like a flash and plunged
at the side of the pit, trying to reach the top with a single leap. It
fell short, and came down in a cloud of snow.

Fred had got clear from the encumbering bag by this time, and
floundered out of the pit without knowing exactly how he did it. He
found Maurice close behind him. Peter missed his footing and tumbled
back with a horrified yell, and Maurice seized him by the leg as he
went down and dragged him back bodily.

Before they recovered from their panic they bolted several yards away,
plunging knee-deep in the drifts, and then Peter stopped.

"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "It isn't after us!"

"But what was it?" stammered Maurice, out of breath.

Looking back, they could see nothing but the faint glow from the
scattered brands. But they could not overlook the whole interior of
the camp, where the intruder must be now lying quiet.

Trying to collect himself, Fred told how he had been awakened.

"It came straight out of the fire!" he declared.

"Out of the log, I guess," said Peter. "Here, I know what it must be.
It's simply a bear!"

"A bear!" ejaculated Fred.

"Yes, a bear, that must have had his winter den in that big log. He
was hibernating there, and our fire burned into his den and roused him
out. That's all."

"Quite enough, I should think," said Maurice. "Bears are ugly-tempered
when they're disturbed from their winter dens, I've heard. He's got
possession of our camp, now. What'll we do?"

"We'll freeze if we don't do something pretty quick," Fred added.

In fact the boys were standing in stockinged feet in the snow, and the
night was bitterly cold. All looked quiet in what they could see of
the camp.

"I don't see why one of us hadn't the wit to grab a gun!" said Peter
bitterly.

He turned and began to wade back cautiously toward the camp. The other
boys followed him, till they were close enough to look into the pit.
No animal was in sight.

"Perhaps he's bolted out the other side," muttered Peter. "Who's going
to go down there and find out?"

Nobody volunteered. If the bear was still in the camp he must be under
the roofed-over shelter, and, in fact, as they stood shivering and
listening they heard a sound of stirring about under the cedar poles of
the roof.

"He's there!" exclaimed Fred.

"And eating up our stores, as like as not!" cried Maurice.

This made the case considerably more serious.

"We must get him out of that!" Macgregor exclaim