I waited and waited. Had I missed our golden opportunity at survival?
I was beginning to dread that I had, when I heard a snuffle down the ravine from me. I waited scarcely daring to breathe. I heard the bear rummaging in some bushes before I saw it appear. It was a mature brown bear male of about 600 pounds. More than enough meat to meet our needs. It had caught scent of the squirrel and anxiously I watched, as it approached the trap more warily than I had expected.
What was it doing? Tentatively it reached out a paw and pushed the trap itself around in the snow. It was apparent that it had seen traps in action before and it was wary of what they were capable of. It wanted the squirrel, but not enough. It made several tentative grabs at it, but nothing serious and then it started moving on. My hands tightened on my rifle.
I hadn't wanted to risk a shot, but now I was going to have to. I brought the rifle up and took aim, as the bear approached a clump of boulders on its leeward side. My finger was squeezing down on the trigger when it happened. Out of the clump of boulders directly in front of the bear sprang the striped colors of a tiger.
The tiger was of a monstrous size and easily a match for the bear. The bear had reared up to its hind legs in its own shocked surprise at being attacked, and its intention to fight if need be. The tiger didn't hesitate though, but sprung up to its own back legs and closed with the bear at close quarters. One massive clawed paw slammed into the bear's left side, even as its left paw elevated and caught the side of the squalling bears face and shoved it off to the side. With a husky roar the tiger's powerful canined mouth spread wide and closed over the bear's unprotected throat like a vise.
The bear struggled ineffectively and together the two fell over, but the tiger didn't let go and within moments the bear's struggles were no more. My hands holding the rifle shook so bad I could hardly keep it aimed. I drew a bead on the tiger that was now ripping into the bear with savage gusto, but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger, because I knew what had happened here in this snowy setting.
That tiger hadn't sneaked up while I lay in wait for the bear. He'd been there the whole time, less than thirty feet from where I'd crouched baiting the trap. He could have had me easier than even his perfectly choreographed attack on the bear. Shaking I let the rifle fall, as I did so the tiger leaped away from his kill and bounded up into the forest off to the right of me.