an a feeling, of intense pity
touched Fred's heart, and he would have rejoiced at that moment had the
mother risen up and made her escape with her cub. He steeled his heart,
however, by reflecting that fresh provisions were much wanted on board
the _Dolphin_; still, neither he nor his shipmates could bring
themselves to shoot the gallant little animal, and it is possible that
they might have made up their minds to allow it to escape after all, had
not Meetuck quietly ended their difficulty by putting a ball through its
heart.

"Ah! then, Meetuck," said O'Riley, shaking his head as they examined
their prize, "ye're a hardhearted spalpeen, ye are, to kill a poor
little baby like that in cowld blood. Well, well, it's yer natur', an'
yer trade, so I s'pose it's all right."

The weight of this bear, which was not of the largest size, was
afterwards found to be above five hundred pounds, and her length was
eight feet nine inches. The cub weighed upwards of a hundred pounds, and
was larger than a Newfoundland dog.

The operation of cutting out the entrails, preparatory to packing on the
sledge, was now commenced by Meetuck, whose practised hand applied the
knife with the skill, though not with the delicacy, of a surgeon.

"She has been a hungry bear, it seems," remarked Fred, as he watched the
progress of the work, "if we may judge from the emptiness of her
stomach."

"Och! but she's had a choice morsel, if it was a small wan," exclaimed
O'Riley in surprise, as he picked up a plug of tobacco. On further
examination being made, it was found that this bear had dined on
raisins, tobacco, pork, and adhesive plaster! Such an extraordinary
mixture of articles, of course, led the party to conclude that either
she had helped herself to the stores of the _Dolphin_ placed on Store
Island, or that she had fallen in with those of some other vessel. This
subject afforded food for thought and conversation during the next hour
or two, as they drove towards the ship along the ice-belt of the shore.

The ice-belt referred to is a zone of ice which extends along the shore
from the unknown regions of the North. To the south it breaks up in
summer and disappears altogether, but in the latitude which our
travellers had now reached, it was a permanent feature of the scenery
all the year round, following the curvatures and indentations of bays
and rivers, and increasing in winter or diminishing in summer, but never
melting entirely away. The