CHAPTER VI
GETTING RID OF AN INTRUDER
"Whoo! it's a bear!" yelped Lub, who looked as though his eyes were trying to pop out of his head.
"Tell me, am I seeing things? Is this a wild dream, or am I gazing on a real, live, woolly bear?" cried X-Ray Tyson.
Just then, as though suspecting that the clustered boys had evil designs on him, the small black bear actually growled, and showed its white teeth.
"Here, keep back, you!" exclaimed Ethan; "we haven't lost any bear that we know about. Where'd you come from anyhow, and what d'ye want here?"
"Ethan—don't you see, he came down the chimney!" gasped Lub.
"Just what he must have done," added Phil, who was gripping the only firearm they owned, and wondering what effect a peppering of its tiny missiles would have on the tough hide of a black bear.
"I bet you he was nosing around up there, and smelled our grub," suggested X-Ray, a sudden gleam of light dawning upon him.