Bears Beware! Read Free

for a few hours and soon it was time for the group to take a break. The girls watched as Hank chose a shady spot by a river and unpacked some morning tea for them to share. Bindi and Katrina took the opportunity to eat at the same time.
    All of a sudden there was a cry from Hank as he pointed to the creek. ‘You gotta check this out – salmon jumping! There’s a good view from the bridge up here.’
    The family stood up, eager toget a look at this popular local attraction. They moved closer to the creek and away from their picnic spot.
    Katrina watched them go. She grabbed a cloth package from her backpack. ‘Now!’ whispered Katrina urgently to Bindi. The girls leapt out of the bushes and raced over to the pile of rifles on a large flat rock. Katrina began carefully taking the bullets out of each rifle.
    â€˜Check for extra ammunition in the bags,’ whispered Katrina.
    â€˜Found some!’ cried Bindi. She pulled out a round of bullets on a long string. Katrina handed her the bullets she had taken from the rifles.‘Quick, bury all the bullets before they come back.’
    Bindi darted behind the trees and quickly dug a hole to hide the ammunition. Success! She couldn’t believe such a simple plan had worked.
    Bindi raced back to Katrina with a big grin on her face … only to be met by three angry-looking faces. Hank was staring down at Katrina with his arms crossed.
    â€˜I repeat,’ said Hank in a gruff voice, ‘what are you doing out here?’

Bindi took one look at Katrina’s rabbit-in-the-headlights stare and knew it was up to her to talk their way out of this one.
    â€˜We know we’re not meant to be here but I’ve come all the way from Australia and I really thinkbear hunting is just about the best thing ever.’ The words stuck in Bindi’s throat as she said them in her strongest Australian accent.
    Hank growled. ‘How long have you been following us?’
    Bindi looked back at him as innocently as she could. ‘We started off at your house this morning.’
    Hank looked embarrassed that he hadn’t heard them but shrugged it off. ‘Well, you’re obviously enthusiastic.’
    The teenager glared at Bindi. He looked less than happy to have two girls crashing his hunting party. ‘Teen girl stalkers, that’s all we need.’
    Hank turned to the father. ‘It’s up to you, Ted. There’s no age restriction for hunting in Alaska.’
    Ted surveyed the girls. ‘We can’t really leave you out here alone. Stay out of our way and don’t go anywhere near the firearms. You got that?’
    Bindi smiled. ‘You’ll barely notice we’re here, I promise!’
    The friends exchanged a look of relief.

    At first there was silence as they continued on their way. Bindi andKatrina now knew that the son’s name was Joey. It had puzzled Bindi that anyone who knew even a little about bears could possibly want to hurt one. She decided to test out Joey’s knowledge and casually dropped in beside him as they walked.
    â€˜That was a great shot you took back at Hank’s place.’ She gave Joey one of her biggest smiles.
    He looked at Bindi in surprise. ‘You saw that, did you?’
    â€˜Oh yeah!’ cried Bindi enthusiastically. ‘You’re a crack shot. Have you done much hunting?’
    As much as Joey didn’t really want to spend his time talking toa girl, he did like talking about hunting. ‘I’ve hunted mountain goats and deer and got trophies each time,’ he told Bindi smugly.
    â€˜Wow. Never missed, huh?’ gushed Bindi. ‘And now you want to bag a big one?’
    â€˜You got it!’ Joey lifted his rifle into the air with emphasis. ‘I’m going to bring that sucker down.’
    â€˜You know the males can stand over ten feet tall on their hind legs?’ asked Bindi.
    Joey nodded. ‘Those boars are big