He instantly gesticulated
for her to keep out of sight.
"You have done a silly thing, Nellie," said he, impatiently; "the bear
is sure to see you, and if he does, it will be the last of you."
"But I don't mean he shall see me," said the brave but not very prudent
girl; "if he looks around, why I'll dodge my head back--My gracious!
he's looking now!"
And Nellie threw her head so far from the side around which she was
peeping, that, if the bear had looked sharp, he would have detected the
somewhat bedraggled hat on the other side of the charred trunk.
Nick called to her to be more careful, as he plainly discerned her hat,
and the head-gear vanished.
The lad's fear was now on account of his sister, for he knew that so
long as he himself could maintain his position in the tree, so long was
he safe. The bear species cannot climb trees whose trunks are so small
that their claws meet around them, and although this brute scratched at
the sapling as though he meditated an attempt, yet he made none, but sat
still, looking wistfully upward, and probably hopeful that the boy
perched there would soon come down.
"Keep yourself out of sight!" called Nick to Nellie, "for you can't do
anything to help me."
The girl understood this, and she began to believe, with Nick, that she
had done an exceedingly foolish thing in venturing into the bear's field
of vision in this fashion.
And what was to be the end of this singular and most uncomfortable
condition of affairs?
CHAPTER XXXIX.
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