"Don't you leave me, Russ Bunker!" cried Rose, as her brother started
away.

And just then both of them saw the tawny, long tailed, slinking beast in
the edge of the thicket.

"Oh! It's a bear!" shrieked Rose.

"Bears don't look like that," gasped Russ, staring at the great, glowing
eyes of the animal. "It looks more like a cat."

"There never was a cat as big as that, Russ Bunker, and you know it!"

"Come on, Rose," said her brother promptly. "We'll go into that house
and shut the door. It can't get us then, whatever it is."

In a moment the two children had dashed into the cabin and pulled to the
swinging door. The door had a lock on the outside, and when Russ banged
the door shut he heard the lock snap.

"Now it can't get at us!" cried Russ with some satisfaction. "We're
safe."

"But--but I don't like this old house, Russ Bunker," complained Rose.
"There is no window."

"All the better," was the brave reply. "That cat can't get at us."

Then the screech sounded again and the boy and girl clung together while
the sound echoed through the lonesome timber.