“But you said you’d have fish for supper!” suggested the boy.
“How long do you think a fish will remain fit to eat if kept in an oven after being cooked through?” demanded Case. “My fish was ready to take up when I came out after you, and that’s more than half an hour ago. By the time we get back it will be burned to cinders.”
Case threw the light over the boy and broke into a laugh, serious as the danger had been. The clothing was almost torn from Alex’s back, and drops of blood were trinkling down.
“He almost got you!” Case exclaimed.
Captain Joe approached his fallen enemy and then looked up at the lads with a gleam of admiration in his red eyes.
“The dog knows,” was all Alex said on the subject. “But, come,” he went on, “let’s get back. Gran’s eloped, and we needn’t wait for him.”
“Eloped!” repeated Case, turning the light on his friend’s face to see if this was not a new joke. “Eloped with whom?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” replied the boy, determined not to tell anything about the meeting of the morning; “I saw him in here, just up there at the angle of the canyon, talking with a man, and then the bear came along—and I entered into conversation with the bear!”
“Did Gran see you?” asked Case, wondering if the strange lad had observed Alex’s peril and failed to protect him.
Alex shook his head and plunged forward through the trees. Captain Joe barked at his heels a moment, and then ran back to the bear, where it lay on the ground under the tree.