than ours."

Fritz seemed grieved to give up his plan, and suggested that he could
forge some strong bars of iron to place before the opening, which could
be removed at will.

"But," said I, "they will not prevent the snakes from passing
underneath. I have noticed some with terror, as they are animals I have
a great antipathy to; and if your mother saw one crawl into her grotto,
she would never enter it again; even if she did not die of fright."

"Well, we must give it up," said Fritz; "but it is a pity. Do you
think, father, there are more bears in the island than those we killed?"

"In all probability," said I; "it is scarcely to be supposed that there
should only be two. I cannot well account for their being here. They can
swim very well, and perhaps the abundance of fruit in this part of the
island may have attracted them." I then gave my son a short account of
their manners and habits, from the best works on the history of
these animals.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLVI.

Whilst we continued to talk and to admire the beauty of the stars, they
at length began to fade away before the first light of morning. Ernest
returned to us, and we awoke Jack, who had slept uninterruptedly, and
was quite unconscious where he was. We returned to the pass, which now,
by the light of day, seemed to us in a more hopeless state than in the
dusk of evening. I was struck with consternation: it appeared to me that
we were entirely enclosed at this side; and I shuddered to think of
crossing the island again, to pass round at the other end, of the risk
we should run of meeting wild beasts, and of the painful and perilous
passage along the coral reefs. At that moment I would gladly have
consented to open a passage through the grotto, at the hazard of any
visitors, in order to get through myself, that I might relieve the
anxious feelings of my dear wife and boy. The thoughts of their agony
unnerved me, and took away all courage for the commencement of a labour
which seemed impossible, our only utensils being a small saw, and a
little dibble for taking up plants, which Ernest had been unwilling to
leave behind us. The path by which Jack and I had passed was covered
with rocks and masses of soil, which obstructed even the course of the
stream; we could not discover the place we had forded, the river had
opened itself a wider course, far beyond its former one.

"It is impossible," said Fritz, gazing on the