“A bear!” exclaimed Tom and Teddy, simultaneously.
“Yes; I’ve seed a picture of one in Frank Leslie’s. It’s a bear, sure.”
“What will we do?” said Teddy, alarmed. “They’ll bite, won’t they?”
“I guess they will,” said Julius. “They’d kill you just as easy as winkin’.”
“I didn’t know there was any wild animals around here,” said Teddy, nervously.
“Yes,” said Tom; “there’s bears, and wolves, and panthers. I’ve read about ’em in a dime novel called ‘Pathfinder Pete; or, The Wild Hunter of the West.’ You know we are in the West now.”
“How will we get back?” asked Teddy, rather anxiously. “He’s squattin’ down, waitin’ for us.”
The bear had come to a pause, and, squatting on its hind quarters, was steadily and seriously regarding the boys with an expression which, to their excited imaginations, seemed particularly savage and bloodthirsty.
“I wish’t I had a rifle like the one ‘Pathfinder Pete’ had,” ejaculated Tom.
“You wouldn’t dare to fire it if you had one,” said Julius.