"You’re a wise chap, Bruce," said Archie, clapping him on the back. "You couldn’t have done much damage with that shot-gun, even if you had stayed to introduce yourself. I’m awfully glad you’ve found the cave. Father told me about these bears, and said he’d give a sovereign for their tails. There’s an old she-bear and two half-grown cubs. I guess it was the cubs you saw. The old woman must have been out visiting." "If I’d known that they were only cubs I might have tried a dose of small shot on them," said Bruce regretfully. "It’s just as well you didn’t," answered Archie. "We’ll pay our respects to them to-morrow. I’ll take my rifle, and you two load up with ball in both barrels, and then we’ll be ready for business." So it was all arranged in that way, and then, almost too excited to sleep, the three lads settled down for the night, which could not be too short to please them. They were up bright and early the next morning, bolted a hasty breakfast, and then proceeded to clean and load their guns with the utmost care. Fred and Bruce each had fine double-barrelled guns, in one barrel of which they put a bullet, and in the other a heavy load of buckshot. Archie had his father’s rifle, and a very good one it was, which he well knew how to use. Besides this each carried a keen-bladed hunting-knife in his belt. Thus armed and accoutred they set forth full of courage and in high spirits. They had no difficulty in finding and following Bruce’s course the day before, for Oscar, who seemed to thoroughly understand what they were about, led them straight to the foot of the cliff, and would have rushed right up to the cave again if Archie had not caught him and tied him to a boulder. Then they sat down to study the situation. For them to go straight up the ledge with the chance of the old bear charging down upon them any moment would be foolhardy in the extreme. They must find out some better way than that of besieging the bears’ stronghold. "Hurrah!" exclaimed Archie, after studying the face of the cliff earnestly. "I have it! Do you see that ledge over there to the left? If we go round to the other side of the cliff we can get on that ledge most likely, and it’ll take us to right over the shelf where the cave is. We’ll try it, anyway." Holding Oscar tight, they crept cautiously around the foot of the cliff, and up at the left, until they reached the point Archie meant. There, sure enough, they found the ledge two sharp eyes had discovered, and it evidently led over toward the cave just as he hoped. Once more tying the dog, who looked up at them in surprised protest, but was too well trained to make any noise, the boys made their way slowly along the narrow ledge, until at last they came to a kind of niche from which they could look straight down upon the shelf, now only about fifteen feet below them.