“It’s a good time to leave,” whispered Jim, who, while the words were in his mouth, let go and dropped to the ground.
Tom was but an instant behind him, imitating him so quickly, indeed, that he struck directly upon his shoulders.
But no harm was done, and they were instantly up and off.
It will be seen from this that the couple adopted substantially the advice of Bob Budd, which contained more wisdom than most of his utterances.
Like their leader, the fugitives heeded the dearly bought lesson, and, instead of taking refuge in a large tree or sapling, they chose one of precisely the right size, each perching himself where he was as far beyond reach as Bob Budd himself.
The lads were given plenty of time in which to take their new departure, since the bear, instead of leaping to the ground as they did, picked his way back to the body of the tree, and slid down that to the earth, tearing off a lot of the bark in his descent.
This required so much time that when he once more stood on solid earth all three of the boys were out of his reach, and could afford to laugh at his anger.
Halting a short distance from the tree, bruin looked at the boys in turn with such an odd expression that they laughed.
Gradually the idea appeared to work itself into the thick brain of the animal that there was nothing to be made by remaining in that particular part of the country, though his reluctance to leave caused no little misgiving on the part of all three of the youths.
If he should decide to stay until the party were compelled to choose between starving to death and coming down, the situation, to say the least, would have its inconveniences.