292 Chapter VI. 



the alarm, but takes his gun from the round-house wall 

 and thinks he'll manage all right alone, but his gun 

 wouldn't go off, and the bear would have had time to eat 

 me up before his nose.' 



"We were now near the ship, and Mogstad, who had 

 heard the last part of the story from the deck, corrected 

 it in so far that he had just reached the gangway 

 when Peter began to roar. He jumped up and fell 

 back three times before he got on board, and had no 

 time to do anything then but seize his gun and go to 

 Peter's assistance. 



"When the bear left Peter and rushed after the dogs, 

 he soon had the whole pack about him again. Now 

 he would make a spring and get one below him ; but 

 then all the rest would set upon him and jump on his 

 back, so that he had to turn to defend himself. Then 

 he would spring upon another dog, and the whole pack 

 would be on him again. And so the dance went on, 

 backwards and forwards over the ice, until they were 

 once more close to the ship. A dog stood there, below 

 the gangway, wanting to get on board ; the bear made a 

 spring on it, and it was there, by the ship's side, that the 

 villain met his fate. 



' An examination on board showed that the hook 

 of Svarten's ' leash was pulled out quite straight ; 

 ' Gammelen's ' was broken through ; but the third dog's 

 was only wrenched a little : it hardly looked as if the 

 bear had clone it. I had a slight hope that this dog 



