Bob Budd played the part of to the bear for perhaps ten minutes or less, during which he kept up his outcries, and Tom and Jim laughed till they were in danger of falling from their in the tree.  
“If Bob had only known what was coming,” said Tom, “he could have had his trousers lined with sheet iron, and then he might have joined in the laugh too.”
 
“Why don’t he give the bear a kick with his foot and knock him over? He ought to have knowed enough to climb a big tree like us.”
 
“Helloa! what’s up now?”
 
Without any apparent reason bruin at this moment dropped down on all fours, and, leaving Bob Budd to himself, over under the refuge of the other two .
 
They felt no special fear, for it seemed impossible that the animal could do them harm.
 
Bob’s experience was not lost upon him. He realized the mistake he made when he took refuge in the sapling, and he now repaired it before the opportunity passed.
 
Letting go, he dropped lightly on his feet and ran for another tree double the size of the hickory, up which he hurriedly climbed to where the limbs put out a dozen feet above the ground.
 
Here, as he flung one leg over the strong support, he felt that at last he was safe against a of bears.
 
Meanwhile, bruin was giving attention to Messrs. James McGovern and Thomas Wagstaff.
 
He first walked around the tree several times, as if searching for some vulnerable point, occasionally looking up at the grinning youngsters and snuffing like one impatient to secure his dinner.
 
“I wonder what he means by that” said Jim, with a vague feeling of alarm.
 
“He wants us to see what a big fellow he is.”
 
“He is a bouncer and no mistake,” was the comment of Jim.
 
“I wouldn’t care if he was ten times as large—good gracious! look at that!”
 
Well might the boys start in alarm, for at that moment the began climbing the tree!
 
They had lost sight of the fact, if indeed they ever knew it, that the black bear is a famous climber when the trunks are big enough to be grasped without his paws .
 
While Tom and Jim were congratulating themselves on being safe beyond all possible harm, they discovered they were not safe at all.
 
Bruin was on the point of to their perch, when he was aside by the shouting of Bob Budd in the sapling, and he went off to have some sport with him.
 
Why the brute should have left Bob at the time he had him within reach it would be hard to say. It may have been he concluded that the single lad had afforded him enough entertainment, and the moment had come for the other two to take a hand.
 
The of Tom and Jim may be imagined when they saw those massive paws embrace the shaggy bark, which began to beneath the vigorous clawing of the nails, while the huge black body slowly but toward the limbs, where the white-faced youngsters watched his terrifying action.
 
Bob’s turn had come to laugh, and he called out:
 
“Wait till he gets up among the branches, then drop and run for a tree that is too small for him to climb.”
 
This was good advice perhaps, though it occurred to the boys, for whom it was intended, that if they allowed their to approach that near it would be too late for them to flee.
 
Bruin had not very far to when his huge, pig-like head was thrust among the limbs, and he slowly drew his body after him.
 
He was now close to the fugitives, one of whom was perched above the other, and both as far out on the branches as they could get without breaking them.
 
The big, shaggy form being fairly among the limbs, at the point where they put out from the tree, bruin paused a minute, like a general surveying the battle plain before him.
 
There were the two boys about a dozen feet off, without any hope of escaping his wrathful appetite. All he had to do was to make his way out on the branches and gather them in.
 
It will be seen that there was some difficulty in the bear’s path, since his weight would not allow him to advance clear to his victims, unless he used some other limb for his support.
 
As ill-luck would have it, the very means required was at his command.
 
Directly beneath Tom and Jim was another branch, broad and strong enough to support two large bears. It was so near the ground that the boys used the limbs immediately above, with a view of making sure they were beyond the reach of the biggest kind of animal on terra firma.
 
“Here he comes!”
 
It was Tom who uttered the , and he the truth, for at that moment bruin began cautiously moving out on the heavy limb just under them.
 
“It’s a good time to leave,” whispered Jim, who, while the words were in his mouth, let go and dropped to the ground.
 
Tom was but an instant behind him, imitating him so quickly, indeed, that he struck directly upon his shoulders.
 
But no harm was done, and they were instantly up and off.
 
It will be seen from this that the couple adopted substantially the advice of Bob Budd, which contained more wisdom than most of his .
 
Like their leader, the fugitives the dearly bought lesson, and, instead of taking refuge in a large tree or sapling, they chose one of the right size, each perching himself where he was as far beyond reach as Bob Budd himself.
 
The lads were given plenty of time in which to take their new departure, since the bear, instead of leaping to the ground as they did, picked his way back to the body of the tree, and slid down that to the earth, tearing off a lot of the bark in his descent.
 
This required so much time that when he once more stood on solid earth all three of the boys were out of his reach, and could afford to laugh at his anger.
 
Halting a short distance from the tree, bruin looked at the boys in turn with such an odd expression that they laughed.
 
Gradually the idea appeared to work itself into the thick brain of the animal that there was nothing to be made by remaining in that particular part of the country, though his to leave caused no little on the part of all three of the youths.
 
If he should decide to stay until the party were compelled to choose between starving to death and coming down, the situation, to say the least, would have its inconveniences.
 
“There he goes!” exclaimed Jim, a quarter of an hour after this possible complication had............