have come across something, and without
going very far, for I heard them distinctly. After all, the air is so
clear."

A second and then a third report was heard.

"Hulloa!" continued Johnson, "they've got into a good place."

Three other reports, in quicker succession, were heard.

"Six shots!" said Johnson; "now they've fired off everything. It was a
hot time! Is it possible--"

At the thought, Johnson grew pale; he quickly left the snow-house, and
in a few moments he had run up to the top of the cone. He saw a sight
that made him tremble.

"The bears!" he shouted.

The three hunters, followed by Duke, were running rapidly, followed by
five enormous animals; their six bullets had not disabled them; the
bears were gaining on them; Hatteras, behind the others, could only
keep his distance from the animals by throwing away his cap, hatchet,
and even his gun. The bears stopped, according to their habit, to
sniff at the different objects, and lost a little on this ground on
which they would have outstripped the swiftest horse. It was thus that
Hatteras, Altamont, and Bell, all out of breath, came up to Johnson,
and they all slid down the slope to the snow-house. The five bears
were close behind, and the captain was obliged to ward off the blow of
a paw with his knife. In a moment Hatteras and his companions were
locked in the house. The animals stopped on the upper plateau of the
truncated cone.

[Illustration: "Hatteras could only keep his distance from the animals
by throwing away his cap, hatchet, and even his gun."]

"Well," said Hatteras, "we can now defend ourselves better, five to
five!"

"Four to five!" shouted Johnson in a terrified voice.

"What?" asked Hatteras.

"The doctor!" answered Johnson, pointing to the empty room.

"Well?"

"He is on the shore of the island!"

"Poor man!" cried Bell.

"We can't abandon him in this way," said Altamont.

"Let us run!" said Hatteras.

He opened the door quickly, but he had hardly time to shut it; a bear
nearly crushed his skull with his claw.

"They are there," he cried.

"All?" asked Bell.

"All!" answered Hatteras.

Altamont hastened to the windows, heaping up the bays with pieces of
ice torn from the walls of the house. His companions did the same
without speaking. Duke's dull snarls alone broke the silence.

[Illustration]

But it must be said these men had only a single thought; they forgot
their own danger, and only considered the do