int to know what was passing through Lil Artha's mind; Landy
was not going to evade his share of the arduous labor forever.

It, doubtless, took considerable thinking and planning on the part of
Elmer to make sure they did not "repeat." So far, none of the boys
could say as they moved along that they had ever before seen the
stretch of water and scrubby shore, covered with trees and vines.

This spoke volumes for the smartness of the young patrol leader, though
somehow his chums did not seem to consider it such a wonderful feat for
Elmer. That is the penalty for being successful; others expect great
things from such a comrade, so that he is constantly put to his best
efforts to satisfy them.

It must have been quite some time, perhaps as much as two hours after
they had stopped to eat their lunch when without warning the swamp
explorers met with a surprise that gave them a new thrill.

At the time, Lil Artha happened to have passed a little in the lead,
though he would soon be dropping back again, especially when there came
a chance to make a mistake in direction, for he wanted Elmer to decide
such puzzles.

The tall scout must have forgotten his warning from Elmer, for he cried
out:

"Hey! everybody look what we're up against! A bear, Elmer, that's what
it is!"

CHAPTER IX

THE PERILS OF THE WATER LABYRINTH

"Silence, everybody!" hissed Elmer, who knew it would be just like
Toby, and perhaps some of the other fellows, to burst into a shout as
soon as they could get command of their voices.

It was certainly a bear, a small one to be sure, but genuine enough,
and not such as can be seen with wandering foreigners, taught to dance,
or wield a pole as a soldier would his musket.

Just when the scouts glimpsed the hairy denizen of Sassafras Swamp, he
was engaged in sitting on his haunches and gathering in the bushes with
his sturdy forelegs. To Lil Artha, it looked as though Bruin might be
making a lunch from the luscious, big blueberries that grew in such
abundance here and there through the swamp.

Up to the moment when Lil Artha thus called attention to the presence
of the black native, the bear must have been in ignorance of their
being so near at hand. When he did notice them, he simply gave a
disgusted grunt, and ambled away through the brush. Lil Artha always
declared the bear glanced back at them as he ran, and even put out his
tongue, just as if he knew it was the close season, and that a