scend and punish the
"enemy in the rear," or keep on after Basil. The rattling of the latter
among the branches above decided her, and on she crawled upward.

Basil was almost as active among the branches of a tree as a squirrel or
a monkey. When about sixty feet from the ground, he crawled out upon a
long limb that grew horizontally. He chose this one, because he saw
another growing above it, which he thought he might reach as soon as the
bear followed him out upon the first; and by this means get back to the
main trunk before the bear, and down to the ground again. After getting
out upon the limb, however, he saw that he had miscalculated. The
branch upon which he was, bending down under his weight, so widened the
distance between it and the one above, that he could not reach the
latter, even with the tips of his fingers. He turned to go back. To
his horror the bear was at the other end in the fork, and _preparing to
follow him along the limb_!

He could not go back without meeting the fierce brute in the teeth.
There was no branch below within his reach, and none above, and he was
fifty feet from the ground. To leap down appeared the only alternative
to escape the clutches of the bear, and that alternative was certain
death!

The bear advanced along the limb. Francois and Lucien screamed below,
loading their pieces as rapidly as they could; but they feared they
would be too late.

It was a terrible situation; but it was in such emergencies that the
strong mind of Basil best displayed itself; and, instead of yielding to
despair, he appeared cool and collected. His mind was busy examining
every chance that offered.

All at once a thought struck him; and, obedient to its impulse, he
called to his brothers below,--

"A rope! a rope! Fling me a rope! Haste! for heaven's sake haste! a
rope, or I am lost!"

Fortunately, there lay a rope under the tree. It was a raw-hide lasso,
used in packing Jeanette. It lay by the spot where they had slept.

Lucien dropped his half-loaded rifle, and sprang towards it, coiling it
as he took it up. Lucien could throw a lasso almost as well as Basil
himself; and that was equal to a Mexican "vaquero" or a "gaucho" of the
Pampas. He ran nearly under the limb, twirled the lasso around his
head, and launched it upwards.

Basil, to gain time, had crept out upon the limb as far as it would bear
him, while his fierce pursuer followed after. The branch, under their
unite