black spots in the centre did
duty for its eyes.

The first thing Whackinta did on coming forward was to deposit the baby
on the snow with its head downwards by mistake, whereat it began to
scream vociferously. This scream was accomplished by Davie Summers
creeping below the stage and putting his mouth to a hole in the flooring
close to which the baby's head lay. Davie's falsetto was uncommonly like
to a child's voice, and the effect was quite startling. Of course
Whackinta tried to soothe it, and failing in this she whipped it, which
caused it to yell with tenfold violence. Thereafter losing all patience,
she covered its face and stuffed its mouth with a quantity of snow, and
laying it down on its back, placed a large block of ice on its head.
This, as might be expected, had the desired effect, and the baby was
silenced--not, however, until Whackinta had twice called down the hole
in a hoarse whisper, "That'll do, Davie; stop, man, stop!" Then, sitting
down on the hummock which Blunderbore had just left--and from behind
which he was now eagerly watching her--she began to weep.

Having given full vent to her feelings in a series of convulsive sobs,
Whackinta addressed a lengthened harangue, in a melancholy tone of
voice, to the audience, the gist of which was that she was an
unfortunate widow; that two bears had fallen in love with her, and
stolen her away from her happy home in Nova Zembla; and, although they
allowed her to walk about as much as she chose, they watched her closely
and prevented her escaping to her own country. Worst of all, they had
told her that she must agree to become the wife of one or other of them,
and if she did not make up her mind and give them an answer that very
day, she was to be killed and eaten by both of them. In order the more
strongly to impress the audience with her forlorn condition, Whackinta
sang a tender and touching ditty, composed by herself expressly for the
occasion, and sang it so well that it was encored twice.

To all this Blunderbore listened with apparent rapture, and at length
ventured to advance and discover himself; but the instant Whackinta saw
him she fell on her knees and trembled violently.

"Spare me, good king," she said; "do not slay me. I am a poor widow, and
have been brought here by two bears against my will."

"Woman," said the giant, "my name is Blunderbore. I am, as you perceive
by my crown, a king; and I am a lonely man. If I kill the two bears you