mpt to camp here."

"I should say not," cried the doctor, "if we are likely to have another
bear visitor."

"Do you think you can walk a few miles, Steve?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, if you will go slowly," replied the boy. "I'm very stiff now, but
I shall get better as we go on."

And risking the destruction and loss of the skin, they started at once
for the boat, to reach it after what to Steve was a long and painful
walk.

That night he slept so soundly that ten hours had passed before he made
his appearance in the cabin, a good deal scratched and otherwise marked,
but little the worse for his adventure.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

SIGNS OF THE COLD.

The skin of the bear was considered to be of too much value to be left
to rot, so that next morning a fresh start was made as before, and in
due time the place was reached where the roughly-built fireplace stood
up blackened against the grey stones. But the bear lay out of sight
beyond a mass of rock.

As they came to where the animal should have been, it did not seem to be
there; but directly after Steve pointed, nearly speechless with wonder.

"Look!" he cried. "Come to life again."

Johannes laughed.

"Hardly," he said; "don't you see that it is the bear's mate."

So it proved; and upon the party approaching the dead animal, their
coming was savagely resented, and the second bear came on at once to the
attack so fiercely that the battle began at once, with the result that
the Norsemen, who had all accompanied this expedition, had two bears to
skin, and the sledge was heavily laden with the valuable portion of
their game.

Certain threatening signs were pointed out by Johannes soon after, and
they started back, but did not reach the boat till the ground was
covered with snow and a peculiar chill was in the air. This snow in
summer was unseasonable, but it made the sleigh run easily, and the boat
was reached in less time than had been anticipated; but the mountain
slopes on either side of the fiord were completely transformed by the
snow, an early taste of the winter they might expect to set in before
long if they stayed.

As the summer glided on the great rampart of ice was patiently watched
for tokens of melting, but these signs were few; and as the sun rose
less high day by day, and there were once more hours of darkness, the
prospect of their having to bear the winter where they were began to be
discussed.

But meanwhile there was a long expe