ject--a comrade
in imminent danger was equally so. They sprang forward to meet the
fugitives.

By this time the cloak had so retarded and strangled the poor artist
that he had fallen a pace or two behind Gibault, and it seemed almost
certain that he would fall a victim to the furious bear before the
trappers could kill it, for they could not venture to fire at it while
the fugitives almost screened it from their view. As they drew near to
each other the trappers almost instinctively divided into two parties.
Redhand and Hawkswing went a little to the right; Bounce, Waller, and
our hero, diverged to the left, so as to let the flying men pass between
them, and thus attack the bear on both sides at once.

Gibault attempted to cheer as he darted through the friendly line, but
he could only give forth a gasp. At that moment an unexpected incident
contributed to the deliverance of the artist. The bear was within a
yard of him as he came up; just then the clasp of his cloak gave way,
and the huge garment instantly enveloped the head of the bear and a
considerable portion of its body. It tripped, rolled over, and, in
attempting to free itself, tore the cloak to shreds.

At the same instant a volley was fired by the trappers, and three balls
pierced its body. None of them, however, seemed to have hit a mortal
part, for the infuriated animal instantly rose and glared from side to
side in disappointed malice, while the trappers who had fired were
reloading, each behind a bush, with perfect coolness, but with the
utmost celerity.

While the bear was on the ground, the fugitives had each sprung into the
bush, and found a place of concealment. Redhand on the one side, and
Bounce on the other, had reserved their fire; the wisdom of this was now
shown. The bear made a rush at the bushes on one side, and instantly
received a shot from the other. It turned at once to rush on the
concealed enemy there, but, before it had made a stride in that
direction, another ball was lodged in it from the opposite side. The
vacillations thus produced gave the other trappers time to reload, and,
before it had made up its mind which to attack, another volley was
fired, and three balls took effect, Redhand and Bounce still reserving
their fire as at the first.

The impotent fury of the creature was now awful to behold. It was
mortally wounded; there could be no doubt as to that, for the trappers
were all pretty good shots and knew where t