The Bonner Incident: Joshua's War by Thomas A Watson, Michael L Rider Read Free Book Online

that the team was taking, Joshua headed up the draw and it started drizzling again. “Take it easy King,” he said, guiding him around trees. “I don’t need to be on foot because I refuse to ride Jack. A man must have some principles.”
    Riding on the slope outside of the draw, Joshua could see the draw was fairly clear. Except for the ferns and fallen dead trees but for mountain terrain, it would be considered a sidewalk. Thirty minutes later, he pulled back on King seeing what he wanted; a fairly large log over the draw that had to be stepped over with thick brush on both sides. A three-foot-wide clearing over the log made a natural funnel. 
    Climbing off, Joshua led King and Jack up the slope a little more and he went back to Jack. He untied the grizzly trap, grunting as it fell into his arms. “Mountain men were crazy to lug these things around,” he panted, carrying it down the slope. “I would’ve just sat in a hide to shoot a damn bear before lugging this thing around.”
    Coming down behind the log, he set down the number sixteen grizzly bear trap. It was almost four feet long and weighed just over fifty pounds. Shaking his head at the massive trap, Joshua ran back to Jack to get the rest of the stuff he needed.
    Walking back down, he folded out his folding shovel and leveled a spot beside the log. Satisfied, Joshua grabbed a three-foot-long steel rod and fed it through the steel ring at the end of the thick chain connected to the trap.
    Pulling the trap over, he grabbed the half-inch cable that had eyes at both ends and wrapped it around the fallen log in the bushes. Grabbing a three-inch-long, one-inch bolt and the thick chain attached to the trap, Joshua put the ring at the end of the chain between the two eyes and ran the bolt through. Smiling as he twisted the nut down as tight as he could, Joshua pulled out his multi-tool and selected the file. Right under the nut, he filed down the threads to make taking the nut off more difficult.
    Finding that he couldn’t back the nut off, Joshua laid down the chain and folded up his multi-tool. “This is the part I don’t like,” he mumbled and grabbed the set poles. The six-foot-long poles were connected at the end like scissors and he put one spring between them.
    Using his weight and muscle, he slowly squeezed the spring down. Holding the poles, he reached out with the spring clamp, just a U-shaped piece of metal, sliding it over the spring. When the clamp was on, he slowly released the pressure on the spring, seeing the clamp was holding. Repeating the process on the other spring, Joshua stepped back and gave a shiver.
    The first rule of trapping was ‘always work a trap from the bottom’. Looking at the massive steel jaws closed together, Joshua knew there’d been a man down through history that had learned that lesson with this trap. After they’d lost a hand.
    Standing beside the trap, he eased the jaws apart like the trap was going to jump up and bite him. When they were open, he grabbed one spring lifting it up and reaching under the trap to set the pan down to lock the springs and set the trap.
    Even with the spring clamps on, he shivered looking at the big teeth around the jaws. Liking where the trap was, he grabbed the poles and took the spring clamps off. Looking at a set bear trap in the mountains, Joshua was sure this hadn’t happened in half a century. 
    Moving away from the area, he grabbed some ferns and standing to the side, used them to cover the trap. When he couldn’t see it, he looked at his watch and saw it’d taken him thirty minutes. Walking up the slope around the log to the other side, he found some small dead logs and positioned them near the funnel to force the team where he wanted them.
    Knowing if he’d been on the team, they would be getting here soon, Joshua gathered his gear and moved back up to King and Jack. In case the team didn’t show, he stored the set poles and climbed on King, heading further up the