About midway in the principal street of Brookville is the town hall. It is a neat building, of considerable size, and two stories in height.

Here the procession halted, and after a pause filed in.

The boys found themselves in a large hall, with a platform and desk at one end, the body of the hall being filled with settees.

“Looks like a schoolroom,” said Teddy.

“Only there ain’t no desks,” said Julius.

“We’re to stay here all night, boys,” said Tim Shanter.

“It’s only three o’clock. What will we do till then?” said Tom Burke.

“Boys,” said Mr. O’Connor, “would you like to see something of the village?”

“Yes!” “Yes!” was heard from all quarters.

“Then for the next two hours you may go where you please, but you must be back before six.”

“All right, sir!” shouted half a dozen, and there was a rush for the door.

“Come back,” shouted the superintendent. “You haven’t heard all I have to say.”

The boys turned back reluctantly.{57}

“You must be careful to do no mischief, and commit no trespass upon any person’s property. I want you to show our friends here that, if you have been brought up in the streets of New York, you know how to behave yourselves.”

“We will!” “We will!” shouted the boys, and in less than a minute the hall was emptied.

They separated into groups, and walked off in different directions. Julius, Teddy and Tom formed one of the parties.

“Where will we go?” said Tom.

“Come down here,” said Julius, pointing down a side street. “There’s some nice fields off there.”

“Ain’t it jolly?” said Teddy. “It’s a big sight better than New York.”

“Ain’t that a nice field for baseball?” said Julius, pointing to a large pasture some distance ahead.

“There’s lots of fields, but no ball.”

“Look there, fellers! Do you see that little pond down there?”

“Let us go there.”

“All right.”

The boys jumped over the fence, and walked in the direction of the pond. It was a small circular sheet of water, covering about two acres. On it was a small, unpainted boat, which the boys no sooner saw than they jumped into. There was but one paddle inside, which{58} the boys used by turns. They had never before been in a boat, and were not scientific navigators; still they managed to paddle around the little pond, greatly to their satisfaction.

“I wonder if there’s any fish in this pond,” said Julius.

“I don’t see none,” said Teddy.

“If there was, it would be good fun to catch some,” said Tom.

“We could use Teddy for bait,” suggested Julius.

“I wouldn’t advise a small fish to swaller me,” said Teddy. “I’d dance a double shuffle in his stomach, and he’d soon want ter let me go.”

The boys enjoyed floating about, and time passed quickly.

“What time is it?” asked Tom.

Julius drew out his watch with an air.

“It’s five o’clock,” he said.

“We ought ter be goin’ back; Mr. O’Connor told us we must be back in time.”

They turned the boat toward shore, when all at once Tom, who was looking toward the shore, exclaimed, “What’s that, boys?”

Following the direction in which he pointed, the boys were startled by seeing a large, clumsy animal walking deliberately down toward the place where they were about to land.

They paused in their progress, and Julius, after a{59} careful examination of the stranger, announced, “I’ll tell you what it is, boys; it’s a bear!”

“A bear!” exclaimed Tom and Teddy, simultaneously.

“Yes; I’ve seed a picture of one in Frank Leslie’s. It’s a bear, sure.”

“What will we do?” said Teddy, alarmed. “They’ll bite, won’t they?”

“I guess they will,” said Julius. “They’d kill you just as easy as winkin’.”

“I didn’t know there was any wild animals around here,” said Teddy, nervously.

“Yes,” said Tom; “there’s bears, and wolves, and panthers. I’ve read about ’em in a dime novel called ‘Pathfinder Pete; or, The Wild Hunter of the West.’ You know we are in the West now.”

“How will we get back?” asked Teddy, rather anxiously. “He’s squattin’ down, waitin’ for us.”

The bear had come to a pause, and, squatting on its hind quarters, was steadily and seriously regarding the boys with an expression which, to their excited imaginations, seemed particularly savage and bloodthirsty.

“I wish’t I had a rifle like the one ‘Pathfinder Pete’ had,” ejaculated Tom.

“You wouldn’t dare to fire it if you had one,” said Julius.

“Yes, I would. I’d fire a bullet into his right eye and{60} then I’d fire another right into his left eye, and then he couldn’t see to chase us.”

“That would be good enough if we had a rifle,” said Julius; “but we haven’t. S’pose we land on the other side of the pond, and run for the fence.”

“Don’t yer do it!” exclaimed Teddy, in terror. “He’d catch us before we got halfway there.”

“Do bears run fast, Tom?” asked Julius, deferring to the superior knowledge of his comrade, who had had the great privilege of reading the instructive story of “Pathfinder Pete.”

“Don’t they? They can go twenty miles an hour without hurtin’ ’em.”

“They don’t look like it,” said Julius, surveying the clumsy form of the bear. “I’ll bet that bear can’t keep up with me.”

“Maybe he don’t look it, but he can run like lightnin’. ‘Pathfinder Pete’ was chased by a bear, when his rifle wasn’t loaded, an’ the only way he got off was to hide behind a tree till he’d loaded his gun, an’ then he blazed away, and keeled him over on his back.”

“Then I wish ‘Pathfinder Pete’ would happen around this afternoon. Teddy, jist sing a bit. Maybe that’ll frighten him.”

“I don’t feel like singin’,” said Teddy. “Oh, boys, how will we get home?”

“I move,” said Julius, who was least disturbed of the{61} three, “that we pitch out Teddy. While the bear’s eatin’ him, we’ll run away.”

“Don’t yer do it,” entreated Teddy, his teeth chattering with fright.

“We won’t jest yet. Wait an’ see if he won’t go away himself.”

“He’s goin’ to swim out to us,” screamed Teddy, in fright, as the bear arose to his feet, and put one foot in the water. But he quickly withdrew it, apparently not liking the feeling.

“Do you think we’ll have to stay here all night?” asked Tom, soberly.

“If the bear don’t get tired, and go away.”

“I wish I was back at the Lodgin’ House,” said Teddy, gloomily.

The bear arose to his feet, and walked slowly around the pond, looking from time to time at the boat and the three young navigators.

“What time is it now, Julius,” asked Tom, after a while.

“Wants five minutes ter six,” said Julius.

“What’ll Mr. O’Connor think?”

“He can’t blame us for not comin’. I say, boys, I’m gettin’ hungry,” said Tom.

“So is the bear,” said Julius, significantly.

At this suggestion, Teddy turned a shade paler.

So the boys watched and waited in vain for their{62} unwelcome visitor to depart, keeping the little boat as near the middle of the pond as possible.

“I guess we’ll have to stay all night,” said Tom.

Just at that moment the attention of the three boys was drawn to a boy of about their own age, who was walking across the field toward the pond.

“Does he see the bear, I wonder?” said Teddy.

“The bear sees him,” said Tom. “He’s goin’ for him.”{63}