"You said you could," answered Thede, "but I didn't believe it!"
"Look here," Tommy said in a minute, sheltering his face from the smoke. "First thing we know, we'll have this whole blooming tree on fire."
"If it gets good and hot, we can fry fish after the bears go away," suggested Thede. "I'm hungry! By the way," he added with a grin, "where are those fish?"
"Do you think I brought 'em up in the tree?" demanded Sandy.
"You never left 'em down there?" asked Thede.
"Didn't I?" exclaimed Sandy. "What did you do with the ones you were carrying?"
"Why," replied Thede, "I guess I left 'em in the thicket where we stood when we made a hop-skip-and-jump for the tree."
"We certainly are a bright mess!" cried Sandy.
"Say," Thede said in a moment, "I'll just bet that's what kept the bears so still while we've been up here building the fire. They've been eating our fish! That's why we couldn't get sight of them!"
"Can you see the bears now?" asked Sandy. "I'm sure I can't!"