enient position for the doctor to get his shot, for the animal
was now face on to them; but it gave Johannes his chance, of which he
was not long in availing himself, for he rushed in and gave the monster
a terrible thrust with the lance.

The next instant the bear had swung round, snapping the shaft in two
like a straw, and made for Johannes with a roar, when, just as it was on
the point of overtaking the now unarmed man, crack went the captain's
rifle again, but without checking the monster in the least, and
Johannes' fate seemed sealed, when, with a sharp hiss, Steve loosed the
dog.

"At him, Skeny! css!"

The dog dashed at the bear with a furious burst of barks, and fixed his
teeth in the monster's hind leg, so diverting its attention that it
stopped to strike at the new enemy.

It was a fatal moment for the bear, but it gave the Norseman an
opportunity to escape. For, as the brute stopped to turn on Skene, the
doctor now had his chance, and fired, from not ten yards' distance, two
shots right in the shoulder, and with an aim that told well of his
knowledge of anatomy, for the bear stopped, rose up, and struck at the
air with its paws as if imagining its enemy was within reach, and then,
as it towered up far higher than a tall man, tottered for a moment or
two, and fell over backward--dead.

"Well done, Handscombe!" cried Captain Marsham warmly. "But, Johannes,
my good fellow, you were too daring; you ought not to have run so great
a risk."

"I am not hurt, sir," said the Norseman, smiling gravely; "and it gave
you the chance to fire."

"Yes; but suppose I had not been there to fire?" cried the captain.

"Ah, that would have been different, sir. Then I should not have been
there to break my lance in the bear's chest."

Johannes smiled as he approached the bear more closely to extricate his
spear.

"Mind!" cried Steve. "Perhaps he is not quite dead."

"There is no fear, sir," replied the man; and, seizing the broken shaft,
he dragged the head out of the bear's body, and then took out his knife.

"What are you going to do?" said Steve.

"Skin it, sir," replied the man, looking surprised that such a question
should be asked.

"But suppose its mate comes?"

Johannes paused, and looked dubious.

"Ah!" he said, "then we should have to fight the mate."

"No more fighting this time," said the captain. "And Steve is quite
right; the other bear may come in search of its companion. We must not
atte