246 AN UNEXPECTED CHAEGE. 



barrels ; nevertheless he managed to 

 get up again, and crawled into the thick 

 jungle. 



Making certain of finding the brute dead, 

 they only loaded one barrel, and were led 

 by the blood, to a mass of broken rocks, 

 beneath which were a number of little 

 nooks and corners. Whilst exploring these, 

 the bear, which they had passed, suddenly 

 rushed out, and charged them from behind. 

 Dirgoo had just time to turn and fire the 

 one barrel he had loaded, and stopped the 

 enraged animal's progress only for a mo- 

 ment. They were standing in a kind of 

 amphitheatre, surrounded on all sides, ex- 

 cept on that by which they had entered, 

 by large rocks ; upon one of these Dirgoo 

 sprung, as soon as he had fired, but his 

 companion, in attempting to follow him, 

 missed his footing and fell. The bear was 

 on him in an instant, first getting hold 

 of his hand and biting it through. The 

 brute then put his paw under the man's 

 head as if to raise it up, probably to get 



