The wind howled dismally around them, and the rain beat heavily against the thin shell of the tree, so that at times it creaked and groaned in a way that excited the fears of Roger anew, for he thought it might be about to give up its long fight, and yield to the storm’s fury.
But Dick kept his courage up by words of good cheer.
“Already I think the worst is over,” he returned. “It seems to me the noise does not come quite so heavily; and yes, when you look up, Roger, you can even see light at the opening, something that I couldn’t do before. We’ll have to wait here a little while, and then we can crawl out to hunt up our boat, and start for the settlement on the other shore.”
Roger naturally twisted his neck in order to see the glad sight of daylight above; but immediately gave expression to a cry.
“What is it?” asked Dick, knowing from the tone of his cousin’s exclamation that he had seen something that meant new trouble for them.
“The bear, Dick!” gasped the other boy.
“What about him?” demanded Dick; but doubtless he was able to make a pretty good guess concerning the nature of the discovery.
“He just stuck his snout into the hole as if he smelled us; and look there, will you? All the light is shut out! Dick, what shall we do? For I believe the bear is starting to back down inside the tree!”