and
would drop of his own accord, like a ripe apple.

The question was a serious one indeed, and while the lad was trying hard
to determine what was best to do, he heard Nellie calling to him. She,
too, was becoming impatient over the long separation and was coming to
find out what it meant.

Nick shouted back for her not to approach, explaining that he was up a
tree with a bear watching him, and that if she came any nearer the
animal would be sure to change his attention to her.

This was enough to keep any one at a respectful distance, but, when
Nellie Ribsam heard the alarming announcement, she was determined on
one thing: she would see for herself what sort of a picture was made by
a boy up a tree with a black bear watching him as the one watched her
two years before.

Nick having warned her against coming any nigher, it followed that the
temptation to do so was irresistible.

The lifting of the smoke had let in some sunlight, and it did not take
her long to reach a position from which she could look on the
interesting scene.

"Nick! Nick!" she called, in a guarded voice, not intended for the ears
of the bear.

The boy, alarmed for his sister's safety, turned toward the quarter
whence it came, and saw the white face peering from behind the trunk of
a tree no more than a hundred feet distant. He instantly gesticulated
for her to keep out of sight.

"You have done a silly thing, Nellie," said he, impatiently; "the bear
is sure to see you, and if he does, it will be the last of you."

"But I don't mean he shall see me," said the brave but not very prudent
girl; "if he looks around, why I'll dodge my head back--My gracious!
he's looking now!"

And Nellie threw her head so far from the side around which she was
peeping, that, if the bear had looked sharp, he would have detected the
somewhat bedraggled hat on the other side of the charred trunk.

Nick called to her to be more careful, as he plainly discerned her hat,
and the head-gear vanished.

The lad's fear was now on account of his sister, for he knew that so
long as he himself could maintain his position in the tree, so long was
he safe. The bear species cannot climb trees whose trunks are so small
that their claws meet around them, and although this brute scratched at
the sapling as though he meditated an attempt, yet he made none, but sat
still, looking wistfully upward, and probably hopeful that the boy
perched there would soon come down.

"Keep