OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



is more dangerous. With it, retreat up a tree is of 

 no avail, and precipitous flight has not much chance 

 of success, for the bear is very nimble. What a ter- 

 rible fate to find oneself held tight in a horrible 



embrace, and to 

 feel the beast 's 

 warm breath on 

 one's face! With 

 the tiger it would 

 be worse. Let its 

 claws once get 

 hold of a man, let 

 its jaws once close 

 on him, and he 

 is torn to pieces. 

 There is nothing 

 so terrible as its 

 sudden attack and 

 its bloodthirsty 

 ferocity. ' ' 

 Tiger "That 's the an- 



imal most to be feared, as I said," Louis declared, 

 "if it were found in our country. But luckily there 

 are no tigers here." 



"We have no tigers in our woods," assented 

 Uncle Paul, "but we have in our very midst an ani- 

 mal that is still more formidable in certain circum- 

 stances. This terrible enemy that we are liable to 

 encounter at any moment does not possess by a good 

 deal the strength of the tiger or bear; most often it 

 is not even so strong as the wolf; sometimes it is so 



