“Let her go quietly,” Nancy warned, “don’t disturb her, don’t, _don’t_!”
Dabney Mills plucking up courage at the animal’s willingness to depart, was attempting to speed her going by throwing stones after her. Picking up a square block of wood from beside the shed, he flung it with unfortunate success, in spite of Nancy’s catching at his arm. It caught the bear full on the side of the head.
She turned, bared all her teeth in an angry snarl, and rushed upon them. Without ceremony they fled, past the shed, away from the house, and up the hill. To reach the safety of the cabin, they would have to pass by her, which at the moment was unthinkable. Therefore, as the angry creature climbed steadily after them, they were forced further and further up toward the open spaces of the mountain.
“I’m not afraid. She won’t hurt us,” Nancy kept telling herself, though her teeth were chattering and her breath was coming short. Bewildered as she was, she still had presence of mind enough to try to bend their course in a circle so that at last they might come nearer home. But no such coolness possessed her companion. Excited, almost hysterical with terror, he shouted at the bear, waved his arms, and threw sticks and stones at her every time the steep trail afforded him opportunity.
“Stop, don’t, you are only making it worse,” Nancy begged him breathlessly, but he was far too terrified to pay any heed to her words.
Nancy felt that there could be nothing more terrible than this big swaying body that came up the hill after them, the little pointed head with its white teeth showing, its small eyes blazing with an animal’s unreasoning fury. She was panting and exhausted, her knees shook under her, it seemed utterly impossible to go farther. One last hope flashed through her mind: it was the hour for Olaf to bring the milk and he might be somewhere below, coming through the pines. She hollowed her hands before her mouth and, with a final effort of her panting lungs, shouted with all her might:
A faint hail came in answer. How far away it was! Would he know what had happened?
There was only a little further for them to climb, for a long ridge of rock, shouldering up through the underbrush, cut off their ascent with its smooth wall that offered no foothold. Beside it the mountain-side fell away in a sheer drop of a hundred feet of precipice so that their retreat was blocked completely. A vast furry form rose through the bushes beside them, and the bear struck at them with her great paw. Nancy was too bewildered to understand how Dabney Mills came suddenly to be behind her, while she was thrust forward into the very face of their enemy. The blow missed her, however, and struck the boy, just where she could not see. With a strange sickening sigh, he dropped and rolled toward the edge of the cliff. Nancy flattened herself against the rock wall, staring, fascinated, as the bear settled her haunches firmly, seemed to pause a moment, and then squared off to strike at her again.