ragement, till at last he got upon his feet
again, trembling. The yellow flood was now lapping on the ledge all
about them. But a rod or two farther on the rocks bulged up a couple
of feet above the surrounding slope. Thrusting the exhausted youngster
ahead of her with nose and paws, the old bear gained this point of
temporary vantage; and then, worried and frightened, sat down upon her
haunches and stared all around her, as if trying to decide what should
be done. The cub lay flat, with legs outstretched and mouth wide open,
panting.

The tide, meanwhile, was mounting so swiftly that in a few moments the
rise of rocks had become almost an island. The ledge was covered
before them as well as behind, and the only way still open lay
straight over the glistening mud. The old bear looked at it, and
whined, knowing its treacheries. And the woodsman, watching with eager
interest from the cliffs, muttered:

"Take to it, ye old bug-eater! Ther' ain't nawthin' else left fer ye
to do'!"

This was apparently the conclusion of the old bear herself; for now,
after licking and nuzzling the cub for a few seconds till he stood up,
she stepped boldly off the rock and started out over the coppery
flats. The cub, having apparently recovered his wind, followed
briskly--probably much heartened by the fact that his progress was in
a direction away from the alarming waves.

There was desperate need of haste, for when they left the rocky lift
the tide was already slipping around upon the flats beyond it.
Nevertheless, the old bear moved with deliberation. She could not
hurry the cub; and she had to choose her path. By some instinct, or
else by some peculiar keenness of observation, she seemed to detect
the "honey-pots," or deep pockets of slime, that lay concealed beneath
the uniformly shining surface of the mud; for here she would make an
aimless detour, losing many precious seconds, and there she would
side-step suddenly, for several paces, and shift her course to a new
parallel. Outside the "honey-pots," the mud was soft and tenacious to
a depth varying from a few inches to a couple of feet, but with a hard
clay foundation beneath the slime. Through this clinging red ooze the
old bear, with her huge strength, made her way without difficulty; but
the cub, in a few moments, began to find himself terribly hampered.
His fur collected the mud. His little paws sank easily, but at each
step it grew harder to withdraw them. At last, chancing t