ever been placed.

The little one was making her way as best she could along the stream in
the direction of the bridge, when she was frightened almost out of her
senses by hearing a loud, sniffing growl from some point just ahead of
her.

It was a sound that would have startled the bravest man, and Nellie was
transfixed for the moment. She did not turn and run, nor did she sink in
a swoon to the ground, but she stood just where she had stopped, until
she could find out what it meant.

She was not kept long in waiting, for in less than a minute the noise
was repeated, and at the same moment she caught the outlines of a huge
black bear swinging along toward her. He was coming down the bed of the
creek, with his awkward, ponderous tread, and when seen by Nellie was
within fifty feet of her.

When it is remembered that he was of unusual size and proceeding
straight toward the child, it seems impossible that she should have done
anything at all to help herself. The sight was enough to deprive her of
the power of motion and speech.

But it was in such a crisis as this that little Nellie Ribsam showed
that she had not forgotten the teaching of her parents: "God helps them
that help themselves."

With scarcely a second's pause, she whirled on her heel and dashed down
the stream with the utmost speed at her command.

The bear could not have failed to see her, though it is not to be
supposed that he was looking for the little girl when he first came
that way. Furthermore, had the chase lasted several minutes Nellie must
have fallen a victim to the savage animal.

It required no instruction to teach her that there was but one way in
which she could escape, and that was by climbing a tree. Had there been
a large one near at hand she would have ascended that as quickly as
possible; but, fortunately, the first one to which she fled was a
sapling, no larger than those she had climbed during the afternoon, and
no one could have clambered to the highest point attainable quicker than
did the frightened little girl.

Had she been a veteran hunter, Nellie could not have made a better
selection, for she was fully twenty feet from the ground, and as much
beyond the reach of the bear as though she were in her trundle-bed at
home.

But the position was a frightful one to her, and for several minutes she
believed the animal would tear the tree down and destroy her.

"I have done all I can for myself," she murmured, recalling the