ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. 93 



the mountain, none steadier or more iron-like when he 

 bounded down the steep : to him was given strength, 

 activity, and endurance of fatigue, beyond the common lot 

 of man ; he knew his superiority, and was proud of showing 

 it ; but, intent as he was in making a grand display to 

 astonish the artist, he found himself totally discomfitted. 

 " The de'il was in the man : he skelped awa quite aisy, 

 with a wee bit knapsack and umbrella to boot ; " and 

 although Mac very cannily slipped a few stones into the 

 knapsack, he was beat the whole way; and it was a laugh 

 against him to his dying day. 



The artist having hinted that these sort of encounters 

 had chanced to him before, Tortoise drew from him the 

 following account of one of them : 



He had walked over Norway on a sketching tour, and 

 once joined a party of Norsemen who were ringing the 

 bear. He carried no fire-arms, he said, like the rest of the 

 party, always preferring close combat : nothing but his 

 sketching stool. This, when produced, was found to be a 

 circular piece of heavy oak timber, divided into three parts, 

 fitting closely, so as to unite, and rivetted together in the 

 centre ; but when detached by a sort of twist, the extremi- 

 ties were spread, the lower ones forming feet, and the 

 upper ones a seat, by hitching some sort of sacking on their 

 points. The thing is a sketching stool in common use, 

 his only differed from others by being made of the most 

 solid oak, so that in good hands it was a very effective 

 weapon ; and it was with this that he had been attacking 

 the stag. 



" I was on skidor," said he, " which you know is a sort of 

 long wooden skate, which enables you to get over the snow 

 at a quick pace, rather unmanageable, however, by a 

 novice like myself. A young bear having been discovered 

 in a cave, I begged he might be put at my discretion, and 

 that we might have a combat a Voutrance. They talked 

 a great deal of nonsense about danger, but at length the 

 point was conceded. I roused the beast with a great stone, 

 which hit him somewhere on the os frontis. Out came 

 Bruin with a growl, and I then belaboured him over the 

 head, and I realty believe I should have had the best of it, 



