Most of the bear had been left uneaten. After guessing at what had happened for a while, Harimu and Jade Mountain River dismounted and began skinning it, following the principle of putting waste to use.
By now, they knew that one bear skin could be worth dozens or even a hundred sheep. Even half a skin could fetch more than fifteen or twenty sheep-and this bear had only recently died. There were no maggots in the meat yet; it was still fresh.
After they stripped off most of the skin, Harimu rolled it up and tied it onto his horse's back. Even the horse seemed a little frightened.
"We'll both have to be careful over the next few days," Jade Mountain River said. "Anything that can kill a bear must be a tiger. I don't know if it's the one I wounded before. If it is, who knows whether it'll come back for revenge? This tiger is vicious. We need to take our guns whenever we go out. We can't let it hurt us."
"If Li Long knew there was still a tiger here, he'd be delighted," Harimu said with a laugh. "That thing is worth a lot of money. The one I ran into last time, he took everything back, bones and meat included..."
"Ah, there are plenty of big beasts in the mountains. These mountains are so vast, there must be some hiding here. We just don't usually run into them..." Jade Mountain River said. "I was planning to look around over the next couple of days and see if I could shoot something else, but now I don't dare wander off. If that big beast gets into my flock, I'll be in serious trouble."
Li Long knew nothing of their encounter. At that moment, he was studying