"
"Which shows I was some scared," and he smiled apologetically.
"But it's a worse one on Larry and me," protested Horace. "There's
some excuse for you. But the bear wasn't charging us."
"Oh, well there's no harm done," returned Larry, pleased at the
spirit Horace's words showed. "We can go back and get it. It's a
mighty good thing, though, that we thought of It before we reached
the ponies. From the looks of the sky and the shadows it won't be
long before dusk, and Mr. Wilder told us night comes quickly in the
mountains."
Ere Larry had finished speaking they had started back to the scene
of their encounter.
Yet when they reached the spot Tom's rifle was nowhere to be seen.
In dismay the boys looked at one another. Already the mountains
were turning purple-black in the twilight, the shadows transforming
the trees and rocks into weird figures.
"Perhaps it's under the bear," hazarded Horace, his low voice
evidencing the awe which the silence and the surroundings inspired
in him.
"Then give a hand while we move him," commanded Larry. "It won't
do to stay here long or we may lose our way as well as the rifle."
Little relishing the thought of wandering through the woods in the
dark, the boys seized one of the paws and pulled with all their
might.
But, to their surprise, they could move the carcass scarcely at all.
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