in his bear-skin, he did not at first care to press the
inquiry; but, as Okiok had anticipated, the peculiar smell near his nose
tended to arouse him. Drawing his hand gently up, he touched the object
in front of his mouth. It felt very like blubber, with which substance
he was familiar. Extending his tongue, he found that it also tasted
like blubber. To a starving man this was enough. He pulled the end of
the raw morsel into his mouth and began to chew.

Ah, reader, turn not up your refined nose! When you have been for
several months on short allowance, when you have scraped every shred of
meat off the very last bones of your provisions, and sucked out the last
drop of marrow, and then roasted and eaten your spare boots, you may
perhaps be in a position to estimate and enjoy a morsel of raw blubber.

Regardless of time, place, and circumstance, our poor wanderer continued
to chew until in his great weakness he fell into a sort of half slumber,
and dreamed--dreamed of feasting on viands more delightful than the
waking imagination of man has ever conceived.

From this state of bliss he was rudely awakened by a roughish poke in
the back. The poke was accompanied by a snuffing sound which caused the
blood of the poor man to curdle. Could it be a bear?

He was not left long in doubt. After giving him another poke on the
shoulder, the creature walked round him, snuffing as it went, and, on
reaching the air-hole already referred to, thrust its snout in and
snorted. Rooney turned his face aside to avoid the blast, but otherwise
lay quite still, knowing well that whatever animal his visitor might be,
his only hope lay in absolute inaction. Venturing in a few seconds to
turn his face round and peep through the opening, he found that the
animal was in very deed a large white bear, which, having found and
abstracted the remains of the blubber he had been chewing, was at that
moment licking its lips after swallowing it. Of course, finding the
morsel satisfactory, the bear returned to the hole for more.

It is easier to conceive than to describe the poor man's feelings at
that moment, therefore we leave the reader to conceive them. The
natural and desperate tendency to spring up and defend himself had to be
combated by the certain knowledge that, encased as he was, he could not
spring up, and had nothing wherewith to defend himself except his
fingers, which were no match for the claws of a Polar bear.

The blood w