Harriet undressed, keeping very quiet so as not to awaken the sleepers, then putting on her wrapper and her slippers ran out to her bed of pine boughs and tucked herself in.

“Oh, this is heavenly!” breathed Harriet.

The Meadow-Brook girl did not know when she went to sleep.  Slumber stole over her unawares.  Her sudden awakening however was both startling and abrupt.

Without moving, Harriet lay still, though a thrill had run through her.  She knew the reason for that thrill.  A distinct growl had brought her wide-awake.

“Mercy!  What is it?” she breathed, looking from side to side without making a movement that would cause the slightest sound.

A faint scratching noise to the right of her attracted her attention in that direction.  The shadows were deep on that side.  Harriet at first was able to make out nothing there, but she knew something was at work close by and believed it to be some sort of an animal.  Most girls would have screamed under similar conditions.  Harriet Burrell did not.  She lay perfectly still listening, with every faculty on the alert.

The scratching stopped instantly she had moved a little to get a better view of the spot where she had heard the noise.  Now came heavy breathing.

“What can it be?” whispered the girl.  “I—­I wish I had my shoes on—­no I don’t, I shouldn’t ran if I had.  But I’ll see if I can Blip my slippers on in case I do have to run,” she decided wisely.

The first movement toward putting on the slippers, which lay on the cot within easy reach of her hand, caused a commotion in the shadows.  There was a sudden movement, a half growl, then silence.

Harriet lay absolutely motionless.  Her breathing was scarcely perceptible.  Some animal lurched out of the shadows and for a moment stood with ears pricked up.  It was almost between the girl and the campfire.

“Oh, pshaw!  It’s a big dog,” she said aloud.  She did not stop to consider that it would be rather unusual to find a dog prowling about their camp so far from all human habitation.  Her words, however, appeared to have a most startling effect on the “dog.”  The animal suddenly gathered itself into a ball and leaped swiftly away, halting not more than twenty feet from where Harriet Burrell lay.  Then she saw that which sent a fresh thrill through her.

The animal was now standing squarely between herself and the campfire, giving the girl a clear outline view of it.  She saw with wide-open eyes that it was not a dog.

“A bear!” she gasped.

Harriet uttered a shrill scream that was heard all over the camp.  It was not exactly a cry of fear.  Rather was it intended to arouse the camp.  The scream served the purpose.  It aroused the camp.  Likewise did it arouse Mr. Bruin.  The bear started away at first at a swift amble which had increased to a gallop by the time Harriet had drawn on her slippers and leaped from the cot.