

WE CHASE THE THREE BEARS. 397 



upon them whilst in their lair ; and prior to starting them, 

 it was determined to make the attempt. On reaching the 

 Ring, which was situated on the face of a hill overlooking 

 Kalf-sjon, we, therefore, with due precaution, followed on 

 their tracks, which, although some three weeks old, were still 

 quite visible. As the bears had taken a very tortuous course, 

 however, a good deal of time was lost before reaching their 

 bed (an excavation in an immense ant-hill) ; but this, to 

 our great chagrin, was found untenanted the beasts, as we 

 had reason to believe, having bolted a minute or two pre- 

 viously. 



The dogs were now uncoupled, and the chase commenced. 

 But soon afterwards, and whilst in the act of descending an 

 abrupt declivity, one of my Skidor, coming in contact with 

 some hard substance, snapped short in two ! An accident, 

 by the bye, always more likely to happen when the surface of 

 the snow is frozen, than if it be in a loose state. 



Luckily, I had a spare Skida at a cottage hard by ; 

 so calling the dogs to heel, and directing Elg to wait my 

 return, I hasted for it. An hour or more, however, must 

 have elapsed before I rejoined him, during which while the 

 bears had, no doubt, made good use of their legs ; but there 

 was no help for this, and so we at once renewed the chase. 



At first and from having to contend with rising ground, 

 and somewhat close cover our progress was rather slow ; 

 but when the summit of the hill was gained, and the forest 

 became more open, we pushed rapidly ahead. In some places, 

 however, the tracks of the bears were nearly imperceptible, and 

 had it not been for a sprinkling of snow which had fallen 

 during the past night, would have been wholly so. The 

 beasts, as we saw by their tracks, generally proceeded in a 



