He was near the middle of the frozen current, so that it was prudent for them to turn to the right or left, and was proceeding at an easy pace, as if he was out for a midnight stroll, while he thought over matters.  Though one of the stupidest of animals, he was quick to hear the noise behind him and looked back to learn what it meant.

CHAPTER II.

A warning from the woods.

Monteith Sterry began drawing the mitten from his right hand with the intention of using his revolver on the bear, when he checked himself with the thought: 

“Better to wait until I need it; the most of this excursion is still before us.”

The lumbering brute came to a stop, with his huge head turned, and surveyed the approaching skaters.  Had they attempted to flee, or had they come to a halt, probably he would have started after them.  As it was he swung half-way round, so that his side was exposed.  He offered a fine target for Sterry’s weapon, but the young man still refrained from using it.

“It isn’t well to go too near him,” remarked Fred Whitney, seizing the arm of his sister and drawing her toward the shore on the left.

“I don’t mean to,” replied the bright-witted girl, “but if we turn away from him too soon he will be able to head us off; he mustn’t suspect what we intend to do.”

“There’s sense in that,” remarked Sterry, “but don’t wait too long.”

The three were skating close together, with their eyes on the big creature, who was watching them sharply.

“Now!” called Fred, in a low, quick voice.

He had not loosened his grip of his sister’s arm, so that when he made the turn she was forced to follow him.  The moment was well chosen, and the three swung to one side as if all were controlled by the single impulse.

Bruin must have been astonished; for, while waiting for his supper to drop into his arms, he saw it leaving him.  With an angry growl he began moving toward the laughing party.

The tinge of anxiety which Fred Whitney felt lasted but a moment.  He saw that they could skate faster than the bear could travel; and, had it been otherwise, no cause for fear would have existed, for, with the power to turn like a flash, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to elude the efforts of the animal to seize them.

They expected pursuit, and it looked for a minute as if they were not to be disappointed.  The animal headed in their direction with no inconsiderable speed, but, with more intelligence than his kind generally display, he abruptly stopped, turned aside, and disappeared in the wood before it could be said the race had really begun.

Jennie was the most disappointed of the three, for she had counted upon an adventure worth the telling, and here it was nipped in the bud.  She expressed her regret.

“There’s no helping it,” said Monteith, “for I can think of no inducement that will bring him back; but we have a good many miles before us, and it isn’t likely that he’s the only bear in this part of Maine.”