The cubs ran still faster for they remembered the feasts they had enjoyed when, guided by their mother, they had last visited the wood. With the old bear close behind, Laughing Boy flung himself out and upward, grasping the tough vines of the “oo-oee” in his hands and pulling himself up on a large stone slab, where he lay panting for breath. Web Toe scrambled up a slim pine and wedged himself between two slender forked limbs. There he huddled, peering about in fear of new dangers. But he saw nothing and, presently, grown bolder he looked down at the bear which stood on hind legs gazing angrily up at him. Now and then she would run away and dash back, jolting the tree and setting the branches aquiver. Web Toe forgot all caution and jeered down at the enemy. He pulled his tom-tom around and over his shoulder and beat it triumphantly with his fists while the black bear tried to climb the tree and failed, because it was slender of trunk. Laughing Boy lay on the smooth boulder, flat upon his belly, making no sound. Not a muscle betrayed him. Only his eyes moved following the movements of the black bear. Apparently she had forgotten all about him. He wanted to call out to Web Toe to be silent. Web Toe seemed to think the matter was a joke, but Laughing Boy knew better. It was true he and Web Toe were at the moment safely out of reach of the enemy’s claws, but if she remained on watch how would they get down to earth again? All that afternoon Web Toe was compelled to cling to the fork of the pine tree. Soon he grew quiet, for he remembered that safety lies in silence. He folded his arms about a branch and made himself as flat and inconspicuous as he could. The cubs curled themselves up at their mother’s feet and went to sleep and, at length, close to the pine tree, she also seemed to doze. It might have been possible for Laughing Boy to slide down the opposite side of the boulder and steal away unnoticed. Who can say? It may have been a fear of the long journey back to the cave people alone that deterred him. Anyway, he clung to the rock and waited. A long drink from his water bag relieved his thirst and he, too, fell asleep. But there was no drinking for poor Web Toe. He had only his marvelous tom-tom in place of a water bag, and his lips grew parched and he longed to scream from fear and thirst. After a long time darkness came and at last the moon arose, and still the two boys neither moved nor spoke. The cubs awoke and stretched themselves and moved about, and at last the black bear arose also and led them away to some hidden spring known only to herself. Then, very cautiously, Web Toe slid to the ground and called to Laughing Boy, who joined him, and together, with great fear in their hearts, they turned their faces homeward.