tead of
again retreating into the forest, each shaking off his opponent rushed
to the nearest tree and began its ascent, one followed by two bears and
the other by one.

These two trees, up which the five bears were now climbing, happened to
be the ones in which Frank and Alec and their two Indian companions were
hid.

Bears are capital climbers, and these two fellows, stimulated by the
cuffs and bites of their antagonists behind them, made good time in the
ascent. Now, for the first time, the boys saw for what purpose they had
been armed with those handy birch clubs. A bear's tenderest spot is his
nose. This the Indians well know, and so, when they are chased by a
bear, always defend themselves by there striking him. A bear that will
stand heavy blows with a club on his skull, or shoulders, or even paws,
gives up the fight at once when rapped over the nose.

Secrecy was now no longer possible, and so the quiet command of the
Indians to the boys was:

"Hit them on the nose whenever you can."

The two angry bears were so taken up with the attack of their own
species behind them that they little imagined that there were enemies
above, and so about the first suspicions they had of the presence of the
boys and Indians were the smart raps they received on their noses.

Whack! whack! whack! fell the blows upon their snouts, and down they
dropped suddenly to the ground, each of them carrying with him an
assailant that happened to be just below him. The sudden discomfiture
of the bears brought a cheer from the boys. This, of course, startled
and excited the other bears, that were in a very pugnacious mood.

The two were additionally angry at the ugly blows that had met them, and
the other three fishermen seemed to imagine that fresh assailants were
there in the trees ready to come down and rob them of their supper of
fish. This they resolved to resist, and so the fight was on in good
earnest.

The Indians declare the bears know how to talk with each other; anyway,
these five seemed for the present to proclaim a truce among themselves,
that together they might attack their common foes, who were ensconced up
there above them in the trees.

Fortunate was it for our friends that the moon was now so high in the
heavens that they could see every movement of the bears as distinctly as
though it had been daylight. For a time the bears moved about excitedly
below them, and occasionally made a feint, as though they wer