But one thing, very speedily, became apparent to him:-- From out a screen of hazel and witch-elm (almost directly in front of the place where the truck, that morning, had been loaded) crashed a right hideous object.

By sight and by scent Lad knew the creature for his olden foe, the giant black bear.
Growling, squealing, a dozen stinging fiery sparks sizzling through his bushy coat, the bear tore his way from the hedge of thicket and out into the open.

The fire had roused him from his snug lair and had driven him ahead of it with a myriad hornets of flame, in a crazed search for safety.
At sight of the formidable monster, Lad realized for the first time the full extent of his own helplessness.

Tethered to a rope which gave him scarce twenty-five inches of leeway, he was in no fit condition to fend off the giant's assault.
He wasted no time in futile struggles.

All his race's uncanny powers of resource came rushing to his aid.