"The camp! I see the lights!"
He was right, and soon they were coming up to the doorway of the big cabin. A loud shout brought out several of the lumbermen, including Mr. Paxton.
"You did well to get home in this storm," said the camp owner. "I thought sure I wouldn't see you until to-morrow."
"We came pretty close to getting left on the road," answered Owen. "I'll tell you about it after the turnout is put away."
It was only a short while after this that they were seated at the long deal table, close to the red-hot stove, eating a generous supper and relating their tale, to which the men listened with keen interest.
"A bear!" cried Mr. Paxton. "It's a good thing he wasn't real hungry. If he had been he'd most likely have chewed one of you up."
"I not like the bear," came from Jean Colette. "I meet heem vonce—in de woods. He come up an' want to hug me. Bon! I run one, two miles to geet avay. He come after me. I climb de tree. He climb too. Den I drop down an' run some more. He run too. I swim de pond, an' run an' run, till I 'most drop dead. Den I am safe. No, Jean Colette, he not like de bear, only when he is dead an' in de pot!"
At this honest speech many laughed, which did not hurt Colette's feelings as might have been expected. The only one who showed his disdain was Baptiste Ducrot.
"Huh! I not run from de bear," he sniffed. "I keel two bear vonce—one wid a gun an' de udder wid a knife," and then he related the story to such of the crowd as cared to listen. It was a hair-raising tale and some enjoyed it, but it is doubtful if anybody believed Ducrot.
"He's a blower," was Gilroy's comment. "He loves to make us believe he's a wonderful fellow, but I don't see it."