CHAPTER VI.
THE DANCING BEAR.
The excited announcement made by Davy Jones was instantly succeeded bysuch a mad scramble as those boys had certainly never witnessed beforein all their lives. Indeed, none of them saw more than a very smallproportion of the queer sights that took place, and for a very goodreason; because every single fellow was more concerned about reaching aplace of safety than anything else.
Davy gained his tree in about five mad leaps, and the way he mounted upamong the convenient branches would have made a monkey turn green withenvy. There was Giraffe also, who had very good luck in picking out atree that offered easy stages for climbing, in that the branches beganfairly close to the ground.
Thad and Allan just happened to choose the same resting-place, and metas they began to mount upward. Still, as they seemed to have forgottenan important engagement above, they did not stop to enter into anyconversation just then. There was no telling which one of the crowd theinvader might have selected for his victim, and each boy imagined thathe could feel the hot breath of the bear right at his bare heels.
Some were not so fortunate.
For example, poor Bumpus was having a perfectly dreadful time. He hadhad the advantage of sighting the bear first; but that did not go veryfar toward counteracting his unwieldy heft, and his clumsy way of alwaysfinding something to stumble over.
True to his habits, Bumpus tripped over one of the guy ropes holding atent in taut shape. He rolled over with a howl of fright, fancying thatnow he was surely bound to become bear's meat; for you see poor Bumpushad considerable to learn about the woods animals, or he would haveknown that as a rule the American black bear lives on roots and nuts andberries, and bothers his head not at all about feasting on fat boys,such as a tiger might fancy.
Bumpus, however, did not mean to just lie there, and let himself beeaten, not if he could do anything whatever to prevent such a vacancy inthe Hawtree family. As he struck the ground he began revolving rapidly.No doubt it was rather like a barrel rolling, for Bumpus was quiteround.
This sort of thing quickly brought him up against the other tent. He hadnot meant to make for it, but as soon as his second or third revolutionbrought his clutching hands in contact with the canvas, Bumpus had abrilliant idea. It was not often that he could boast of such aninspiration; but then a fellow may even surprise himself when thenecessity is great.
If he could only tear away one or two of the loops that were fastened toground stakes, what was to hinder him from pushing his way into thetent, and possibly hiding under some of the blankets?
Eagerly he jerked at the nearest one; and fortunately it seemed to be atrifle loose, for it came free in his hands. But try as he would hefailed to budge the next stake, which had taken a firm hold.
In a panic, when he saw the walking bear still drawing nearer, poorBumpus managed to push his legs under the lower rim of the tightlystretched canvas. Only the lower half of him could find admittance; thebalance was of such larger girth that in spite of his frantic labor hecould not push under the tent.
There he lay, one half of him safe, and the other exposed to all theperil. He dropped his face on the grass. Perhaps it was to shut out theterrible sight; or it may have been that Bumpus was like the foolishostrich, which, upon being hotly chased, will thrust its head into atuft of grass, and imagine itself hidden from the foe simply because itcannot see anything.
The others? Well, the boy from the Blue ridge proved himself no meansprinter when a real live bear threatened to embrace him; for he hadmanaged to clamber up a tree with more or less difficulty, and was eventhen astride a limb.
There was Step-hen on the other side of the same friendly oak, breathinghard, and casting frequent looks aloft, as though considering whether itmight not be a wise thing to mount upward, so as not to attract theattention of the bear towards himself.
Smithy was perhaps almost as badly frightened as Bumpus, only he did notmeet with the series of mishaps that befell the fat boy.
Like the balance of the covey the "particular" boy made a bee-line forthe tree that happened to catch his eye by the light of the camp-fire.Had any of his chums thought to observe the movements of Smithy theywould have discovered that for once he did not even think of stopping tobrush his hair, or pick his steps. Barefooted as he was, he dashed overthe intervening ground, and hugged the trunk of his tree with a zealthat spoke well for his activity.
And now they were all securely seated in various attitudes, breathinghard, and gazing at the invader with various emotions. Some still hadtheir hearts going after the fashion of trip-hammers; others werebeginning to see the funny side of the affair, and chuckle a little,even though confessing that they too had been more or less alarmed atthe unexpected call of Bruin.
Of course Allan and Thad belonged to this latter class, partly becausethey were built a little differently from their comrades in the SilverFox Patrol; and also on account of previous experiences along this line.
The Maine boy had come from a State where bears are plentiful; perhaps,now, it may not have been the first time in his life that AllanHollister had found himself chased by one of the hairy tribe.
All this, which has taken so long to describe, really happened in a bareminute of time. When Thad reached a safe perch on a friendly limb, andlooked around at the strange fruit those neighboring trees had suddenlytaken to bearing, it was really little wonder that he felt likelaughing. Some were clad in red, others blue; while a few had the gayeststripes running in circles or lengthwise throughout their pajamas.
What was this to a hungry bear? Absolutely nothing; and doubtless theinvader of the first camp of the Boy Scouts saw little that appearedhumorous in the situation. He had entered in a friendly way, expectingto be treated to a supper; and here his intended hosts had fled wildly,as though they feared lest he meant to make a meal of them.
Strange enough, no doubt Bruin thought, if he was capable of thinking atall. He still remained standing on his hind feet, and turning his headfrom one side to the other, thrusting out his nose in an odd way, asthough he might be sniffing the air in order to locate the place wherethe food was kept.
It began to strike Thad as really comical, now that his own little panicwas in the past. He also noticed certain things that had not appealed tohim before, no doubt chiefly because he was too busy at the time to payattention.
But fancy the horror of poor Bumpus when, raising his head presently,consumed by a horrible fascination he could not control, he actually sawthe bear _looking straight at him_! That settled it, and he just knewthat the savage beast had already picked him out as a tender morsel. Oh!why was he so unlucky as to be born to plumpness? If only he could bemore like the skinny Giraffe, or Step-hen, perhaps this awful beastwould have passed him by.
He let out a roar as he saw the bear start toward him another step,moving his forepaws as though growing anxious to embrace him.
"Keep away! Just you try to get one of them other fellows! They're theones you want, not me, I tell you. Scat! Get out!"
But the bear only advanced still another half hesitating step, andBumpus, unable to look longer, wriggled vainly in the endeavor towithdraw within the shelter of the tent, and then dropped his face tothe earth again.
He believed that his time had come, and he might as well be saying hisprayers before he made a late supper for a wild bear.
About this time a glimmer of the truth began to work in upon Thad'sbrain. He realized in the first place that no ordinary bear of the wildwoods would act in this remarkable fashion. No doubt, had it venturedinto the camp at all, it would have come on all four legs, "woofing" itsdispleasure that human beings had disturbed the loneliness of itshaunts.
And by the way, as a rule wild bears were not in the habit of goingaround dangling chains behind them, which was just what he discoveredthis animal did. He had heard the peculiar jangling sound as the beastfirst rushed the camp; but at the time was hardly stopping toinvestigate its cause.
And perhaps that wa
s why Allan was laughing to himself, rather thanbecause of the queer looks of the party perched in the surroundingtrees. He had already guessed the truth.
But the situation afforded no comfort to those other boys who stared,and wondered what under the sun they could do if the creature selectedtheir tree to climb. Most of them were trying to remember whether bearsreally did climb trees or not; and hoping that because this one seemeddifferent from the common black American bear, he might not be able todo much in that line.
He still stood there, erect, sniffing to the right and to the left.Why, now that Thad had guessed the secret, he could see something almostpitiful in the begging attitude of the poor bear. No doubt the animalwas very hungry, and did not know how to go about finding his own meals,he had been accustomed to having them brought to him in the shape ofhunks of bread or such things, most of his life.
Thad had a sudden brilliant idea. He saw a chance to have a little fun,and give his frightened companions an opportunity to further expresstheir surprise.
When poor Bumpus tried to escape in such a clumsy fashion that hetripped over the stretched guy rope of a tent, he had let go his belovedbugle. What was music to a fellow when his existence hung in thebalance. He could get another horn, but never another life.
Thad had by chance discovered the shining bugle even while on his way tothe friendly tree, and had snatched it up; mechanically perhaps, for hecould not have entertained any fear lest the bear would swallow such athing.
At any rate he had it in his possession right then, and being able toplay a little, he put it to his lips and trilled a few bars of a dittythat sounded like a queer sort of a waltz. And to the utter amazement ofhis companions the bear immediately started to tread a lively measurewith his two hind feet, extending his shorter forepaws as thoughholding a pole.
In future years no doubt the thought of that strange picture would neverappeal to Thad Brewster without exciting his laughter; for it wascertainly one of the most comical things that could be imagined.