PURSUED BY A WOUNDED BEAR. 163 



grave, for at the first blow, the bear had ceased growling 

 to listen to the strange sounds. 



After a painful and anxious pause, he called out, " I 

 have got a light, give me the powder-horn and a rag." 

 I cut aviy the first from its sling, then tore ofl' a piece 

 of my hunting-shirt, and passed them behind me. In 

 a few minutes he recovered his splinter ; this gave us, 

 or rather me, new hopes, for he had no fear firstly, 

 because he could not know how near the bear was ; and, 

 secondly, because, as he assured me afterwards, he was 

 so intent on striking a light, that he could think of no- 

 thing else. He had also succeeded in turning himself 

 round, and his voice sounded to me like an an-gel's song 

 when he called out that he had found the passage. He 

 had now the advantage of creeping forwards, while I 

 was still obliged to show front to the bear ; but he gave 

 me a few more splinters 6f fir, and a light, and we again 

 began our slow retreat towards the entrance. 



As I held the torch forwards, the bear gave a deep 

 growl, gnashed her teeth, and retreated a pace or two, 

 but followed again as soon as she saw that I was retir- 

 ing. Necessity sharpens invention, I laid a couple of 

 burning sticks crosswise on -the ground, and saw, to my 

 inexpressible delight, that she did not venture to pass 

 them. Shuffling back as fast as I could, I heard Jim 

 (young C.) call out to his father to go back, as the bear 

 was coming. No other words were spoken, and indeed 

 the growling came nearer ; the fire had probably gone 

 out on the moist ground, and then she followed us 

 again. 



I now crawled over the place where we had first di*- 



