of the boat seemed delightful, and they were
really sorry when they found it was so late that they must camp for the
night.

They chose a pleasant sandy spot between the river and the edge of a
thick wood. The opposite bank was also thickly wooded, and they felt as
if they were in the depths of a wilderness, though in reality there were
houses quite near at hand. They pitched their tent, made a good
supper--of which they were in need, for they had eaten very little at
noon--and then "turned in."

For some reason--perhaps because the mosquitoes had so cruelly
maltreated him--Joe was not sleepy, and after having lain awake a long
time while the other boys were sleeping soundly, he began to feel
lonesome. He heard a great many mysterious noises, as any one who lies
awake in a tent always does. The melancholy call of the loon sounded
ghostly, and the sighing of the wind in the trees seemed to him like the
breathing of huge animals. After a while he found himself getting
nervous as well as lonesome, and imagined that he saw shadows of
strange objects passing in front of the tent. By-and-by he distinctly
heard the twigs and branches crackling, as somebody or something moved
through the woods. The noise came nearer, and suddenly it flashed upon
Joe that a bear was approaching. He crept carefully to the opening of
the tent, and putting his head out, saw indistinctly a large animal
moving slowly in the shadow of the bushes only three or four rods from
him.

Joe lost no time in waking up the other boys, cautioning them as he did
so not to make the least noise. "There's a bear close by the tent," he
whispered. "I've been listening to him for a long while, and just now I
saw him."

Harry immediately grasped the gun, both barrels of which he had loaded
before going to sleep. Tom wished that he had the hatchet, but as it had
been left in the boat, he had no weapon but his penknife. Thus armed,
the two crept stealthily out of the tent to fight the bear, leaving Joe
and Jim in a very unhappy state of mind, with nothing to defend
themselves against the bear, in case he should attack the tent, except a
tooth-brush and a lantern.

The outline of the animal could be seen, but Tom and Harry could not
make out which end of it was its head. "You must shoot him just behind
the shoulder," whispered Tom; "that's the only spot where you can kill a
bear." Harry said nothing, but watched carefully to see the animal move.
Presently it threw