Now Bud was a good loser. Perhaps after all he did not really feel as ferocious as he pretended; and to tell the truth might have been sorry if Hugh had sided with him, so that war was declared upon the hairy invader of the shack.
"How'll we get him out of there?" he proceeded to ask. "If he knows a good thing when he tastes it you bet he won't be in any hurry to leave."
"How about you going in and telling him his room is better than his company?" asked Hugh.
"You'll have to excuse me this time, I'm afraid," Bud quickly announced. "I pass it up to Ralph here; he knows more about the way of animals in a minute than I do in a year."
"Can you fix him up, Ralph?" questioned Hugh, turning to the boy who had studied animals so long that he might be looked on as an authority.
Ralph was always willing to oblige.
"To be sure I can, and will, Hugh," he hastened to say, with one of his rare smiles. "The rest of you stay back here, and when he once gets clear of the door start to shouting as loud as you can."
"Which is to add to his alarm, I suppose?" suggested Hugh.
"Just about what it is," and saying no more, Ralph started for the cabin.
They noticed that he did not approach from the front, and this explained that Ralph had no intention of trying to enter the place while it had a hairy occupant.