It aroused the camp. Likewise did it arouse Mr.
Bruin. The bear started away at first at a swift amble which had increased
to a gallop by the time Harriet had drawn on her slippers and leaped from
the cot.

Without thought of fear the girl ran stumbling along after the galloping
beast. Guardians and girls were rushing from the tents on all sides,
crying out to know what had happened. They saw Harriet running, before
they caught sight of the strange beast that was making such strenuous
efforts to get away. When they did catch sight of Mr. Bruin as he dashed
past the fire, there was a chorus of shrieks that not only awakened Jasper
whose tent was some distance further to the north than the last tent of
the row occupied by the girls, but brought him out without his boots on.
Jasper was no coward. He was more afraid of the Camp Girls than of any
animal that inhabited the Pocono Woods. Armed with an axe Jasper, his
whiskers standing out almost at right angles to his body, charged on the
camp. He had no idea what had occurred, but he knew it must be something
very serious to cause the frightful uproar that now came from all sides.

Harriet continued right on. The bear, seeing the girls ahead of him, and
being frightened by their screams, turned tail and took the back trail. By
that time Harriet had reached the fire. She snatched up a burning brand.
She was upon the bear before it realized its peril. Harriet seeing it so
close to her thought the bear was chasing her. She struck out with the
burning fagot with all the force of a muscular arm. The burning stick hit
the bear on the nose.

A frightful howl of pain followed. Harriet leaped back amazed at her own
courage. Perhaps some of it was impulse. She decided next day that it must
have been that. Then a new sound reached her ears.

"Oh, mercy on us! Trouble, trouble!" yelled Crazy Jane. With one rung from
a broken chair that Jane had picked up and tucked under her cot for
emergencies, she came charging down the street just in time to see Harriet
give Mr. Bruin the rap on the nose. It was then she uttered the
exclamation that Harriet heard.

Jane was rushing toward the bear from the rear, while Harriet was also
attacking it from the rear, while Jasper stood some distance from the
nearest girl, which in this case was Crazy Jane. Guardians were crying out
to Harriet and Jane to run. They did run, toward the intruder, rather than
away from the beast. Bruin became confused. He