128 MATERNAL AFFECTION. 



an excellent runner, could not keep up with 

 them, so he got into the boat again, and we 

 rowed with might and main to keep in sight of 

 the bears, but they got far ahead of us, and 

 the weather being rather thick they had got 

 nearly out of sight, and we began to think they 

 would beat us, when luckily they got to the 

 end of the strip of smooth &quot;fast&quot; ice, and 

 before them lay a great expanse of soft mud 

 intersected with numerous little channels of 

 water and with much rough ice left by the tide 

 aground amongst it. This seemed to embarrass 

 them very much, as the cubs could not jump 

 over the channels, and the old bear appeared to 

 be getting very anxious and uneasy ; but she 

 showed great patience and forbearance with 

 her cubs, always waiting after she had jumped 

 over a channel until they swam across, and 

 affectionately assisting them to clamber up the 

 steep sides of the icy places ; nevertheless, the 

 mixture of sticky mud with rough ice and 

 half-frozen water soon reduced the unhappy 

 &quot;jungers&quot; to a pitiable state of distress, and 

 we heard them growling plaintively as if they 

 were upbraiding their mother for dragging 

 them through such a disagreeable place. 



We had got the boat into a long, narrow 



