out; and, when we came inside, we carefully closed it up with some
large blocks of snow. But we did not go outside much, being afraid; and
at length, when one of the bears was discovered prowling about very near
the hut, we drew within our fortification, closed the opening in the
wall as tightly as possible, and were prepared for a siege.

"At first we did not sleep much, being all the time fearful of attack;
but gaining courage as we found, day after day, that the bears did not
come to molest us, we at length fell asleep both together; and it was
while we were thus asleep that the bears discovered us. Before either of
us awoke, they had actually scaled the wall of our snow-fort, and
advanced to where our food and fuel were stowed, close to the mouth of
the hut, and were tearing through the snow to get at it.

"We were, naturally enough, much alarmed, not so much on our own
immediate account, as on account of our stores, for the bears would, we
knew very well, not be likely to trouble us so long as there was
anything else to eat; but then they might just as well eat us first, and
the stores afterward, as to eat the stores first; for then we must
surely starve and freeze, which would be quite as bad.

"Fully sensible of our unhappy condition, and the first feeling of alarm
having passed over, we began seriously to speculate upon what we should
do; for something had to be done, and that very quickly.

"I looked out through the window, and there were the bears all crowded
together in the narrow passage; and one of them had already got among
the frozen ducks, which were tumbling in the snow about his feet, and he
had one in his mouth, crunching away at it in such a manner as to leave
no doubt that he was either very hungry or was in a violent hurry;
growling all the while,--'Ung, ung, ung,'--with each crunch he gave, to
keep away the other two bears. This bear was much the largest of the
three; the smallest one was not, as I said before, larger than a
Newfoundland dog,--not larger than Port or Starboard. Thus you see not
only what a destructive, but what a selfish, beast he was.

"From alarm we now got to be angry, as we observed the liberties these
bears were taking with our food, and the little ceremony they made of
eating up, in this wholesale manner, what had cost us so much hard labor
to get, and upon which our very lives now depended.

"I seized 'Old Crumply' in very desperation, and asked the Dean if he
would f