He did not seem to notice the girl, but when he began lumbering toward her, as if seeking a good spot where he might enter the pond, Nellie did not stay on the order of her going, but fled from the new peril, hardly conscious of what direction she took.  She knew better than to venture among the blazing trees from which she and her brother had had such a narrow escape, and she sped forward around the lake until she reached a point nearly opposite.  On the way she never looked behind her once, certain as she was that the creature was ready to seize and devour her.

She was sure she heard him crashing almost upon her heels; but when she paused, and finally turned her frightened looks backward, nothing of the brute was to be seen, and she did not know what had become of him.

“That’s the other bear which Mrs. Fowler saw, and which she told Sam Harper, Herbert Watrous, and me, we would see some time or other.”

“But that was almost two years ago.”

“I know that; don’t you suppose a bear will keep that long?  This one has known enough to stay out of sight until the fire has forced him from his hiding-place.”

After Nellie had heard her brother call to her, she was fearful that if she answered she would betray herself to the brute, who would instantly make for her; so she held her peace, even though she saw nothing of the bear, and venturing on a rather feeble answer when the tones of Nick told how much apprehension he was suffering over his failure to find her.

Now that the two were on the raft, which was shoved out in the deep water, something like confidence came back to her, and she was willing to talk about the beast.

“I can’t imagine what has become of him,” said the brother, after her story was told; “from what I have heard and read, the bear is not afraid of water, and they often go in to bathe, just like us boys, for the fun of the thing.  I don’t see why he should have waited when he had the fire to urge him on.”

“Maybe he is swimming around the lake now,” whispered Nellie, looking over as much of the surface as was visible through the hot smoke.

“I shouldn’t be surprised, though it is odd that I did not see him,” said Nick, pressing his pole against the bottom; “he is not far off, you may depend.”

“There! didn’t you hear him?” asked Nellie, a moment later, as something like the grunt of a huge hog alarmed both brother and sister.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

AN UNWELCOME PASSENGER.

A second time a loud snort was heard, as though some large animal were blowing the water from his nostrils, and at the same instant Nick and Nellie caught sight of the huge snout of the bear coming through the water toward them.

He was making directly for the raft beyond all question.

“By jingo, this raft wasn’t built to carry bears!” exclaimed the startled lad, who used the pole with all the strength of which he was master; but, unfortunately, the bottom of the pond was composed of slippery rocks in many places, and the blunt end of the crooked limb slid along the upper surface of one of these so quickly that Nick dropped on his side and came within a hair’s breadth of rolling overboard.