As the leaders of the party dashed into a small cleared space they saw Tip actually fighting, and this time it was no cow, but a small dark-colored animal, which, if it really was a bear, must have been a very young one.
Bill was not afraid of so small an animal, and he jumped forward with his knife; but Tim cried: "It's only a young one. Let's get him away from Tip, an' take him home alive."
He spoke too late to save the animal's life, for just then Tip gave the small bundle of fur a toss in the air, and when it came down it was dead.
Tim caught Tip by the neck to prevent any further attack on his part, and the boys gathered around the victim. It was no bear, but a woodchuck Tip had killed, as they all knew after a short examination, and the disappointment they felt at not having slain a bear was greatly lessened by the fact that they had really killed something.
How they praised and petted Tip then! Not a boy among them, from that moment, but believed he could have killed a bear as easily as he had killed the woodchuck, and Tim was happy.
That night there was a skin nailed on Bobby Tucker's father's barn, but it was not a bear-skin, and it was wofully cut and hacked, owing to Tip's teeth and Bill Thompson's very unscientific skinning.