IT SKEMS AS IF MINUTES ARE HOURS. 435 
inferior muscle to equalize tlic Spending struggle. By 
a violent effort I retained my self-posscssionj sunk 
quietly into ray ambush, and, with tirmly-set teeth and 
pointed musket, awaited his appearance beyond the outer 
edge of the rock. 
“Lawton and Williams had, in the mean time, eazcd 
anxiously in my face, there to read information which 
could not now be imparted by words; and, as they ob- 
served its expression of almost alarmed excitement, they 
became a shade paler, and grasped their guns "with com- 
pressed lips and flashing eyes as they bent their steady 
gaze toward the clump of sea-weed. 
“It seemed as if minutes had become hours as we thus 
awaited his appearance. 
“We could hear the sounding beats of each others* 
hearts, and the hurried dip of your boat’s oars, which, 
now that the end was at band, we hailed as a promise of 
rescue should the probable struggle result from a mis- 
directed ball or the bear’s well-known tenacity of life. 
“ Slowly the moments dragged by: plainer became the 
sound of your oars : we could even hear the noise of the 
broken water under your rushing bow, when * * * * 
“ The deafening report of Lawton’s hea\^'-bored rhino- 
ceros rifle at my very ear caused me to spring to my feet 
and glance hurriedly around with a confused idea that 
concealment was no longer our forte, and that the time 
had at length come when muscle, coolness, and deter- 
mination were the only reserves for us to fall back upon. 
The game was now evidently under way, and nothing 
but steady nerves and desperate fighting was to save us. 
“Lawton had taken me by surprise when he fired; for 
