CONCLUSION.
For a half hour the situation remained unchanged. Nick Ribsam kept his
perch in the branches of the sapling, and, before the end of the time
named, he found the seat becoming so uncomfortable that he was sure he
could not bear it much longer.
The narrow limb on which he rested, while he held himself in place by
grasping the sapling itself, seemed to grow narrower and sharper, while
his own weight increased, until he believed it would be preferable to
let go and hang on with his hands.
It was not much better with Nellie, who had awakened to such a sense of
her position that she did not dare to do more than peep out from where
she stood, at rare intervals, quickly drawing back her head lest the
savage animal should see her.
The bear himself showed a patience which was astonishing, and was like
that of the Esquimau, who never stirs a muscle for hour after hour,
while sitting beside the air-hole in the ice, waiting for the seal to
show his nose above the surface.
Bruin moved more slightly now and then, but went no more than a dozen
yards from the tree, and seemed never to take his eyes from his victim
for more than a second or two.
During these trying minutes, the smoke sometimes filled the air scarcely
less than before and the eyes of the brother and sister smarted and
stung and shed tears, and their lungs became sore from continual
coughing, rendered the more distressing in the case of Nellie, who was
obliged to suppress the noise by cramming her handkerchief in her mouth.
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