SODIUM:1 Harbinger by Stephen Arseneault Read Free Book Online

that would be completely unacceptable when back in the business circles of Atlanta. I later wondered if we were all just so used to it that we accepted it as a part of life.
    We had planned on staying around that area a little late in the morning to allow for extra rest. It would be followed with a shorter day of hiking. With the coming elevations the terrain was only going to get tougher. As we settled around the fire the topic of the red devil eyes again came up. Bull thought it was probably just poachers or worst case it could have been someone looking to rob us. The outfitter told Bull that he had never run into trouble himself, but he had heard the occasional story of a hiker or two being robbed at gunpoint. I was not fond of this new revelation.
    As the sun was setting we still had a little daylight left. Bull and Allie decided they would take a walk up the creek as a sort of evening stroll. I got nervous that Kyle and Susi were going to want to do the same, leaving me behind and making me the old fifth wheel, sitting at the camp alone, waiting to be devoured by a large animal. But the two of them made no effort to take a walk of their own, so I continued to hide my cowardly thoughts.
    Bull and Allie came back after 20 minutes and Bull began telling us about a butchered animal just up the creek about a quarter mile. It was a jackrabbit that someone had filleted open and then chopped up as if poking around inside. He thought it curious and was now of the opinion that it probably was poachers, criminals whom he had the pleasure of shooting at the night before.
    Bull was an avid hunter, but he detested sport hunting where no effort was made to make use of the animal. To him it just seemed like the senseless killing of a living creature. Why not just shoot a tree or a rock he had been known to say. Someone had done a very precise job on the jackrabbit and had not kept the fur or the meat. What bothered him the most was the fact that the rabbit was still fresh. He thought it looked like it had been there for less than a day, which meant whoever had done it in was likely still in the area.
    We talked about how we might defend the camp if someone chose to confront us, about how we would each take a two hour turn during the night to keep watch. Bull was irritated as he thought and talked about how this could ruin his adventure package plans. Irritating Bull was hard to do as I had tried many times over the years to get him riled up. He would usually break down and laugh at my attempts. He was a good guy and great friend.
    Being the height that I was, I had sometimes developed a short attitude. A short attitude is what short people get when they are trying to overcompensate for their lack of stature when the real problem is only a lack of confidence. Back in high school I was known to pick a fight, but it was always when I had my gigantic friend around. He would usually break anything up before it ever got started and I was sure he had saved me from many a bad beating.
    He would step in when the words got a little too heated and anyone who had the thought of telling him to butt out would get a look that would scare the fur off a cat. He never once had anyone take a swing at him, he was just too big and too strong to take the chance that you would make him angry.
    As we settled in to sleep I decided to take the last watch at 4AM. I was usually up at five in the morning at home so I could get that first cup of coffee. I had planned to get Susi’s coffee tin to make a cup to start my day off right. I was also keeping Susi’s .22 handy in case there was trouble. I was a terrible shot and a .22 would not do much to stop a man or a large animal, but at least it was something.
    We gathered enough wood to keep a decent fire going through the night and then bedded down with Susi staying up first. The days hike had me worn out and that night I was the first to nod off into nowhere land. The night’s sleep was blissful.

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