hile another had lodged on his hind quarters. He
fairly lost his temper and spun round and round, snapping
viciously at his encumbrances. The girl laughed as she
had not laughed for many a long day. To see the dignified
animal make such an exhibition of himself over a trifle
of this sort was too ludicrous. But at last he managed
to get rid of the hoops, stood erect on his hind legs,
and then waddled clumsily towards the hut.

Dorothy was not a little alarmed now, for his huge forepaws
were on a level with the eaves, while his blunt, black
snout was quite several inches above the sod roof. What
if he could manage to spring on to it after all! He opened
his mouth, and she could see his cruel yellow jagged
teeth and the grey-ribbed roof of his mouth. He moved
his head about and seemed preparing for a spring. Dorothy
raised the stout pole high above her head with both hands,
and, with all the strength that was in her supple frame,
brought it down crash upon the brute's head.

Bruin must assuredly have seen stars, and thought that
a small pine tree had fallen on him, for he dropped on
all-fours again with his ideas considerably mixed--so
mixed, indeed, that he had not even the sense to go round
to the other side of the house, where there was a huge
snowdrift by which he might possibly have reached the
roof. But, being a persevering bear, and having a tolerably
thick head, not to speak of a pressing appetite, he again
reared himself against the log wall with the intention
of scrambling up. On each occasion that he did this,
however, the girl brought the influence of the pole to
bear upon him, causing him to change his mind. Dorothy
began to wonder if it were possible that a blacksmith's
anvil could be as hard as a bear's skull.

But at last Bruin grew as tired of the futile game as
Dorothy of whacking at him with the pole, and, disgusted
with his luck and with himself, withdrew to the
neighbourhood of the corral fence, either to wait until
the girl came down, or to think out a new plan of campaign.

As for Dorothy, she seated herself as best she could on
an old tin that had once contained biscuits, and which,
with various other useless articles, littered the roof.
She was quite comfortable, and the sun was warm--in fact,
almost too much so. She was conscious, indeed, that her
moccasins were damp. In future she would wear leather
boots with goloshes over them during the day, and only
put on moccasins when it became