d the meaning of the signal. It was imperative
that the bear's attention should be centered on himself alone. The only
thing he found in his pocket was a jack-knife, but he threw this with
such precision that it struck the bear full on the point of the nose and
evoked a roar of fury. A shower of twigs and branches added insult to
injury, until the great beast was beside himself with rage. He had no
thought or eyes or ears for anything but Bert.

And now the whippoorwill was close at hand.

Two spurts of flame leaped from the forest on the right. With a ferocious
snarl the grizzly whirled about in the direction of the shots. As he did
so two more bullets plowed their way into his breast. He tore savagely at
the wounds, and then plunged fiercely in the direction of his unseen
foes.

But his hour had struck. Another volley halted him in his tracks. He
sagged, coughed, and fell in a crumpled mass to the ground.

With a wild hurrah, Dick and Tom broke from cover, dropped their guns and
threw their arms about Bert, who had slid down to the foot of the tree.

The strain had been so great and the reaction was so tremendous that none
of them for a moment knew what he was doing. They shouted, laughed and
grasped each others' hands, too excited for coherent speech. They had
been through many perils together, but none so great and terrible as
this. And now all three were together again, safe and sound, and the
grizzly----

"Look out," screamed Bert, his face going white.

They jumped as though they had been shot.

Not ten feet away was the grizzly coming down on them like a locomotive.
His mouth was open, his eyes blazing, and with the blood flowing from
his wounds he made a hideous picture as he rushed forward. They had
forgotten to reckon with the wonderful tenacity of life that makes a
grizzly bear the hardest thing in the world to kill. Six bullets were
embedded in his carcass and his life was ebbing. But his fiendish
ferocity was unimpaired, and he had gathered himself together for one
last onslaught.

There was no time to think, no chance to resist. The guns were on the
ground, and merely to stoop for them meant that the bear would be upon
them before they could rise. With one bound the boys leaped aside, and
scattered through the woods at the top of their speed.

The bear hesitated a second, as though undecided whom to follow, and then
put after Bert.

But it was a very different race this time from that of an h