"Oh! my, ain't he mad as hops, though?" jeered Tom. "Look at him shake his head, would you, Felix? He knows we did it, and he means to let us understand he won't put up with such a racket as smoking him out. Now, don't be in too big a hurry to start firing. Take my word for it, you'll have plenty of chances to fill him up with lead before he caves under. Shake the limb, and holler at him, if you want him to pay attention to you."
That was just what Felix did want. He was afraid that the bear would know Tom had started the fire, and ignore the other boy. So he too commenced to taunt the old fellow, as boys know how to do so well.
The result was just as Tom had predicted; for having his attention thus diverted, the bear now changed his course a little, and came directly toward the tree that bore such strange fruit in the shape of the second human enemy.
What the grizzly thought, at being so rudely disturbed in his after-dinner nap by all this shouting, and the smell of smoke in his den, Felix could only guess, for by his actions alone could the animal tell.
There certainly could hardly have been a madder bear than that one was. He acted as though bent upon teaching these impudent boys a much needed lesson. When they felt like playing any of their annoying tricks, they had better keep away from his particular sleeping place, if they did not want to get hurt.
"Get one in before he reaches your tree!" called out Tom; who seemed to know what the tactics of the grizzly would be after this had occurred, and that possibly Felix might not be able to fire with such sure aim, once his haven of refuge were being violently shaken, as it would be.
So the Eastern boy, who had all along kept his Marlin leveled at the advancing grizzly, sought to aim in a vulnerable spot; or at least what would be reckoned as such with any other wild animal than a grizzly or an African rhinoceros.
When he fired he heard the most dreadful roar that ever assailed his ears. But to his surprise, the bear did not stop his advance in the slightest degree, no matter how the small bullet "mushroomed" when it came in contact with his body.
Felix hastily got his gun in shape to shoot again, and this he was able to do before the animal succeeded in reaching the tree.
Another roar, more wicked than the preceding one, told that this bullet had also lodged in the body of the fierce brute; but as before, it failed to have any appreciable effect on the grizzly, save to arouse his slumbering passions the more.