Breaking through a fringe of bushes they were just in time to catch a last glimpse of a badly rattled black bear, putting for all he was worth into the adjacent scrubbery, and never looking back once to ascertain whether or not he was being pursued by the object that had so thoroughly frightened him.
Dolph was standing there, panting heavily, and yet shaking all over at the same time, either with nervousness, or an inclination to laugh at his late scare, possibly both.
“He’s vamosed, has he?” queried Teddy, drily, though both he and Amos were conscious of feeling a broad grin creeping over their respective faces.
“Why, yes, seems like he has,” replied Dolph, heaving a deep sigh of relief, “and I’m right glad of it. Honest to goodness, fellows, he made straight at me, and had on his fighting face to boot. I thought it was a she bear with cubs; and you know they’re always ready for a scrap. That’s why I whooped it up like I did. I was a little bothered, I admit; yes, considerably so, if you will have it. Because, you see, I couldn’t very well stand off a ferocious bear with one little fishing rod, could I? What if he’d grabbed that red ibis fly, was I to try and play him? Not much. All I knew just then was that I had a very important engagement in the next county. And while I was trying my best to keep it, I thought it my duty to send you fellows warning, so you wouldn’t be scared when he bobbed in on you. And I couldn’t seem to make up my mind which tree I wanted to climb, either; not that it mattered much, because black bears climb like monkeys. But anyway, whatever do you think made him take after me like that?”
“Mebbe he thought you wanted to steal some of his pets, the frogs,” suggested Amos, pleasantly.
“Rather say he wanted to give you a try in a wrestle; these black bears have got a hug that will crack a man’s ribs, if you let ’em get the right hold,” was what Teddy advanced as his theory, but with a twinkle in his eye that plainly proclaimed that he was joking.
“Seriously, now, Teddy, what do you think made him chase after me so? I hadn’t bothered him, thrown sticks at him, or even said ‘boo!’ when he started straight toward me on the jump, making the queerest sounds you ever heard.”