do so.

"Lieutenant, did ye et like that when ye was chasin' the flyin' Dutchmen
in France?" demanded Joe.

Hippy nodded.

"It's a eternal wonder ye didn't fall down then."

"I couldn't. I lived on angel food most of the time, and, after a while,
I could fly. See? You live on angel food long enough and you can fly,
too," promised Hippy gravely.

"I reckon I would at that," answered the forest woman, pursing her lips,
the nearest thing to a smile that the Overland Riders had seen on her
stern, rugged face.

The girls laughed merrily, and Nora turned a beaming face on her
husband.

"Hippy, my darlin', you've met your match this time," she said.

"I met you first, didn't I?" retorted Hippy, then returned to his
absorbing occupation and shortly afterwards passed his plate for another
helping.

"My land!" exclaimed Joe. "Ye do beat the bears for eatin'. Never seen
one that could stow it away the way ye do."

"You should see him when he is hungry," advised Emma. "Why, when we were
riding in the Kentucky Mountains last year we--"

"Well?" demanded the guide.

Emma had abruptly ceased speaking as she felt something rubbing against
her foot. At first she thought it was Hindenburg who had slipped into
the house and crawled under the table to salvage the crumbs. Now
something surely was nosing at her knee.

Emma Dean's face contracted ever so little when a cold something brushed
the back of the hand that hung at her side.

"Hi--Hippy, where's the pup?" she questioned weakly.

"Tied to a tree out yonder. Why?"

Emma groped cautiously with the hand, first wishing to assure herself
that she was not imagining, before making an exhibition of herself. The
hand came in contact with what she recognized instantly, as a cold nose.
Light fingers crept gingerly along the nose and paused at a huge, furry
head, now well at her side. She gave a quick, startled glance down at
what lay under her hand, and her face went ghastly pale.

Uttering a hysterical scream, Emma Dean toppled over backwards, crashing
to the cabin floor.

CHAPTER V

OVERLANDERS GET A JOLT

As she went over, Emma Dean's feet hit the under side of the table. Her
plate of venison slid off to the floor, and Hippy Wingate's coffee
landed in his lap. The Overlanders sprang to their feet, but Joe Shafto
sat glaring from one to the other of them in amazement.

"A bear! A bear! A bear under the table," screamed Emma and sank back in
a dead faint.