought that might be a good thing, and so did I.
    There’s never been a mauling on the Firth River, I told myself.
    I walked up the hill and back to the door of the hotel. It was midnight, with the sun suspended above the north end of the street. Back in my room, I set my alarm. I was going. Unless I went, how was I going to have any stories to tell Jonah about his hunter’s paradise?
    Morning came brutally early. Ryan hadn’t changed his mind. My rifle stayed behind in an old bank vault the hotel used to store valuables.

8
NO WORRIES, JUST KIDDING
    O ut at the airport, we headed for the hangar of Red Wiley Air Charters. Red greeted us with, “Howdy, boys,” and told us to help ourselves to the doughnuts and coffee. The legendary bush pilot was wearing the only outfit I had ever seen him in: beat-up cowboy hat, jumpsuit, and cowboy boots.
    Red walked with a limp and spoke with a Texas accent that was still going strong after decades in the North. He was probably the only person in