"Now you have done it!" cried Sandy.
"Aw, what have I done?" demanded Tommy. "We came out to get grizzly rugs for our clubroom in Chicago, didn't we?"
"Yes, and you went and fired without killing them, and now we've been chased into a hole! If they've got the sense to stand there and wait for us to come out, they'll have a feast of boy flesh in a few hours."
"Huh!" exclaimed Tommy, "I didn't see you bringing down any of the bears, and you shot as often as I did."
"It sure was bum shooting," admitted Sandy.
The bears were now out of view, but the boys knew that they were still watching the entrance to the cavern. Tommy's searchlight showed the entrance to the connection between the two caverns, and the boys lost no more in changing their position. Tommy looked out of the entrance to the hiding place and saw that the brutes had shifted their quarters and were watching from a new position.
"I guess we've got into the kind of a mess Will predicted," Tommy declared. "This looks like we'd have to stand a siege."
Tommy moved to the side of his chum and fired a couple of shots at the sentinel outside.
"Look here," Sandy advised. "You'd better save your bullets!"
"All right!" Tommy answered. "I suppose that's what we're here for—to save bullets!"