nd that
was not big enough for his nose, sharp as it was. Bruin was fairly `in
the trap.'

"I knew that Mary and the rest would be uneasy about us; and I ran out
to the glade to make known our success. The boys cheered loudly; and we
all returned together to the tree, as there was now no danger--no more
than if there hadn't been a bear nearer to us than the North Pole.

"We had him safe, so that there was no fear of his escaping. But how
were we to get at him?--for we had determined to take his life. Such a
fierce creature as this must not be allowed to get off; as he would soon
have settled with one of us, had he met us on anything like equal terms.
I had thought, at first, he might be a grizzly bear, and this had
terrified me the more--for the killing of one of these fierce animals
with a shot is next to an impossibility. When I reflected, however, I
knew it could not be this; for the `grizzly,' unlike his sable cousin,
is not a tree-climber. It was the black bear, then, that we had got in
the tree.

"But how were we to reach him? Leave him where he was, and let him
starve to death? No, that would never do. He would eat all the fine
stock of honey; if, indeed, he had not done so already. Moreover, he
might scrape his way out, by enlarging the bee-hole. This he could do
with his great sharp claws. We must therefore adopt some other plan.

"It occurred to us that it was just probable he might be down at the
bottom, poking his nose against the coats. We could not tell, for there
was no longer any growling. He was either too angry, or too badly
scared to growl--we could not say which. At all events, he was not
uttering a sound. He might, nevertheless, be as close to us at the
moment as he could get. If so, our plan would be to cut a small hole in
the tree above him, so that we might reach him with a bullet from the
rifle. This plan was adopted, and Cudjo set to work to make the hole.

"In a few minutes the thin shell was penetrated, and we could see into
the cavity. Bruin was nowhere visible--he was still up the tree. The
`taste of our quality,' which he had had on his first descent, had
evidently robbed him of all inclination to try a second. What next?

"`Smoke 'im!' cried Cudjo; `dat fotch 'im down.'

"The very thing: but how were we to do it? By pushing dead leaves and
grass through the hole Cudjo had cut, and then setting them on fire.
But our coats--they might be burned! These we could