“I can’t say anything about them for certain, but I imagine about half of them escaped under cover of the darkness, and Pep Frost thinks that at least two men and two women got away on horseback. Besides that, Frank Ludgate was off on a hunt when the attack began, so that it is very likely he escaped too,” concluded Ezra Winship.
CHAPTER VI
HARRY AND THE BEAR
Hunting knife in hand, Harry waited for the black bear to mount the tree after him. He knew that if the beast came up he would have the bear at a disadvantage, and he hoped that one good stroke of the long blade would finish the fight.
But the bear did not come up. Instead he halted at the trunk, put his forepaws on the bark, and gazed thoughtfully upward. Then he dropped on his haunches, let out a growl of anger, and sat where he was.
“Don’t want to fight, eh?” mused Harry. “All right, but I hope you won’t stay where you are too long.”
For a while the bear kept his eyes fixed on Harry, as though expecting an attack. But as this did not come bruin lay down at the foot of the tree, resting his head on his forepaws.
This was certainly provoking, for it now looked as if the beast meant to keep the young pioneer a prisoner in the tree.
“Perhaps he thinks he can starve me out,” thought Harry. “Well, I reckon he can, if he keeps me up here long enough. But I don’t mean to stay—not if I can help myself.”
With the hunting knife Harry cut a small limb from the tree and dropped it down on the bear. With a snarl bruin snapped at the limb and buried his teeth into it. Then he leaped up and began to come up the tree in a clumsy fashion.
Harry’s heart thumped madly, for he knew that a perilous moment was at hand. Grasping the hunting knife firmly he leaned far down to meet the oncoming animal.