Emma groped cautiously with the hand, first wishing to assure herself that she was not imagining, before making an exhibition of herself. The hand came in contact with what she recognized instantly, as a cold nose. Light fingers crept gingerly along the nose and paused at a huge, furry head, now well at her side. She gave a quick, startled glance down at what lay under her hand, and her face went ghastly pale. Uttering a hysterical scream, Emma Dean toppled over backwards, crashing to the cabin floor. CHAPTER V OVERLANDERS GET A JOLT As she went over, Emma Dean's feet hit the under side of the table. Her plate of venison slid off to the floor, and Hippy Wingate's coffee landed in his lap. The Overlanders sprang to their feet, but Joe Shafto sat glaring from one to the other of them in amazement. "A bear! A bear! A bear under the table," screamed Emma and sank back in a dead faint. It was then that the Overland Riders saw what had so frightened her, for a black bear ambled out from under the table and began gulping down the venison from Emma's overturned plate. To the eyes of the girls he appeared to be a huge animal, and his growls, as he swallowed choice morsels of venison, were far from reassuring. "Don't be skeert! It's only Henry," cried the forest woman. "Set down!" No one heeded her advice. Elfreda Briggs was standing on a chair, Anne Nesbit had run into the garden which she had reached by a short cut through an open window. Tom and Hippy, having sprung back, were gazing on the intruder in startled amazement, while Nora Wingate, standing on the table with one foot in the platter of venison, was screaming. Grace, who had backed into a corner, was trying to subdue her own individual panic sufficiently to reason out the situation. Joe Shafto's words, when Grace finally absorbed them, brought enlightenment. "Will he bite, Mrs. Shafto?" she called. "Won't bite nothin' if ye don't bother him." Grace ran to Emma and bathed her face with water. "Get down!" commanded Lieutenant Wingate, holding up a hand to Nora. "Don't you see you're spoiling a perfectly good lot of venison? I never saw such a parcel of 'fraid cats in all my life." "Neither did I," grumbled Mrs. Shafto. "I didn't know Henry was down there or I'd a shooed him out before ye set down." "I won't get down until that beast is out of the house," declared Nora. "Whoever heard of such a thing. Don't!" Hippy pulled her down without ceremony and placed Nora in a chair. "Behave yourself! You will see more bears, and then some, before you finish this journey." Joe took a broom and shooed Henry out into the yard. A scream out there followed almost instantly, for Henry had ambled around the house to make the acquaintance of Anne Nesbit. "The beast is chasing me!" she panted, as she ran back into the house. No one gave heed to her, so she ran to Nora and the two consoled each other. In the meantime, Grace had revived Emma. "Ha--as he gone?" she wailed weakly.