irring restlessly. "I'll get him next

s conscious of a heavy weight on his chest. What it was, he did not know, and some moments p

ce he rec

he murmured. "I w

ck that his right hand rested on, felt cold and

rd the object that was holding him d

scarce rep

idea whether the animal were dead or asleep, awaiting the moment wh

strength he would be able to pull himself away before the

oping about over the ground at his right hand. He could n

te effort to escape. He felt as

to his feet. As he did so he leaped away, running with all his might u

ought up sharply and dodged behind a tree. There

e night. The leaves of the trees hung lim

ost afraid to trust his voice out loud. "Maybe

t he sought to gather some sticks with which to make a torch, but the onl

ttered. "I'll have to t

the place where he had been lying, peering into

is," bre

ide as it had been before, the only difference being that the animal

'd have been after me before this," de

ch after match, shading the flame with his hands so that the light would

bear, not knowing whether the animal were dead or alive. Yet when Tad Butler ma

l, that is, close enough so that

his toes that he might make no sound. There seemed no

it," whis

drew back his left foot and administe

ed under the blow, Tad whirled

but could h

hat bear hasn't stirred at all. I'm

l after he had prodded the beast with his foot again. There was no

of his excitement. "I wonder what the boys will say. The

ver this probl

rope to him and make Pink-eye to

m that the pony had thrown him off. Th

stening after each attempt

. The worst of it is I may be a long way from camp, bu

to be found. The lad went through

is in falling in. I'll get the gun anyway, for the Professor

up the weap

himself. A moment later when he discovered that the weapon hel

philosophically. "Let me see, I think we came up that way. They'll build a bi

ilderness before, and though he felt a slight uneasiness

hour. Then he halted. The same

r to the left," he decided. He changed his

lad paused, this time with the realizatio

to his mouth Tad

stened intently, the

own voice almos

ried, now fully appr

to the right or to the left in a desperate attempt to free himself from the endless thicket, bruising his body

were such a silly kid as to be afraid of the dark." But in his innermost heart the lad knew that i

ad supposed, he was penetrating the fastn

"I'll sit down and wait for daylight. That's all I can do. I s

range. He knew this from his own recent experience. How many other savage beasts there might be in the woods he did not know. He had heard some

were loaded, I s

ble height. Up this he clambered. It would give him a good view in the morning anyway, bes

d with a flat rock for a resting place, leaned b

all about him until the sound became a restless murmur, a

the sounds, however. He made a m

n't any umbrella," he added, grinning at his own feeble joke. "Well, I've been wet before. I cannot well be any more so than I w

he would now have suffered from the cold. As it was, he shive

ead had drooped to one side and Tad Butler was sleeping as soundly as if