AN UNBEARABLE STATE OF SUSPENSE. 43o 
the bushes from the noise of our oars. Tins state of sus- 
pense at length became so unbearable that the doctor 
determined to steal a cautious glance at him over the top 
of the boulder, and in the execution of this he was so 
fortunate as to get a good view and recover his hiding- 
place without being seen by Bruin. The feat was success- 
fully accomplished; but he has often expressed regret at 
having undertaken it, simply from the fact that the 
unexpected size and ferocious look of the monster, com- 
bined with the startling accounts we had all heard of his 
desperate mode of fighting, and their own total want of 
defensive arms, so troubled his ordinarilj'-steady nerves 
that he felt he should have fired with a truer eye and 
more steady aim had he avoided looking at him until the 
moment arrived to do so along the barrel of his musket. 
Ilis description of his savage appearance, as observed 
while he was thus evidently unconscious of the presence 
of danger, was vivid in the extreme. 
‘‘When I lifted my eye over the boulder,” he said, “I 
expected to see him at a distance of at least fifty yards 
up the beach, and to find him of a reasonable size. Ima- 
gine my surprise, therefore, — indeed, my alarm, — to find 
him almost under our noses and exceeding in size the 
largest of oxen. I must confess that I longed at that 
moment for one of two things, — either to feel my knife 
and revolver in my belt, or myself safely on shipboard. 
In fact, I think the latter feeling was a little the strongest 
if any thing. Of course my survey was a hurried one : 
still, I saw more than enough to increase my fears as to 
the result. See here wdiat it was that I saw. 
“His head, though quite large, was small when com- 
2B 
