The Young Wireless Operator—As a Fire Patrol: Or, The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made Good as a Fire PatrolTheiss, Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin)
General
The Young Wireless Operator—As a Fire Patrol: Or, The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol
Theiss, Lewis E. (Lewis Edwin)
Forest fires -- Prevention and control -- Juvenile fiction; Radio operators -- Juvenile fiction
The little pup made a terrific clamor and the bear paid no further
attention to Lew, who immediately began to look for a way out of his
predicament. Within two or three feet of the base of the tree which he
had climbed, a second tree had sprung up. But the two had grown away from
each other, much like the sloping sides of the letter V. At first Lew
thought he could cross over to the other tree, but a careful inspection
showed him that this would be impossible. Down where the bear was he could
have swung himself from one tree to the other; but the farther up the tree
he was the farther he was from the other tree and the smaller the limbs
were. And Lew was now as near the top of the tree as he dared to go. To
try to leap from his present position to the other tree was not to be
thought of. It would certainly mean a fall of thirty feet or more. And Lew
did not dare come down nearer the bear, lest the animal should again try
to claw him. There was no apparent way to get the bear out of the tree,
and Lew knew that he could not stay up where he was indefinitely.
Charley tried to divert the bear's attention to himself by reaching up the
tree with his axe and striking the trunk. The bear growled but made no
attempt to reach Charley. Her attention was centred wholly on the dog.
With her hair erect, her lips drawn back, her ears laid flat, and her
massive claws ready to tear and rend, the beast presented such a fearful
front that Charley did not dare take the dog away. One swipe of those
paws, or one crunch of the great jaws might cripple Lew for life, or even
kill him outright.
"Keep perfectly quiet, Lew," said Charley, "and maybe the bear will
forget about you. She's terribly enraged at this pup."
Charley felt in his pocket and found a piece of strong cord. He knotted it
around the pup's neck and tied the animal to the tree.
"I hope that bear won't come down and kill him while I'm gone," he
muttered to himself. To Lew he said, "I've got an idea. I'm going to get
the rope and see if I can lasso the bear from the other tree."
"Sick 'em, pup," he cried, urging the little dog to make another frenzied
outburst. And while the dog was making the valley ring with his clamor,
Charley raced to his pack and got the coil of rope. Back he ran and
hastily climbed the tree beside the one in which Lew and the bear were
resting. The bear eyed him angrily, but kept her attention centred on the
pup. Charley climbed to a point a little higher than the limb on which the
bear rested. Quickly he fashioned a noose and got his rope ready for a
throw. Then he realized that he could never make a successful cast among
the limbs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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