arly his turn now to play the part of spectator.

When Coxen looked down and saw his new foe his heart swelled with a
sense of injury. Were the creatures of the wilderness allied against
him? He was no coward, but he began to feel distinctly worried. The
thought that flashed across his mind was: "What'll happen to the team
if I don't get back to unharness them?" But meanwhile he was climbing
higher and higher, and looking out for a way of escape.

About halfway up the tree a long branch thrust itself forth till it
fairly overhung a thick young spruce. Out along this branch Coxen
worked his way carefully. By the time the bear had climbed to one end
of the branch, Coxen had reached the other. Here he paused, dreading
to let himself drop.

The bear came on cautiously; and the great branch bent low under his
weight, till Coxen was not more than a couple of feet from the top of
the young fir. Then, nervously letting go, he dropped, caught the
thick branches in his desperate clutch, and clung secure.

The big branch, thus suddenly freed of Coxen's substantial weight,
sprang back with such violence that the bear almost lost his hold.
Growling angrily, he scrambled back to the main trunk, down which he
began to lower himself, tail foremost.

From the business-like alacrity of the bear's movements, Coxen
realized that his respite was to be only temporary. He was not more
than twelve feet from the ground, and could easily have made his
escape while the bear was descending the other tree. But there below
was the buck, keeping an eye of alert interest on both bear and man.
Coxen had no mind to face those keen antlers and trampling hoofs. He
preferred to stay where he was and hope for some unexpected
intervention of fate. Like most backwoodsmen, he had a dry sense of
the ridiculous, and the gravity of his situation could not quite blind
him to the humour of it.

While Coxen was running over in his mind every conceivable scheme for
getting out of his dilemma, the last thing he would have thought of
actually happened. The buck lost interest in the man, and turned all
his attention to the bear, which was just now about seven or eight
feet from the ground, hugging the great trunk and letting himself down
carefully, like a small boy afraid of tearing his trousers.

It is possible that that particular buck may have had some old score
against the bears. If so, this must have seemed an excellent chance to
collect a little on account