l two yards long. Wondering that it had
not occurred to him before, he hastily undid it, lashed himself to the
branch as well as he could, and in a moment was sound asleep. This
device would have succeeded admirably had not one of his legs slowly
dropped so low down as to attract the notice of the bear when it awoke.
Rising to its full height on its hind legs, and protruding its tongue to
the utmost, it just managed to touch Tim's toe. The touch acted liked
an electric spark, awoke him at once, and the leg was drawn promptly up.

But Tim had had a nap, and it is wonderful how brief a slumber will
suffice to restore the energies of a man in robust health. He unlashed
himself.

"Good mornin' to 'ee," he said, looking down. "You're there yet, I
see."

He finished the salutation with a loud yawn, and stretched himself so
recklessly that he almost fell off the branch into the embrace of his
expectant foe. Then he looked round, and, reason having been restored,
hit upon a plan of escape which seemed to him hopeful.

We have said that the space he had selected was rather open, but there
were scattered over it several large masses of rock, about the size of
an ordinary cart, which had fallen from the neighbouring cliffs. Four
of these stood in a group at about fifty yards' distance from his tree.

"Now, old Caleb," he said, "I'll go in for it, neck or nothin'. You
tasted my toes this mornin'. Would you like to try 'em again?"

He lowered his foot as he spoke, as far down as he could reach. The
bear accepted the invitation at once, rose up, protruded his tongue as
before, and just managed to touch the toe. Now it is scarcely needful
to say that a strong man leading the life of a hunter in the Rocky
Mountains is an athlete. Tim thought no more of swinging himself up
into a tree by the muscular power of his arms than you would think of
stepping over a narrow ditch. When the bear was standing in its most
upright attitude, he suddenly swung down, held on to the branch with his
hands, and drove both his feet with such force against the bear's chin
that it lost its balance and fell over backwards with an angry growl.
At the same moment Tim dropped to the ground, and made for the fallen
rocks at a quicker rate than he had ever run before. Bruin scrambled to
his feet with amazing agility, looked round, saw the fugitive, and gave
chase. Darting past the first rock, it turned, but Little Tim, of
course, was not there.