louder, and, to his horror, he
felt a puff of hot breath full in his face.

There was no springing up now. An icy feeling chilled him, and he lay
perfectly motionless, unable to stir, and feeling as if he had suddenly
sunk into another dream--a nightmare this, by which he was completely
fettered.

His rifle lay on one side, loaded; his revolver was on the other, and
within reach of his hand; but he could not lift a finger, only stare
upward with his eyes fixed upon the stars, which now seemed to be
eclipsed by something dark passing between his face and them and
remaining perfectly motionless for a few seconds. Then it passed onward
and he could see the stars again, conscious the while that whatever the
creature might be that had visited him it was now standing or sitting
upon the long rock, to his left, breathing hard, with its head very near
his own, and that, apparently dissatisfied with its position, or uneasy,
it raised itself up and stepped over to the other side of the bed,
forming what looked faintly like a black arch before the hind-legs
followed the fore and it began to shuffle about uneasily upon the rock
to the boy's right. Then there was a scraping sound, and something fell
with a thump on to the listener's chest and slipped down between the
rock and his ribs.

Chris's heart had ceased its heavy beating, but at this point it gave a
tremendous bound which seemed to give him a momentary feeling of
resolution and strength; but momentary only. He could not stir even
now, only think, and listen to the creature upon the rock as it uttered
a peculiar whining sound, followed by a deep grunt.

Then all was still, as if the animal had been slightly alarmed and was
now listening.

"If I stir," thought Chris--for he knew what his visitant must be--"if I
stir it will seize me with its claws and bury its teeth in my throat.
Oh, it is hard!"

For he knew what had happened: the bear had in changing its position
upon the long piece of rock disturbed the revolver lying there, and
knocked it off on to the sleeper's chest, from which it had glided down
between his ribs and the rock to lie close to his hand, where he could
not seize it for his defence without rousing the animal to an attack
before he could cock the pistol and fire.

The position was horrible, for Chris felt that the monster must be a
grizzly, one of the fiercest and most powerful beasts that roam the
forest, and though so much help was close at ha