Without thought of fear the girl ran stumbling along after the galloping beast.  Guardians and girls were rushing from the tents on all sides, crying out to know what had happened.  They saw Harriet running, before they caught sight of the strange beast that was making such strenuous efforts to get away.  When they did catch sight of Mr. Bruin as he dashed past the fire, there was a chorus of shrieks that not only awakened Jasper whose tent was some distance further to the north than the last tent of the row occupied by the girls, but brought him out without his boots on.  Jasper was no coward.  He was more afraid of the Camp Girls than of any animal that inhabited the Pocono Woods.  Armed with an axe Jasper, his whiskers standing out almost at right angles to his body, charged on the camp.  He had no idea what had occurred, but he knew it must be something very serious to cause the frightful uproar that now came from all sides.

Harriet continued right on.  The bear, seeing the girls ahead of him, and being frightened by their screams, turned tail and took the back trail.  By that time Harriet had reached the fire.  She snatched up a burning brand.  She was upon the bear before it realized its peril.  Harriet seeing it so close to her thought the bear was chasing her.  She struck out with the burning fagot with all the force of a muscular arm.  The burning stick hit the bear on the nose.

A frightful howl of pain followed.  Harriet leaped back amazed at her own courage.  Perhaps some of it was impulse.  She decided next day that it must have been that.  Then a new sound reached her ears.

“Oh, mercy on us!  Trouble, trouble!” yelled Crazy Jane.  With one rung from a broken chair that Jane had picked up and tucked under her cot for emergencies, she came charging down the street just in time to see Harriet give Mr. Bruin the rap on the nose.  It was then she uttered the exclamation that Harriet heard.

Jane was rushing toward the bear from the rear, while Harriet was also attacking it from the rear, while Jasper stood some distance from the nearest girl, which in this case was Crazy Jane.  Guardians were crying out to Harriet and Jane to run.  They did run, toward the intruder, rather than away from the beast.  Bruin became confused.  He was a young bear.  An older or more wary animal might not have ventured into the camp where it knew there were human beings as this bear’s scent surely must have told it.  Perhaps it scented something good to eat.  It was in a panic at the present moment and went into a worse one after a rap from the hard wood chair rung in the hands of Crazy Jane McCarthy.  Jane was doing a great deal of shouting, too.  The two girls continued to chase the beast around the campfire.  Jasper was bearing down on them, having discovered where the trouble lay.

“Run, you kids!  It’s a b’ar!” he yelled.  “No, hold him till I git thar.”

“Yes, we’ll hold him,” flung back Jane.