He was too late, however, for the dog sprang forward and caught the tire tube in his mouth. He gripped it savagely, as a dog will do with something he fears, and a moment later there came a loud noise, as if a gun had been fired.
Heels over head that dog went toppling back, howling in dismay.
CHAPTER XVIII
TWO BEARS
Several of the lumbermen in charge of the raft of logs came rushing out of the slab cabin at the sound of the shot—or what they thought was a shot from a gun.
One of the men, seeing the dog, rushed to the edge of the raft and cried:
“Who shot Spot?”
“Nobody shot him!” laughed the steersman, who was chuckling so with mirth that he let go of the long sweep that was used to guide the raft. “Leastways, if he’s shot he shot himself! Ho! Ho!”
“Shot himself! What do you mean?” asked one of the lumbermen.
The Curlytops, also, did not understand what had happened. But Mr. Martin, looking at the inner tube of his tire which was now quite flat, knew what had taken place.
“Yep, Spot shot himself!” laughed the steersman. “He bit into that blown-up auto tire on the shore and made a hole in it. He punctured it, and the air popped out like a gun, right in his face. I guess Spot thought he was shot, anyhow.”