"No," replied Rusty, "for Buster the Bear frequents the trail, and Mr. Fox is dreadfully afraid of him."
"But how about Buster the Bear eating me up?"
"He might," admitted Rusty, "if he caught you, and was very hungry, but you don't want to let him catch you."
"That's true," replied Bumper, "but I might not be able to avoid him. Is he as quick as Mr. Fox?"
"Oh, dear, no! You can easily outrun him. He's so clumsy he falls over his own big feet sometimes, and he makes such a noise you can hear him coming a mile away."
"Then I don't believe I'm afraid of him," replied Bumper, in a voice of relief.
When he started out on his travels he felt pretty good, and on the way he stopped to eat every time he found something he knew was good for him. He avoided all strange plants, and ate only those he recognized.
In a short time he came to such thick woods that if it hadn't been for the deer trail he would have been lost, but he followed Rusty's directions, and kept strictly to the well-worn path. When he grew tired, he rested by the wayside, always hiding in the thick bushes, and keeping one eye and both ears open. There were many strange and wonderful noises in the woods, and more than once Bumper started up with fright.
But nothing happened to him until he was so far in the woods that he thought the big rock must be near. He kept a sharp lookout for it. Just then he heard a noise so different from anything that had startled him before that he stopped to listen. It seemed as if some one was in great pain, and needed help.
Now Bumper was very tender-hearted, and any one in distress made him very sad. So instead of keeping on the trail, he wandered off to find out who was moaning so loudly.