"My flashlight cartridges are too valuable to be wasted like that, Lub," he was informed by the other boy.
"Then isn't there some way he could be made to retreat?" asked X-Ray. "What if the whole four of us started to advance, shooing with our hands, and whooping things up, wouldn't he just understand that he had to climb, whether he got his toes scorched again or not?"
Phil shook his head.
"I've got another idea, and it's so simple I only wonder nobody thought of it before," he told them. "The rest of you stay here where you are."
"I object, if you're meaning to tackle the varmint alone and single-handed, Phil!" X-Ray burst out with.
"I'm not quite so simple as all that," Phil flashed back at him; "you can see I'm heading the other way."
"Oh! I know what he means," burst out Lub just then; "it's the door! Phil's going to take down that bar we pushed in place, and open up. Hurrah! that sounds good to me! Phil knows how to do the trick. You trust him every time, and you'll never get left."
Of course it was all simple enough now, and if Lub could see through it the other pair could also. To be sure, Phil meant to swing wide the door, and thus invite the departure of their unwelcome guest.
They saw him reach the front of the cabin. The bear was apparently suspicious of any sort of movement, and continued to growl threateningly. So long as he did not actually start to make an attack Ethan believed he could afford to remain idle, and hold his ground.
Phil appeared to be having some little trouble about getting the bar loose. The door did not shut closely, and it had taken the combined strength of two of them to fasten it securely.