A BEAR HUNT. 173 



in the mouth, and the other one in the shoulder ; but 

 neither did much harm, and brought only a louder 

 roar of pain and anger. 



The dogs, beaten off from their attack on the cub, 

 now concentrated upon the mother, and the battle be- 

 came more fierce than ever. The snow was covered 

 with blood. A crimson stream poured from the old 

 bear's mouth, and another trickled over the white hair 

 from her shoulder. The little one was torn, and bleed- 

 ing from many ugly wounds. One dog was stretched 

 out crushed and almost lifeless, and another marked 

 the spot, where his agony was expending itself in pite- 

 ous cries, with many a red stain. 



Sonntag now came up with a fresh weapon. A well- 

 directed volley from the three rifles brought her down 

 upon her side, and the dogs rushed in upon her ; but 

 though stunned and weakened by loss of blood, yet 

 she was not mortally hurt ; and, recovering herself in 

 an instant, she once more scattered the dogs and again 

 sheltered her offspring. But the fate of the cub was 

 already sealed. Exhausted by the fearful gashes and 

 the throttlings which it had received from Karsuk 

 and his followers, it sank expiring at its mother's feet. 

 Seeing it fall, she forgot, for a moment, the dogs, in 

 her affection, and, stooping down, licked its face. As 

 if unwilling to believe it dead, she tried to coax it 

 to rise and make a still further fight for life. But at 

 length the truth seemed to dawn upon her, and now, 

 apparently conscious that the cub no longer needed 

 her protection, she turned upon her tormenters with 

 redoubled fury, and tried to escape. Another dog 

 was caught in the attack, and was flung howling to 

 join the unlucky Schnapps. 



For the first time she now appeared to realize that 



