“Helloa! what’s up now?”
Without any apparent reason bruin at this moment dropped down on all fours, and, leaving Bob Budd to himself, lumbered over under the refuge of the other two fugitives.
They felt no special fear, for it seemed impossible that the animal could do them harm.
Bob’s experience was not lost upon him. He realized the mistake he made when he took refuge in the sapling, and he now repaired it before the opportunity passed.
Letting go, he dropped lightly on his feet and ran for another tree double the size of the hickory, up which he hurriedly climbed to where the limbs put out a dozen feet above the ground.
Here, as he flung one leg over the strong support, he felt that at last he was safe against a regiment of bears.
Meanwhile, bruin was giving attention to Messrs. James McGovern and Thomas Wagstaff.
He first walked deliberately around the tree several times, as if searching for some vulnerable point, occasionally looking up at the grinning youngsters and snuffing like one impatient to secure his dinner.
“I wonder what he means by that” said Jim, with a vague feeling of alarm.
“He wants us to see what a big fellow he is.”