ctor. Poor Clawbonny! so
kind, so devoted! the soul of the little colony! for the first time he
was missing; extreme peril, a terrible death, awaited him; for when
his excursion was over he would return quietly to Fort Providence, and
would find these ferocious animals. And there was no way of warning
him.

"If I'm not mistaken, he will be on his guard; your shots must have
warned him, and he must know something has happened."

"But if he were far off," answered Altamont, "and did not understand?
There are eight chances out of ten that he'll come back without
suspicion of danger! The bears are hiding behind the scarp of the
fort, and he can't see them."

"We shall have to get rid of these dangerous beasts before his
return," answered Hatteras.

"But how?" asked Bell.

To answer this question was not easy. A sortie seemed impossible. They
took the precaution to barricade the entrance, but the bears could
easily have overcome the obstacles if the idea had occurred to them;
they knew the number and strength of their adversaries, and they could
easily have reached them. The prisoners were posted in each one of the
chambers of Doctor's House to watch for every attempt at entrance;
when they listened, they heard the bears coming and going, growling,
and tearing at the walls with their huge paws. But some action was
necessary; time was pressing. Altamont resolved to make a loop-hole to
shoot the assailants; in a few minutes he had made a little hole in
the ice-wall; he pushed his gun through it; but it had scarcely
reached the other side before it was torn from his hands with
irresistible force before he could fire.

[Illustration]

"The devil!" he cried, "we are too weak."

And he hastened to close the loop-hole. Thus matters went for an hour,
without any end appearing probable. The chances of a sortie were
discussed; they seemed slight, for the bears could not be fought
singly. Nevertheless, Hatteras and his companions, being anxious to
finish it, and, it must be said, very much confused at being thus
imprisoned by the beasts, were about to try a direct attack, when the
captain thought of a new means of defence.

He took the poker and plunged it into the stove; then he made an
opening in the wall, but so as to keep a thin coating of ice outside.
His companions watched him. When the poker was white hot, Hatteras
said,--

"This bar will drive away the bears, for they won't be able to seize
it, and through the lo