nuts for a supper, and the soft moss which had gathered about the trunk
of a fallen tree for a bed, she committed herself to sleep.

About midnight, her slumbers were disturbed by a heavy rustling among
the bushes, at no great distance, accompanied by a constant crackling,
as of some large animal, trying to penetrate the thicket. Perceiving
that it approached nearer at every step, she seized a club, with which
she had provided herself before entering the forest, and hastened to
climb into the nearest tree. As she ascended, it began to grow lighter
overhead. The stars looked smilingly down upon her, but it was darker
than ever below. She breathed a silent prayer to the star of her
faith--the bright orb where she supposed her guardian angel resided--and
took courage. The mysterious step approached nearer and nearer. She
soon perceived that it was a bear, and supposed he would follow her into
the tree. She therefore seated herself upon a stout limb, a few feet
from the main trunk, and prepared to give him a warm reception.
Presently the heavy trampling ceased, and was followed by a silence
vastly more oppressive than the previous noise.

In this condition, the remaining hours of the night passed away. With
the first light of the morning, the shaggy intruder was discerned,
quietly reposing near the foot of the tree, and showing no signs of
being in haste to depart. That he was conscious of the presence of a
stranger, was evident only from an occasional upward glance of his eye,
and a significant turning of the nose in that direction, as if there was
something agreeable in prospect.

Tula would have been no match for Bruin on level ground, but she felt
confident of her power in the position she had chosen, and therefore
quietly waited the movements of her adversary. For two or three hours,
he behaved himself with the gravity of a true philosopher, coolly
expecting to weary out the patience of his victim by a close siege, and
so save himself the trouble of taking the tree by assault. But Tula was
as patient and prudent as Bruin, and could endure hunger, and thirst,
and wakefulness as well as he. Rousing at length from his inactivity, he
travelled round and round the tree, as if taking its measure, and
estimating the probable result of an encounter. Tula watched his motions
with more interest than anxiety, hoping soon to be relieved from her
imprisonment, and at liberty to pursue her journey. It was near noon,
when, having s