A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place from his view.

He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had anticipated.

“Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to ignite them, and there’s no use waiting to see that,” he muttered.  “I will be well on my way to the railway station by that time.”

He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his conscience troubled him a little.

Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps behind him.

Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape?  No, it could not be.  Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid fashion.  Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder.  The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his lips.

In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror.

It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before he was recaptured.

This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked him for its prey.

His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom.

Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow.

The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects clearly distinct to his frightened gaze.

He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear.

He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain he dared not even pause to consider.

With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree.  Fright seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely distended jaws, reached the tree.

Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost leaving him as the animal’s roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear.