ice of Herbert was heard ringing through the forest
arches:

"Quick! quick! help! help! the bear has got me! Hurry up, boys, or I'm a
goner!"

The lads dashed forward, excited and fearful they would be too late.

The voice of the imperiled hunter rang out again.

"Quick! quick! the bear has got me sure! Hurry boys, hurry, for pity's
sake!"

The next instant Sam and Nick came upon an extraordinary scene.

CHAPTER XXX.

A FRIEND IN NEED.

Herbert Watrous had been set upon by a huge bear, and, throwing aside
his Creedmoor, had run with might and main for a large stump, behind
which he took refuge. Had he climbed a sapling, he would have been safe,
but he was too flustered to think of that.

Dodging behind this shelter he squatted down, hoping that his enemy did
not notice where he had gone; but, when he heard the brute lumbering
after him, he hastily shifted his quarters to the other side of the
stump. While doing so, he emitted the ringing cries for help which
brought his friends in such haste to his rescue.

The situation would have been laughable but for its element of peril.
Darting to the side of the stump opposite to that of the bear, Herbert
would drop his head, and then instantly pop up again, like a
jack-in-the-box, to see what the brute was doing. The latter, it may be
said, kept things moving.

When Herbert lowered his head and yelled, his voice had a muffled sound,
as though it came from a distance, but when he shot up in sight, his
cries were clear and distinct.

The beast, although heavy and awkward of movement, managed to move
around the stump and to reverse his course with such facility that there
can be little doubt that he would have caught the lad, had not his
friends been so prompt to rush to his help.

Sam and Nick felt no disposition to laugh; indeed, they were so
impressed by the danger that, without exercising the care they would
have done any other time, and which they meant to show when talking of
the matter a few minutes before, they raised their guns together and
fired.

Although the aim was not as deliberate as it should have been, yet both
bullets struck the bear, though neither inflicted a mortal wound.

The brute stopped short in his circular pursuit, looked confusedly
about him for a second or two, and then made straight for the lads who
had fired upon him, just as the buck did in the case of Nick Ribsam.

"Scatter and climb a tree!" called out Nick, who saw the