THE DANCING BEAR.
The excited announcement made by Davy Jones was instantly succeeded by
such a mad scramble as those boys had certainly never witnessed before
in all their lives. Indeed, none of them saw more than a very small
proportion of the queer sights that took place, and for a very good
reason; because every single fellow was more concerned about reaching a
place of safety than anything else.
Davy gained his tree in about five mad leaps, and the way he mounted up
among the convenient branches would have made a monkey turn green with
envy. There was Giraffe also, who had very good luck in picking out a
tree that offered easy stages for climbing, in that the branches began
fairly close to the ground.
Thad and Allan just happened to choose the same resting-place, and met
as they began to mount upward. Still, as they seemed to have forgotten
an important engagement above, they did not stop to enter into any
conversation just then. There was no telling which one of the crowd the
invader might have selected for his victim, and each boy imagined that
he 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 had
had the advantage of sighting the bear first; but that did not go very
far toward counteracting his unwieldy heft, and his clumsy way of always
finding something to stumble over.
True to his habits, Bumpus tripped over one of the guy ropes holding a
tent in taut shape. He rolled over with a howl of fright, fancying that
now he was surely bound to become bear's meat; for you see poor Bumpus
had considerable to learn about the woods animals, or he would have
known that as a rule the American black bear lives on roots and nuts and
berries, 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 be
eaten, not if he could do anything whatever to prevent such a vacancy in
the Hawtree family. As he struck the ground he began revolving rapidly.
No doubt it was rather like a barrel rolling, for Bumpus was quite
round.
This sort of thing quickly brought him up against the other tent. He had
not meant to make for it, but as soon as his second or third revolution
brought his clutching hands in contact with the canvas, Bumpus had a
brilliant idea. It was not often that he could boast of such an
inspiration; but then a fellow may even surprise himself when the
necessity is great.
If he could only tear away one or two of the loops that were fastened to
ground stakes, what was to hinder him from pushing his way into the
tent, and possibly hiding under some of the blankets?
Eagerly he jerked at the nearest one; and fortunately it seemed to be a
trifle loose, for it came free in his hands. But try as he would he
failed to budge the next stake, which had taken a firm hold.
In a panic, when he saw the walking bear still drawing nearer, poor
Bumpus managed to push his legs under the lower rim of the tightly
stretched canvas. Only the lower half of him could find admittance; the
balance was of such larger girth that in spite of his frantic labor he
could not push under the tent.
There he lay, one half of him safe, and the other exposed to all the
peril. He dropped his face on the grass. Perhaps it was to shut out the
terrible sight; or it may have been that Bumpus was like the foolish
ostrich, which, upon being hotly chased, will thrust its head into a
tuft of grass, and imagine itself hidden from the foe simply because it
cannot see anything.
The others? Well, the boy from the Blue ridge proved himself no mean
sprinter when a real live bear threatened to embrace him; for he had
managed to clamber up a tree with more or less difficulty, and was even
then astride a limb.
There was Step-hen on the other side of the same friendly oak, breathing
hard, and casting frequent looks aloft, as though considering whether it
might not be a wise thing to mount upward, so as not to attract the
attention of the bear towards himself.
Smithy was perhaps almost as badly frightened as Bumpus, only he did not
meet with the series of mishaps that befell the fat boy.
Like the balance of the covey the "particular" boy made a bee-line for
the 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 they
would have discovered that for once he did not even think of stopping to
brush his hair, or pick his steps. Barefooted as he was, he dashed over
the intervening ground, and hugged the trunk of his tree with a zeal
that spoke well for his activity.
And now they were all securely seated in various attitudes, breathing
hard, and gazing at the invader with various emotions. Some still had
their hearts going after the fashion of trip-hammers; others were
beginning to see the funny side of the affair, and chuckle a little,
even though confessing that they too had been more or less alarmed at
the unexpected call of Bruin.
Of course Allan and Thad belonged to this latter class, partly because
they were built a little differently from their comrades in the Silver
Fox 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 Allan
Hollister had found himself chased by one of the hairy tribe.
All this, which has taken so long to describe, really happened in a bare
minute of time. When Thad reached a safe perch on a friendly limb, and
looked around at the strange fruit those neighboring trees had suddenly
taken to bearing, it was really little wonder that he felt like
laughing. Some were clad in red, others blue; while a few had the gayest
stripes running in circles or lengthwise throughout their pajamas.
What was this to a hungry bear? Absolutely nothing; and doubtless the
invader of the first camp of the Boy Scouts saw little that appeared
humorous in the situation. He had entered in a friendly way, expecting
to 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 at
all. He still remained standing on his hind feet, and turning his head
from one side to the other, thrusting out his nose in an odd way, as
though he might be sniffing the air in order to locate the place where
the food was kept.
It began to strike Thad as really comical, now that his own little panic
was in the past. He also noticed certain things that had not appealed to
him before, no doubt chiefly because he was too busy at the time to pay
attention.
But fancy the horror of poor Bumpus when, raising his head presently,
consumed by a horrible fascination he could not control, he actually saw
the bear _looking straight at him_! That settled it, and he just knew
that 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 be
more like the skinny Giraffe, or Step-hen, perhaps this awful beast
would 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 the
ones you want, not me, I tell you. Scat! Get out!"
But the bear only advanced still another half hesitating step, and
Bumpus, unable to look longer, wriggled vainly in the endeavor to
withdraw within the shelter of the tent, and then dropped his face to
the earth again.
He believed that his time had come, and he might as well be saying his
prayers before he made a late supper for a wild bear.
About this time a glimmer of the truth began to work in upon Thad's
brain. He realized in the first place that no ordinary bear of the wild
woods would act in this remarkable fashion. No doubt, had it ventured
into the camp at all, it would have come on all four legs, "woofing" its
displeasure that human beings had disturbed the loneliness of its
haunts.
And by the way, as a rule wild bears were not in the habit of going
around dangling chains behind them, which was just what he discovered
this animal did. He had heard the peculiar jangling sound as the beast
first rushed the camp; but at the time was hardly stopping to
investigate its cause.
And perhaps that was why Allan was laughing to himself, rather than
because of the queer looks of the party perched in the surrounding
trees. 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 selected
their tree to climb. Most of them were trying to remember whether bears
really did climb trees or not; and hoping that because this one seemed
different from the common black American bear, he might not be able to
do 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 almost
pitiful in the begging attitude of the poor bear. No doubt the animal
was 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 of
hunks 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 express
their surprise.
When poor Bumpus tried to escape in such a clumsy fashion that he
tripped over the stretched guy rope of a tent, he had let go his beloved
bugle. What was music to a fellow when his existence hung in the
balance. He could get another horn, but never another life.
Thad had by chance discovered the shining bugle even while on his way to
the friendly tree, and had snatched it up; mechanically perhaps, for he
could not have entertained any fear lest the bear would swallow such a
thing.
At any rate he had it in his possession right then, and being able to
play a little, he put it to his lips and trilled a few bars of a ditty
that sounded like a queer sort of a waltz. And to the utter amazement of
his companions the bear immediately started to tread a lively measure
with his two hind feet, extending his shorter forepaws as though
holding a pole.
In future years no doubt the thought of that strange picture would never
appeal to Thad Brewster without exciting his laughter; for it was
certainly one of the most comical things that could be imagined.