THE BEAR MAKES A JOURNEY 55 



journey she got more exercise than I did. Oc- 

 casionally we paused to rest the horses. All along 

 the way we now began to see on the ground bits 

 of charred and blackened leaves, which, on pre- 

 vious days, had been carried on the dry air from the 

 burning forest to the north of us. 



About one o'clock, while I was walking ahead, 

 I came into a clearing where a log cabin stood. In 

 the smoky atmosphere it did not look like Gordon's 

 camp. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes, 

 this was the place all right ; we had approached it 

 from a different direction, and there was Bruno 

 climbing a tree near the cabin. The children, who 

 were sitting in the doorway, sprang up and gave us 

 a happy welcome. The family seemed not at all 

 alarmed about the forest fires, though the smoke 

 was now so thick that the tree-tops only a short 

 distance away could hardly be seen through the 

 murky air. 



In case the conflagration should sweep their way, 

 the Weldons were prepared. A short distance be- 

 hind the cabin, in the side of the bank, they had 

 dug a pit ten feet deep and ten feet square. Over 

 its top were sapling trees and spruce boughs, and 

 over these dirt and sods. Into the brook, just 

 below the spot where they had dug the under- 

 ground room, they had thrown a quantity of earth, 

 which had formed a dam and backed the water 



