[#] Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), called poplar at the South.
"There, now, is the country residence of Madame Bruin," said Robert, stopping at a distance to reconnoitre the premises. "Shall we knock at her door, and ask how the family are?"
"I think not," replied Harold, "the old lady is rather cross sometimes, and I suspect from the tones of her voice she is not in the sweetest humour at the present. Take care, Robert, she is coming! Climb that sapling! Quick! Quick!"
The boys each clambered into a small tree, and as soon as they were well established, Harold remarked, "Now let her come, if she loves shot. A bear cannot climb a sapling. Her arms are too stiff to grasp it; she needs a tree large enough to fill her hug."
But Madame Bruin, like the rest of her kin, was a peaceable old lady, not at all disposed to trouble those that let her alone, and on the present occasion she had two sweet little cherubs, whose comfort depended upon her safety; so she contented herself with going simply to her front door, and requesting her impertinent visitors to leave the premises. This request was couched in language which, though not English, nor remarkably polite, was perfectly intelligible.
"I suppose we shall have to go now," said Harold; "it will not be civil to keep prying into the old lady's chamber. But when Sam is able to join us, we can come prepared to make bacon of her and pets of her cubs."
They called off the dog, patted him in praise of his well-doing, and then retreated, blazing the trees all the way from the poplar to the river.
Several of these last miles Robert had walked with increasing painfulness; his feet were so much chafed as to be almost blistered.
"Stop, Harold, and let us rest here," he said, on reaching a fallen log. "I wish to try that soldier's remedy for chafed feet."
"What soldier's?" Harold inquired.