ome
twenty or thirty feet.

Here he threw in his line, and soon was so busily engaged drawing out
sunfish and redeyes, and now and then a bass, which was hungry enough to
bite at a worm, that all thought of the bear went out of his mind.

After he had caught enough fish for a sumptuous dinner he bethought him
of going home, and as he turned toward the shore, imagine, if you can,
his consternation when he saw upon the bank, quietly watching him, a
huge black bear.

If the wildcat had seemed as large as a cow to Balser, of what size do
you suppose that bear appeared? A cow! An elephant, surely, was small
compared with the huge black fellow standing upon the bank.

It is true Balser had never seen an elephant, but his father had, and so
had his friend Tom Fox, who lived down the river; and they all agreed
that an elephant was "purt nigh as big as all outdoors."

The bear had a peculiar, determined expression about him that seemed to
say:

"That boy can't get away; he's out on the log where the water is deep,
and if he jumps into the river I can easily jump in after him and catch
him before he can swim a dozen strokes. He'll _have_ to come off the log
in a short time, and then I'll proceed to devour him."

About the same train of thought had also been rapidly passing through
Balser's mind. His gun was on the bank where he had left it, and in
order to reach it he would have to pass the bear. He dared not jump into
the water, for any attempt to escape on his part would bring the bear
upon him instantly. He was very much frightened, but, after all, was a
cool-headed little fellow for his age; so he concluded that he would not
press matters, as the bear did not seem inclined to do so, but so long
as the bear remained watching him on the bank would stay upon the log
where he was, and allow the enemy to eye him to his heart's content.

There they stood, the boy and the bear, each eyeing the other as though
they were the best of friends, and would like to eat each other, which,
in fact, was literally true.

Time sped very slowly for one of them, you may be sure; and it seemed to
Balser that he had been standing almost an age in the middle of Blue
River on that wretched shaking log, when he heard his mother's dinner
horn, reminding him that it was time to go home.

Balser quite agreed with his mother and gladly would he have gone, I
need not tell you; but there stood the bear, patient, determined, and
fierce; and Little