Fortunately his rope was long.  He had taken a turn or two around a limb before making his cast, and he now held the bear taut, with ease.  The loose end dangled down the trunk.

“I don’t know about this,” said Charley with a wry face.  “It isn’t as simple as it looks.  I’ll have to unwind the rope from this limb and hold it with one hand while I throw the loose end with the other.  I don’t know whether I can do it or not.  And how am I to get the end again?”

“Can’t you catch it with your pole?”

Charley looked at the pole.  He had let go of it when he noosed the bear, but it had lodged in a branch within reach.

“Here goes,” he said.  “I’ll try.”

Cautiously he unwrapped one winding from the limb.  Then bracing himself, and pulling hard so as to keep the line taut, he unloosed the second coil.  The rope now hung free in his hand.  The bear was not quiet for a moment.  She had struggled constantly from the instant she was noosed.  She continued to tug and pull at the rope.  But she was at such a disadvantage that she could not put her full weight into her struggles.  Nevertheless the strain on Charley’s arm was terrific.  To lessen the tension would give the bear more leeway and so make the strain still greater.  And to hold the bear with one hand, while he cast his rope and got it in with the other, Charley at once saw was impossible.

“I can’t do it, Lew,” panted Charley.  “She’s nearly pulling my arm off.”

He gathered up the rope and put it back over the limb, preparatory to taking a turn about the branch once more.  While he was attempting to work the rope around the limb, the dog suddenly increased his clamor.

The bear gave a terrific, convulsive jerk on the rope and jerked it through Charley’s hand.  The sudden pull completely unbalanced him and he fell from the limb.  But instantly he tightened his clutch on the slipping rope and in a second was dangling in air, frightened but safe.  He slid to the ground, and drew the rope taut.  Now he had the rope over a limb, as he wanted it, but the limb was on the wrong tree.

“I’ll try it, anyway,” he said.

He tied the end of the rope about the trunk of the tree in which Lew and the bear rested.

“I’m going to pull her off her perch, Lew,” he cried.  “If I succeed, she’ll swing over toward the other tree.  I may be able to pull her up on her hind feet.  Anyway, I think I can hold her, and if you come down as quick as you can, the two of us can certainly pull her up.  Are you ready?”

Lew came down the tree as far as he dared.  “I’ll be with you the second she drops,” he said.  “Pull!”

Charley suddenly threw his entire weight on the rope.  The bear, taken by surprise, was jerked clear of the limb.  She dropped downward and then swung toward the other tree like an enormous pendulum.  Lew slid down the tree like a flash and landed in a heap beside Charley.  He was up in an instant, and, grabbing the rope, added his weight to Charley’s.  The bear was fairly on the ground, but almost straight under the limb over which the rope hung.  She was clawing frantically at the noose.