414 
THE BEAR. 
distance ahead. The cub being safe for the 
moment, she would wheel round and face 
the dogs, so as to give it a chance to run 
away; hut it always stopped just as it 
alighted till the mother came up and threw 
it ahead again. It seemed to expect hey 
aid and to be unable to go on without it. 
Sometimes the mother would run a few 
yards ahead, as if to coax the young one 
up to her; and when the dogs came up with 
her she would turn on them and drive them 
back. Then, as they dodged her blows, 
she would rejoin the cub and push it on, 
sometimes putting her head under it, some¬ 
times catching it in her mouth by the nape 
of the neck. 
“‘For some time she managed her retreat 
with great alacrity, leaving the two men far 
in the rear. But, after she had gone a mile 
and a half, her pace slackened, and, the little 
one being jaded, she soon came to a halt. 
“ ‘The fight was now a desperate one. The 
mother never went more than ten yards 
ahead, constantly looking at the cub. When 
the dogs came near her, she would sit upon 
her haunches and take the little one be¬ 
tween her hind-legs, fighting the dogs with 
