then leaped to his feet. "Well,
I never! Give me a gun, quick! There's a bear!"

CHAPTER XIV

DELAYED BY A STORM

"A Bear!"

"Where is he?"

"Let me get my gun!"

Such were some of the exclamations uttered after Whopper made his
declaration that he had seen a bear. In the meantime the youth who
loved to tell big stories had caught up his shotgun and was aiming
it to the right of the watercourse, where there were several big
rocks overgrown with brushwood. He took aim and blazed away. A
grunt followed, and then came a thrashing in the bushes, growing
fainter and fainter in the distance.

"You hit him!" ejaculated Snap.

"Yes, but he is running away for all he's worth," answered Whopper,
disappointedly.

By this time every one of the young hunters had his firearm. The
boat was turned to the bank of the creek, and then each youth looked
at the others. Not a trace of the bear was to be seen anywhere.

"No use of going after him," said the doctor's son. "More than
likely he's half a mile away by this time and he'll be so shy he
won't let us get anywhere near him."

"If only we could have gotten a shot at him!" said Giant, wistfully.
"Think of bringing a bear down first lick!" And his eyes glistened.

"We might have crawled up on him, only I thought he saw us," explained
Whopper. "That's the reason I called for my gun."

"I guess he kind of scared you," said Snap.

"Well, I admit I was startled. I didn't think we'd find a bear along
here---I thought they hung up in the mountains."

"They may come down to gather some stuff that grows in this water,"
answered Snap. "They love to eat certain roots, so Jed Sanborn told
me, and sometimes they travel a long distance to get them."

After a little more talk the journey was resumed, and nothing out of
the ordinary came to their notice until late in the afternoon. Then
Shep, who was in the bow looking forward, held up his hand for silence.

"What is it?" whispered Giant, who was next to him.

"Some small animals squatting on yonder rocks," replied the doctor's
son. "I don't know what they are."

The young hunters stopped rowing and took up their shotguns with care.
They allowed the boat to drift behind a screen of bushes on the side
of the watercourse. Then they looked through the bushes with care.

"I know what they are---muskrats," whispered Giant.

"I see two of them," added Shep. He raised his gun and Giant did the
same. Bang!