“There!” he exclaimed triumphantly.  “Didn’t I tell you I could do it?”

“You said you could,” answered Thede, “but I didn’t believe it!”

“Look here,” Tommy said in a minute, sheltering his face from the smoke.  “First thing we know, we’ll have this whole blooming tree on fire.”

“If it gets good and hot, we can fry fish after the bears go away,” suggested Thede.  “I’m hungry!  By the way,” he added with a grin, “where are those fish?”

“Do you think I brought ’em up in the tree?” demanded Sandy.

“You never left ’em down there?” asked Thede.

“Didn’t I?” exclaimed Sandy.  “What did you do with the ones you were carrying?”

“Why,” replied Thede, “I guess I left ’em in the thicket where we stood when we made a hop-skip-and-jump for the tree.”

“We certainly are a bright mess!” cried Sandy.

“Say,” Thede said in a moment, “I’ll just bet that’s what kept the bears so still while we’ve been up here building the fire.  They’ve been eating our fish!  That’s why we couldn’t get sight of them!”

“Can you see the bears now?” asked Sandy.  “I’m sure I can’t!”

“They’re still back in there eating our trout!’ wailed Thede.

“Unless you want a leg burned off,” advised Sandy, “you’d better work around on another limb!”

“Aw, this limb is all right!” argued Thede.

The light from the fire now illuminated quite a little circle around the tree, and the boys saw 0je sliding cautiously down the trunk of the tree where he had taken refuge.

“He’s after his gun!” declared Sandy.  “Just watch out and you’ll see him get one of those bears!”

Oje certainly was after his rifle, for he slid down cautiously, keeping the bole of the tree between himself and the bears.

Much to the surprise of the lads, the Indian did not again climb into the shelter of the branches.  Instead, he stood peering around the trunk of the tree as if waiting for the wild animals to make their appearance.  The flame blazed higher and higher and the boys began to feel uncomfortable.

“I’ll bet there ain’t any bears here!” Sandy exclaimed after a moment’s silence.  “I guess we run away from a rabbit!”

“I guess we didn’t!” insisted Thede.

The boy’s opinion was verified a moment later by the appearance of three shambling figures in the lighted zone.  The bear is noted for his curiosity, and the boys realized, too, that the feast of fish must have been devoured.

“We might have sneaked away while they were eating that fine supper!” Sandy said, in a tone of disgust.  “I think we ought to have medals made out of a cow’s ear!  That would be a good medal, wouldn’t it, for boys who showed such courage in the face of the enemy?”

“Never you mind!” Thede answered.  “I guess the bears are next to their job.  We wouldn’t have gone far before they’d been after us.”