CHAPTER XX THE GREEDY MARAUDER
For a moment Belle stood paralyzed with fright.
The bear gazed at her unwinkingly, and his hair began to rise slowly onhis head as he gave vent to a savage growl.
Then Belle screamed wildly, dropped her basket, which was half full ofberries, and ran towards the other members of the party, who had risenand rushed to meet her.
"What is it?" they cried in chorus.
"A bear!" shrieked Belle, pointing to the thicket. "Oh, run, run!"
And at this moment the bear emphasized the wisdom of this advice byshambling into full sight.
The boys each possessed themselves of the arm of one of the girls andhurried them to the boat. They put them aboard, rapidly untied the ropethat held the _Water Sprite_, and themselves jumped in.
Then with a united push they sent the _Water Sprite_ away from the bank,Jack started the engine going faster than he ever had before, and in amoment more they were fifty feet out on the lake.
Then only did they dare to draw breath.
It was perhaps lucky for them that Belle had dropped her basket right inthe path of the bear. The piles of luscious fruit that had rolled outproved a temptation too strong to resist. He nuzzled into themluxuriously, and when he raised his head his nose looked as though itwere dripping with paint.
They had a good view of him now, and they shuddered as they saw what alarge and shaggy specimen he was. The bear looked at them too and snarledas if with disappointment at their escape.
"Beauty, isn't he?" demanded Paul.
"Looks like a nightmare to me," observed Walter.
"How lucky that Belle saw him first and gave warning," said Cora. "Itwould have been nice, wouldn't it, to have been sitting at lunch and havelooked up to see him standing beside us?"
"I know what it means now to have your tongue cleave to the roof of yourmouth," said Belle, who was pale and shaken. "I thought I never would beable to scream."
The bear resumed his shambling gait and meandered leisurely down to thepile of fish.
"The robber!" groaned Walter. "He'll clean up the pile. To think I'vebeen cooking for that old reprobate!"
"You ought to take it as a compliment," said Jack. "Just see how the oldthief is wading into them."
The fish were indeed disappearing with magical rapidity.
"He's a magician," said Jack. "He's making mutton of fish."
"It's well enough to joke," murmured Bess. "But what will we do if heeats all the rest of our lunch?"
"We'll have to grin and bear it," said Paul, whose disposition to puncould not be overcome.
"Perhaps he'll be satisfied with the fish and leave the rest of the foodalone," remarked Cora hopefully.
"You're a cheerful optimist," replied her brother. "You don't know muchabout a bear's appetite. Besides, he must be awfully hungry, otherwise hewould run away--bears usually do."
"Oh, if I only had a rifle here!" said Paul.
"A dynamite bomb would be good enough for me," growled Walter.
"Haven't we anything on board we can soak him with?" groaned Jack.
"Nothing much, except some loose bolts and nuts in the locker," answeredCora, "and they wouldn't do any good, except perhaps to aggravate him."
"It might get his mind off the rest of the lunch, anyway," replied herbrother. "Let's get a handful, fellows, and bombard the old brigand."
They were all smarting for revenge, and they equipped themselves with themissiles and began to throw. Several of them hit the bear, but he paid noattention.
"We're too far off," said Walter. "The force of the bolts is spent beforethey get to him. Back up a little closer to the shore, Jack, and we'llhave a better chance."
"Do you think we'd better?" asked Belle. "He might get stirred up andcome after us. Bears are good swimmers, you know."
"He couldn't catch a motor boat in a thousand years," replied Jack. "Ifit were a rowboat now, it might be different."
He backed up until the boat was within ten feet of the shore. Walterthrew a bolt with such accurate aim that it caught the bear right on theend of his nose.
He reared up with an ugly roar, and his little eyes shot flames of fireat his adversaries.
He offered a fair mark as he stood erect, and Jack had an inspiration.Hanging over the side of the _Water Sprite_ was one of thelife-preservers, the round type, a circle with a very large opening inthe center, so that it could be easily slipped over the head.
Jack snatched it up and threw it with the motion of a quoit-thrower. Itcovered the short intervening distance and went over the bear's head,settling on his neck and looking for all the world like a gigantic ruff.It gave the animal a most grotesque appearance, and the spectators roaredwith laughter.
It was easier for it to go on than it was for the bear to get it off, andhis antics were comical as he rubbed his head against the trees and,failing in that, took his paws to it. He succeeded at last, but hisnaturally surly nature had not been improved by the operation, and theinstant the life-preserver was dislodged, he rushed to the edge of theshore and plunged into the water.
The action was so sudden that the party was taken by surprise. The girlsscreamed, and the boys had to do some quick work to get the _WaterSprite_ under way. They succeeded, however, and once the engine wasgoing, it was an easy matter to keep out of the bear's reach, althoughfor so clumsy a creature he swam with amazing swiftness.
They could have distanced him without trouble, but with deliberatepurpose Jack kept just far enough ahead of him to encourage him inthinking that he might overtake his quarry. In this way, he drew him downalong the shore of the lake for more than half a mile. By that time,Bruin's ardor had cooled and his strength began to fail. He gave awrathful snort and made for the shore.
The instant he did so, Jack turned the boat about and made all speed backto the place where they had been surprised.
"Now's our chance, fellows," he said. "We can get there long before thebear does, even if he makes a bee line for it as soon as he gets toshore. I'll hold her bow against the bank, while you jump out and gatherup the provisions and bring them on board. That thief may have got ourfish, but he won't have the laugh on us altogether."
It was very quick work that Paul and Walter did, for they had no mind tobe caught there when the bear should make his way back, as they had nodoubt he would. They regained the life preserver, which was so scratchedand torn that it was no longer good for its original purpose, but theywanted it as a memento of the adventure.
As the bear had not had time to meddle with the food laid out by thegirls, they were not so badly off after all, although it was exasperatingto have to go without the fish, whose appetizing aroma was still in theair.
"Just when they were done to a turn, too," said Walter gloomily. "I wishthe old rascal had choked on the bones."
Having recovered everything else, even to Aunt Betty's lunch basket, thepicnic party pushed out some distance, and ate their lunch with anappetite that was the keener for their enforced waiting.
They were sure that Bruin's instinct would lead him straight back to thesucculent repast that had been so rudely interrupted, and they wereright, for a few minutes later he came loping along and plunged into theremnants of his fish dinner. He glared out over the water at his enemies,but his one experience had been sufficient, and he made no furtherattempt to take after them. He sniffed around disappointedly at the placewhere the other eatables had stood, and then lumbered away into thewoods.
The Motor Girls in the Mountains; or, The Gypsy Girl's Secret Page 20
