Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure Read Online Free Page A

giving the rest of her attention to the
grizzly, Dawn needed no telling what to do when he caused it to
turn upon them. Stepping out so as to keep pace with him, she
increased the distance that was separating them and waited with
bated breath to discover which of them the bear chose to attack.
The answer was not long in coming.
    Either because the bear
considered the larger of the approaching shapes to be the greater
threat, or through sheer chance, it made its way towards Bunduki.
Although Dawn halted immediately, Bunduki advanced a few more steps
with the intention of keeping the huge beast ’s attention on him.
    Watching the blond giant come
to a stop, the girl duplicated his next actions by starting to draw
her bow. Their back and shoulder muscles, rather than those of the
arms, took the majority of the strain as they pulled the strings to
the full twenty-eight inches required to obtain the maximum
propulsive power from the curving limbs of the bows. Even as they
were reaching their ‘anchor points’—with the second finger of the right hand
just over the last tooth of the lower jaw—from whence they could
pause and make sure of their aim, each appreciated the full peril
of the course upon which they were now embarked. While confident
they could kill the bear and probably would have no choice of doing
otherwise, bringing this about quickly enough for safety was
another matter.
    Unlike the bullet from a modern
medium to heavy caliber rifle, an arrow—even when propelled by the one
hundred pounds’ draw weight of Bunduki’s Super Kodiak bow—lacked
the velocity to create great shock and stopping power. Yet under
the right conditions, particularly when a razor sharp four-bladed
hunting point was affixed to the shaft, the actual killing
potential of an arrow was greater than that of the heaviest caliber
rifle bullet. Carving a cross-sectional swathe almost two inches in
height and width through the recipient’s flesh, the point would
produce a greater volume of bleeding than any bullet. So a shaft
which reached the heart or lungs would cause such extensive
hemorrhage that death would come swiftly.
    On the other hand, as had
happened when the blond giant had been compelled to shoot at an
enraged stallion, xvi his bow was capable of sending an
arrow through the bones of the grizzly’s skull to its brain. That
would stop it almost instantaneously. However, in the quagga’s case
he had been looking downwards at a target that was to all intents
and purposes stationary during the draw, aim, loose and flight of
the arrow. This time, he was practically horizontal to his mark
and, in addition to its small size, the target area was in rapid
motion. There was little margin for error. What was more, with the
distance between him and the grizzly closing so rapidly, he would
have time for only one shot.
    Bunduki was fully cognizant of all the
risks and accepted that they would almost certainly have to kill
the bear, but he did not try to do so immediately he had completed
the drawing of his bow. There was just a slender chance that the
huge beast was only making a bluffing demonstration. If it had
selected Dawn as its objective, he would not have hesitated to
loose the arrow. As it was, despite the delay adding to the already
great danger he was facing, more in hope than expectancy he decided
to present it with an opportunity to withdraw.
    The hope did not
materialize!
    Showing no indication that it
intended to do other than press home its charge, the grizzly
continued to rush nearer at a speed of close to thirty-five miles
per hour. To make matters worse, as it was heading straight towards
the blond giant, only a very small portion of its
anatomy ’s
most vulnerable area was exposed to his view and his aiming mark
was greatly restricted.
    At last Bunduki conceded that he must
yield to the inevitable!
    In fact, despite understanding
the blond giant ’s motives, to the watching Dawn it appeared that he was
allowing the bear to