One look was enough. The next instant, without stopping to take a second glance, Allan darted off with the mad speed of one who is running for life, while the huge bear came springing after him.
Such a race as that, if prolonged, could have had but one termination; and this Allan knew but too well.
As he ran, therefore, he looked all around to see if there was any chance of escape. But there was none whatever. There was no high cliff up which he might climb--no narrow crevice in the rocks where he might seek shelter.
The country was a barren one, with rocks of different sizes scattered about, here and there. Among these there did not appear anything that offered a hope of escape from the ravening monster that pursued him.
At last, as he looked despairingly around, he saw one thing which offered a faint prospect of escape. It was an enormous granite boulder which arose in the midst of the plain, surrounded by smaller boulders.
This one was about thirty feet high, and its sides were smooth and convex. In front of this grew a slender tree, and Allan thought that if he could climb the tree, he might be able to get upon the boulder and set his enemy at defiance.
There was no time to lose, so he at once acted upon this idea. He rushed to the tree, seizing it with the grasp of despair, and by vigorous exertions climbed to the top.
Here he was on a level with the top of the granite boulder, and was able, by a violent effort, to get upon it. The top of the boulder was flat, and it had been roughened and scarred and worn by the storms of centuries, so that Allan found a firm foothold.
The moment that he reached this place of refuge he turned to look at his enemy.
The grizzly bear was close behind him, and as Allan turned he beheld him grasping the tree and trying to climb. But the tree was too slender for the enormous limbs of the bear. He could not grasp it firmly. As the bear began to perceive this, he growled wrathfully and ominously, and finally desisted from the attempt.