An hour before dawn and I moved to the mouth of the cave. I looked for any signs of movement near the cave. I slowly moved out onto the ledge and headed down to the timber. The cave was easy to defend, but it was also hard to sneak in and out of. They are out there looking for me and I want to make sure I don’t walk into an ambush. I headed back to the small clearing where they had gathered yesterday. I found the big males track and started after him again. He was the ring leader of this bunch and if I could take him out the rest would probably be confused long enough for me to take them out. I lost his tracks at the edge of the river again so I started moving down stream looking for his tracks or a place to cross the river. I found his tracks about a half mile down stream. He had crossed the river and then come back to this side there. I began following the tracks north. The going was slow. The brush was thick and I was being extra cautious. When the tracks came to the edge of the timber I stopped and looked out at the open hillside. I could see the tracks continued on a good trail that cut across the face of the ridge and worked down to the valley floor. There was no cover so I did not want to follow. I backed into the timber and crossed over the ridge. I had to drop all the way to the bottom of the valley to find cover and then walk along the bottom of the valley and around the end of the ridge to get to the valley the tracks were in. It took me three hours to get to the valley and find the tracks again. He was headed towards the area where they had tried to ambush me yesterday.
I continued to follow the tracks. I found the spot where they had all grouped back up and headed off as a group. That’s good. If I can jump all of them in a group I can take them all out at once. I followed the tracks deeper into the Forrest. It was late in the evening when I came to a large cave. I could see three of them sitting in front of the cave. I guessed the other four were in the cave. I moved closer to the cave and into a position that would give me a good shot at them. It was starting to get dark so I was trying to hurry and yet not give myself away. I eased the Winchester up on the rock in front of me to rest it. I pulled back the hammer and lined up the sights. I was only fifty yards from them so this would be easy shooting. I lined the sights up on the one farthest to the left and closest to the timber. I fired and hit the first one right between the eyes. the Squatch didn’t even flinch. It’s head snapped back and then fell forward to it’s chest. the other two were stunned and sat there looking around not sure what to do. I shot the one on the right side next. that one slumped to the ground. The one in the middle suddenly jumped up and started to run. I put a round in the middle of that one’s back and dropped it. I turned the gun on the entrance to the cave to wait for the others to come out.
I hear a twig snap in the brush to my right. I looked quickly in that direction. It was so dark in the timber I could not see much. then I saw a large shadow move about ten yards out. I grabbed my rifle and ran back into the timber.
when the big Squatch got to the spot I had been shooting from and found that I was gone he roared. then I heard the other three roar too. they were spread out in the timber behind me and moving my way. I ran as fast as I could through the dark timber. Now I needed to get to the open slopes of the ridges so I could see what was coming at me from where. The three smaller ones were gaining ground fast trying to cut me off from getting to the open ground. I was not going to make it to the open ridge. I knew that if I turned and ran away from them I would end up at the edge of a cliff in deep dark timber. That was not a place I wanted to make a stand and fight with these buggers in the dark. Instead I turned and moved towards them slowly. If I keep low and move slow I might be able to get behind them and then head for the open hillsides. I ducked behind a log, stump, or bush at every little sound. I felt the breeze lightly brush across my face and could just make out the scent of one of the Squatch on the breeze. I ducked down under a windfall and waited. The Squatch ran past me still heading for the cliff. I waited until I could no longer hear them and then headed for the open ridge face as quickly and quietly as I could. Once I was in the open I ran as fast as I could back towards the cave. I knew that if they came out of the timber chasing me I would have no chance. My only chance was to get enough distance between me and them so that I could see where they were and wait for them to come into range of the Winchester.