When at last she moved slightly and was on the point of losing her balance, she awoke so quickly that she saved herself just in the nick of time.
She was shocked and startled, but regaining her breath she held fast with one hand while she parted the branches with the other and carefully peered down among the limbs.
"He is gone!" was her joyous exclamation; "I knew the Lord would make him go away, because I asked him to."
She was right: the bear had vanished, and all danger from that source for the time had passed.
The brute probably found enough to eat without waiting for little girls to fall into his clutches. As he had never been known to trouble any one in the neighborhood, it was reasonable to believe that he got all he wanted without venturing away from the depths of the woods, and rousing an ill-will against himself that would speedily result in his destruction.
Nellie did not feel surprised at all, for, as I have shown, she had the faith to believe that her prayer would be answered.
"Now I will go down to the ground and start for home. I guess the bear isn't far off, but the Lord will not let him hurt me."
She carefully descended the tree and stood on the ground a minute later. She found that her dress was torn and she had lost part of the ribbon from her hat. This troubled her more than anything else, for her frugal mother had told her many a time that she must take the best care of her clothing.
"I was so scared that I forgot to look out," she said to herself, after taking an inventory of the damages; "but I guess mother will excuse me for losing the ribbon, though I know she won't for coming so far into the woods without permission."
She now set out resolutely for the bridge, determined to lose no more time in reaching home. As is the rule, the brief space she had passed in sleep seemed three times as long as was actually the case, and she thought it must be near morning.