CHAPTER XVIII. 



PIERRE AND HIS COUSIN START FOR THE INDIANS* HUT THEY FIND THE BODIES 

 OF TWO OF THE SAVAGES DREADFUL SPECTACLE PRESENTED BY ONE OF THEM 

 AN IMPROMPTU BRIDGE THEY ARRIVE AT THE HUT SET OUT FOR THE 

 CAMP A BEAR HE MEETS HIS DEATH PIERRE'S ACCOUNT OF THE BEAR 

 THE GRIZZLY THE BROWN AND POLAR BEARS HIBERNATION METHOD OF 

 HUNTING JAKE'S ADVENTURE. 



THE party did not continue their journey on the 

 following morning. The excitement and labours of 

 the preceding night had disposed old Jake to take a 

 little more rest than was his wont, and the forenoon 

 was therefore well advanced when that individual set 

 about preparing his breakfast. Both Pierre and Gaul- 

 tier had risen long before, and were gone, by Jake's 

 direction, to the Indians' hut, as they considered it very 

 probable that these savages had lived an isolated life, 

 and had neither squaws nor relatives who might fall 

 heirs to their possessions. The young men conse- 

 quently considered these as their legitimate spoils. 

 They were likewise anxious to ascertain what had 

 become of the third savage whom Jake had seen fall 

 desperately wounded in the bushes. On arriving at 

 the scene of the encounter, which they had no diffi- 

 culty in discovering, they found the bodies where they 



