ough the interview was purely accidental, it
ended in Bruin being deprived of his life and his long-haired robe.

The sloth bear did not submit tamely to this double robbery, for he was
himself the assailant--having been the first to cry "stand and deliver!"
Nor was his conquest accomplished without a perilous struggle--that
came very near reducing the number of our heroes from odd to even. But
we shall give the account of the affair, as we find it detailed in the
journal of Alexis.

CHAPTER SIXTY.

BRUIN TAKEN BY THE TONGUE.

The travellers had halted for lunch, and tied their horses to the trees.
While Pouchskin was spreading out the comestibles, and Alexis engaged
in noting down in his journal the events of the day, Ivan--attracted by
a beautiful bird--had taken up his fowling-piece, and followed the bird
through the jungle--in hopes of getting a shot at it. We go along with
Ivan, for it was he who started the "mountebank" bear, that came near
mounting him on the moment of their meeting it.

Ivan was walking cautiously along a bank, that rose to about the height
of his head; but which in places was undermined, as if by the action of
running water--though there was no water to be seen. The ground,
however, upon which he trod was covered with pebbles and coarse gravel--
showing that at some period water must have flowed over it; and, indeed,
it was evidently the bed of a stream that had been full during the rainy
season, but was now completely dried up.

Ivan was not thinking of this; but of the beautiful bird which was
flitting about among the trees--still keeping out of the range of his
gun. He was in a bent attitude, crouching along under the bank--which
he was using as a cover, to enable him to approach the tantalising game.

All at once, a singular noise fell upon his ear. It was a sort of
monotonous purring, like that made by a spinning-machine, or a very
large tom-cat; and like the latter, it was prolonged and continuous.
The sound was not exactly pleasant to Ivan's ear, for it denoted the
proximity of some animal; and, although it was not loud, there was
something about the tone that told him the animal giving utterance to it
was a creature to be feared. In fact, it fell upon Ivan's ear in the
character of a warning; and caused him to desist from his pursuit of the
bird, come suddenly to a stand, and listen with great attention.

For some moments he was unable to make out whence the sound proc