e
carried down here, however, for the cliffs were nearly perpendicular,
and the snow slipping over their edges had fallen on the grass below.
Such an avalanche was now about to take place, and it was this that
caused Joe to utter his cry of alarm and warning.

Henri and the horse were directly under the cliff over which it was
about to be hurled, the latter close to the wall of rock, the other at
some distance away from it.

Joe cried again, "Back, Henri! back _vite_!" when the mass _flowed
over_ and fell with a roar like prolonged thunder. Henri sprang back
in time to save his life, though he was knocked down and almost
stunned; but poor Charlie was completely buried under the avalanche,
which now presented the appearance of a _hill_ of snow.

The instant Henri recovered sufficiently, Joe and he mounted their
horses and galloped back to the camp as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, another spectator stepped forward upon the scene they had
left, and surveyed the snow hill with a critical eye. This was no less
than a grizzly bear, which had, unobserved, been a spectator, and
which immediately proceeded to dig into the mound, with the purpose,
no doubt, of disentombing the carcass of the horse for purposes of his
own.

While he was thus actively engaged the two hunters reached the camp,
where they found that Pierre and his party had just arrived. The men
sent out in search of them had scarcely advanced a mile when they
found them trudging back to the camp in a very disconsolate manner.
But all their sorrows were put to flight on hearing of the curious way
in which the horses had been returned to them with interest.

Scarcely had Dick Varley, however, congratulated himself on the
recovery of his gallant steed, when he was thrown into despair by the
sudden arrival of Joe with the tidings of the catastrophe we have just
related.

Of course there was a general rush to the rescue. Only a few men were
ordered to remain to guard the camp, while the remainder mounted their
horses and galloped towards the gorge where Charlie had been entombed.
On arriving, they found that Bruin had worked with such laudable zeal
that nothing but the tip of his tail was seen sticking out of the hole
which he had dug. The hunters could not refrain from laughing as they
sprang to the ground, and standing in a semicircle in front of the
hole, prepared to fire. But Crusoe resolved to have the honour of
leading the assault. He seized fast hold of B