“There’s one thing sure,” said Nick, when he found himself able to speak with some degree of comfort.

“What is that?” asked his sister.

“This will gradually get better and better.”

“I don’t see how it can get any worse,” was the truthful answer of Nellie, who felt as though she had stood all she could bear.

Since the danger of being caught in the flames was gone, the two were at liberty to venture in any direction they chose.

“We’ll make the start, any way!” said Nick, with his old resolution of manner; “keep close to me, and, if you see any new bears, don’t run into the woods to hide without saying something to me.”

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

BEAR AND FORBEAR.

“See here,” said Nick Ribsam, stopping suddenly, after taking only a few steps, “I don’t like this idea of going home and leaving so many of my clothes behind.  That’s a good coat and vest, and the hat is my Sunday one.”

“You ain’t going back to get them, Nick, when the bear is waiting for you!” exclaimed the sister; “if you do, I just think you haven’t got any sense at all—­now there! that’s all there is about that.”

This was a severe denunciation, but it did not deter the lad from turning directly about and hurrying to the spot where he had landed, when forced to help Nellie ashore.

A strong breeze was still blowing, so that the craft, whether the bear was clinging to it or not, would be sure to come to land again.  Nick did not know that the animal had left it, and he was not foolish enough to invite the beast to assail him.

The logs, relieved from their burden, were floating over the surface, and the lad caught sight of them but a short distance off, steadily approaching the shore.

“The raft must have gone under with the coat, vest, and hat,” he said, watching the floating mass, “and I should think my clothes would have been lost; but there is something on the logs that looks like my coat and vest.  It would be odd if they had kept their place.”

Naturally, the whole attention of Nick was absorbed in this matter; and, when he found that the wind was carrying the raft and its freight toward another point, he moved along the margin so as to anticipate its arrival.

As he did so, like the renowned Captain John Smith when pursued by Powhatan’s warriors, he paid no attention to where his feet led him.  He was studying the raft, as best he could through the smoky darkness, and, knowing the shore as well as he did, he saw no need of looking downward.

All at once his feet struck a large, soft mass, and, before he could check himself, he pitched headlong over it, as though it were a bale of cloth in his path.  The nimble boy was on his feet like a flash, and, quick as he was, he was not a moment too soon.

He had caught the ominous growl, and he knew the bear had got in his way again, as it had persisted in doing before.