Fortunately, this was not an easy thing to do, as the logs were slippery and difficult to climb up on. For several minutes the result seemed in doubt. Jimmy’s pole was swept out of his grasp and thrown twenty feet by one sweep of a big black paw. Fortunately the wire broke under the blow, otherwise the whole coil would have been dragged into the lake, and the boys would have been helpless against the attack. As it was, this cut down the number of the defenders, and it seemed as though the bears would surely overwhelm the frail raft. Jimmy worked like a madman trying to connect up another wire, but before he could get one in operating condition the fate of the battle had been decided. The bears, bewildered and stunned by the mysterious force that shot through them like the stabs of red hot wires, and that all their tremendous strength was powerless to ward off, finally gave way. First one and then another turned tail and paddled away, splashing and whimpering, baffled by the weapon wielded by these beings who seemed so puny to look at, compared to them, and yet held lightning in their hands. One big fellow persisted when all the others had given up their attempt, but the boys concentrated three crackling blue spark streams on him, and that proved to be more than he could stand. With a cross between a growl and a squeal he splashed away in the wake of his companions, who were snorting and charging through the water like a fleet of ferryboats.
Left in undisputed possession of the raft, the boys drew long breaths of relief and took stock of damages. Herb had four deep furrows on his left hand, where a bear’s claws had grazed it. Jimmy, now that the excitement was over for the time, discovered that his wrist had been badly sprained when the bear had knocked the stick from his hand, but aside from these comparatively minor injuries, the boys were in good shape.
The raft had suffered more, in its way, than they had. The efforts of the big animals to climb aboard had loosened several of the outside logs, and broken some of the strands of wire that bound them together. However, there was plenty more wire on the raft, and the boys immediately set to work to repair the damage. Now that the bears had gone, they began to realize that the heat, which in the excitement of the fight they had hardly noticed, was again growing intense, and they were glad enough to plunge once more into the lake to make repairs on the raft.
“While we’re about it, we might as well make a thorough job of it,” observed Bob. “There’s no telling how long we may have to stay out here in the lake, and we might better take a little more trouble now and make everything as secure as possible.”
The others had no objection to make to this, except Buck Looker.
“Aw, what’s the use of bothering with it,” he observed. “I guess these old logs will hold together as long as we need them.”
“Yes, but guessing isn’t quite good enough for us,” observed Joe. “When we finish a job, we want to know that it will do the work it’s intended to do. You have to take enough chances in this world, no matter what you do, without making more chances by your own carelessness.”
“That’s the stuff!” cried Bob approvingly. “If a job is worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well, as somebody remarked about ten thousand years or so ago.”
They wound the wire again and again about the logs, and then tightened it by looping other strands between each pair of logs and drawing the wire on opposite sides of the raft as taut as they could get it. They made a good job of it, even though they were working under tremendous difficulties, and the time was not far away when they had good reason to congratulate themselves on the fact that they had done so.