The small tree in which Nellie had taken refuge was several yards from
the edge of the stream, the bank sloping so steeply that the water never
reached the base, excepting during a freshet.

It was a chestnut, whose smooth bark rendered it all the more difficult
to climb, but Nellie went up it as rapidly as a man ascends telegraph
poles with the spikes strapped to his boots.

The bear clawed the bark a little while, as a cat is sometimes seen to
do when "stretching" herself, and it was during these few minutes that
the girl thought nothing could save her from falling into his clutches.

When he ceased, she peered downward through the branches, and could just
see the massy animal near the base of the tree, as if asking himself
what was the next best thing to do.

It will be admitted that the situation of Nellie Ribsam was one in which
few children of her tender years are ever placed. Happy it is, indeed,
that it is so, for what one in a thousand would have retained her
self-possession?

In explanation, it may be doubted indeed whether Nellie fully
comprehended her peril. Had she been older, her consternation,
doubtless, would have been greater, as the emotion she showed some years
later, when placed in great danger, would seem to prove.

But there was one fact of which she was firmly convinced: she had
complied with her father's instructions, for, as has been shown, she put
forth every possible exertion to save herself, and now she called on