A few moments later the Balsam was making its way towards the tiny wharf in the little harbor. Two canoes lay bottom up on the shore but no sign of any living being appeared.

“Perhaps they’ve gone to the ball game,” remarked George.

“Ball game!” exclaimed Fred. “What are you talking about?”

“I was just fooling and trying to get a rise out of somebody. Of course I knew I could make somebody bite with you on board.”

“Huh,” snorted Fred. “I thought you’d gone crazy, talking about ball games up here in the woods.”

“You two are always wrangling,” exclaimed Grant. “Stop it.”

“I can’t resist trying to get rises out of Fred,” said George. “He’s so easy.”

“Leave him alone,” said Grant. “I wonder where the people are who own this tent. There doesn’t seem to be a soul around.”

“Let’s go up to the tent and peek in,” suggested John.

“Do you think we ought to do that?” Fred protested.

“Why not? We’re not going to steal anything are we?”

“I’m not,” laughed Fred. “Of course I don’t know about you.”

“Come ahead,” urged George. “We’ll just take one look.”

They made their way up from the dock towards the tent. Still no sign of life appeared and when John had stolen one hasty glance inside the tent he reported that no one was in there either.

“Let’s go back,” exclaimed Fred. “There’s no use in staying around here any longer.”

“Come on,” said Grant. “It’s time to eat too.”

“We might eat our luncheon over on that point,” suggested George, indicating a spot about a mile or so distant from the place where they were.

“Eating suits me all right,” exclaimed John. “I must say I’m hungry.”

“And I’d like to get my clothes dry,” added Fred. “I’m sort of cold.”

Once more they set sail on the Balsam without having caught sight of a single occupant of the camp they had just visited. The sun was now shining brightly and the sky was as blue as ever. No trace of the recent storm remained to mar the beautiful day. It was not long before all four boys were in excellent spirits again and their appetites became keener with each passing moment.

Landing on the point where they had decided to eat their luncheon, they quickly set about making preparations for the meal. A fire was soon started and with every one assisting, the meal was quickly under way.

“How soon will it be ready, Grant?” asked George of the cook.

“Oh, in half an hour.”

“Come on then, String,” exclaimed George. “Let’s go back into the woods here and see if we can’t find some berries or something.”

“Don’t get lost,” warned Grant. “Fred and I are too hungry to spend a lot of time looking for you, you know.”

“Don’t worry about us,” laughed John. “We’ll be gone only a few minutes.”

Leaving Grant and Fred busy with the cooking the two boys plunged into the woods and disappeared from view. The trees were still dripping from the heavy rain, but the fragrant odor of spruce and balsam was stronger than ever. The thick carpet of pine needles under their feet was wet, so that their advance was noiseless.

Suddenly, up from its hiding place almost under their feet, a grouse arose with a roar and whirr of wings. Booming off through the trees it quickly disappeared from view leaving the forest as silent as before. The spell of it was on the two young campers as they stood still and gazed all about them. The green leafy aisles of the woods stretched in all directions around them most beautiful and inviting to the eye. A catbird whined from a nearby tree, but otherwise all was still.

“Did you ever see anything more beautiful?” asked John in a low voice.

“I never did,” replied George solemnly. The beauty and the grandeur of it all made them feel as though they really should not speak above a whisper.

“I don’t see any berries though,” continued John.

“Nor I,” said George. “There’s an open space ahead of us though; perhaps we’ll find some there.”

“Some blueberries wouldn’t taste bad just now.”

In silence they continued their walk, even taking care to step softly so as not to disturb the solemnity of the woods. Ahead of them appeared a break in the trees and an open space showed. Here was the place to find blueberries if any grew in that neighborhood at all. A moment later the two boys came to the edge of the clearing which was perhaps a hundred yards square.

As they were about to step out from the shelter of the trees George suddenly clutched his companion by the arm.

“Look there,” he whispered.

Following George’s directions John saw something that caused his face to grow white and his heart to jump. In the center of the clearing and busily engaged in eating the blueberries which grew in abundance all about was a large black bear.

He seemed entirely oblivious to his surroundings and as the wind blew from him towards the two boys he was not aware of their presence. With one great paw he stripped the berries from the low-lying bushes and with his long, eager tongue he licked them up greedily. That his ancient enemy, man, might be lurking nearby apparently did not occur to him. The two boys stood and watched him, fascinated, not knowing whether to run or whether to hold their ground. The bear was scarcely a hundred feet distant from the spot where they were standing.

“What shall we do?” whispered George.

“Wait.”

“Suppose he comes after us.”

“If he does we’ll run.”

All at once the bear looked up. Perhaps some eddying current of wind had betrayed the presence of the two boys to his sensitive nostrils. It is a well known fact that the eyesight of most wild animals is comparatively poor; their sense of smell, however, is correspondingly sharp and it is on this that they must rely to a large extent for safety.

All around him old bruin gazed while the hearts of the two young campers almost stood still. There they were standing within plain sight, right at the edge of the forest and they could not possibly escape being seen. Anxiety as to what the bear would do made the next few moments very nervous ones.

Suddenly he saw them. George and John held their breath and waited. He looked at them steadily for a moment, one paw held poised in the air. Then he turned and with that clumsy lumbering gait common to his kind ambled off across the clearing. Arriving at the opposite side he turned his head and glanced back at the two boys, still standing in the shadow of the trees. Then he continued his way once more and quickly disappeared from sight.

“Well,” exclaimed George. “What do you think about that?”

“Suppose he’d chased us.”

“He’d never have caught me,” said George grimly. “With a bear after me I know I could at least equal the world’s record for the half-mile.”

“Even so, you’d have finished second,” laughed John.

“What do you mean?”

“Why, I’d have beaten you out, of course.”

“Maybe so,” said George laughingly. “At any rate I guess it would have been a pretty close finish. Imagine what Grant and Fred would have thought if they’d seen us coming, tearing out of the woods with a big black bear after us.”

“I’d have gone right on across the lake too,” said John.

“Do you want some berries?”

“It’s pretty late now I’m afraid. I think perhaps we’d better go back.”

“Perhaps so. Let’s go anyway; we can come back here after luncheon.”

“That bear might have the same idea.”

“That’s true too,” admitted George. “We can bring Fred and Grant along with us if they want to come.”

The two boys made their way back through the forest towards the lake. Knowing that there were such things as bears in the neighborhood they kept a sharp watch all about them. If they had only realized it, no bear was half as anxious to meet them as they were to meet a bear. Wild animals seldom if ever seek trouble of their own accord.

A few moments later George and John emerged from the woods and caught sight of the fire and their two companions.

“Hey, you two!” called Fred. “Where have you been?”

“Are we late?” asked John.

“I should say you were. Grant and I were just about to eat up all the food and not save any for you at all.”

“Thank goodness you didn’t,” exclaimed George, fervently.

“Did you find any berries?” demanded Grant.

“Lots of them. A good many of them are still on the bushes.”

“Didn’t you bring any back?”

“Not a single one.”

“What do you think of that, Fred?” demanded Grant. “These fellows go back in the woods and stuff themselves with a lot of berries and don’t even bring one back to the two who are working hard to prepare food for them.”

“We didn’t eat any ourselves.”

“You didn’t?” exclaimed Grant. “What was the matter with them; weren’t they good?”

“I guess they were,” said John. “We didn’t try any though.”

“What’s the matter?” inquired Fred. “What are you two trying to say anyway? You found a lot of berries but you didn’t bring any back and you didn’t eat any yourself. What’s the reason you didn’t?”

“Somebody was there ahead of us,” said George.

“The owner you mean?” asked Grant. “Wouldn’t he give you any?”

“It wasn’t the owner,” said George. “It was somebody else.”

“I wish you’d stop talking in riddles,” exclaimed Grant impatiently. “Why don’t you tell us what happened!”

“There was a bear there,” said John. “He liked berries too.”

“A bear!” cried Grant and Fred in one breath. “What do you mean?”

“There was a big black bear eating the blueberries,” said George, “so we just decided we didn’t care very much for berries ourselves.”

“Tell us about it,” demanded Grant eagerly.

“I can’t talk unless I have something to eat first,” replied George firmly.

“Nor I,” agreed John.

“Come and eat then,” laughed Fred. “We too have got something to tell you two when you’ve finished.”