that deluded
bear within range. There! he has shot his arrow and hit the mark, but
the bear does not seem to be very much the worse. Aha! now you have to
run for it, my good fellow. By Jove, the matter grows exciting!"

The Esquimaux had indeed been compelled to "run for it," the only
apparent effect of the arrow being to irritate the bear. The man ran
fairly well, although hampered with an immense amount of clothing, but
the bear proved the faster of the two. He rapidly gained upon the man,
and seemed about to spring upon him when the party in the pilot-house
poured in a general fusillade from their rifles. There was just a
perceptible click from the locks of the weapons, but neither fire nor
smoke appeared, neither was there any report. At that moment the bear
rose upon his hind-legs and, reaching forward with his fore-paws, aimed
a terrific blow at the flying hunter. The man, who had been intently
watching his enemy all the while, nimbly leaped aside, and, quick as
thought, plunged a light lance fairly under the creature's armpit and
deep into his body. The bear uttered a single roar of pain and baffled
rage, staggered a moment, and fell upon the ice, dead.

"Bravo! very cleverly done, indeed," exclaimed the colonel,
apostrophising the distant Esquimaux; "that was a lucky stroke for you,
my man. But, I say, professor, what in the world is the matter with
these wretched rifles? Every one of them missed fire, and, so far as we
are concerned, that unfortunate Esquimaux might have been killed."

"He might--yes, that is quite true," answered the professor with
provoking composure; "but if he had been it would have been our fault,
not that of the rifles; it was we who missed, not they. Every one of
them duly discharged its bullet, and we simply missed our mark. But had
we--or rather had _I_--preserved my presence of mind, I could still have
saved the man, for each of these weapons is a magazine rifle, firing
twenty shots--a fact which I had forgotten for the moment, and which it
now seems I have never yet explained to you. Fortunately, the poor man
has proved quite able to take care of himself; but the shameful way in
which we all missed the bear, and our failure to fire again, is a lesson
on the folly of using untried weapons in an emergency. We must
practise, gentlemen; we must practise."

And, without troubling themselves further as to what became of the
Esquimaux and his game, the deeply mortified par