they had waited more or less patiently for his reappearance.

Suddenly Dick started to his feet.

"What's that?" he cried, pointing to the woods near the water's edge.

"Where?" exclaimed Tom, startled out of his usual calm by the evident
alarm in Dick's voice.

"In that big clump of trees over to the right," was the answer, and then
his voice rose to a shout: "Great Scott! It's a grizzly."

"And there comes Bert," yelled Tom. "Bert, Bert," they shouted wildly,
rushing down to the shore and waving their hands frantically.

They had seen Bert dart off into the woods with the bear in hot pursuit,
but the outcome of the chase had been hidden from their view. They did
not dare to think of what might have happened, and they looked at each
other in helpless anguish.

"Quick!" yelled Dick, wrenching himself loose from the paralysis that had
seized him. "A raft. We've got to get over there with the guns. We've
got a paddle left and we can push ourselves over. Oh, Bert, Bert!" he
groaned.

But Tom intervened.

"No good," he said hurriedly. "It'll take too long to make it and we'd be
too slow in getting across. The canoe's our only chance. You get the guns
ready."