ich had vanished suddenly out of
his sight. He paused for an instant to think what he should do next,
and while he did so he fancied he heard Redmouth's voice on the opposite
side of the mountain. With great difficulty he scrambled over steep
rocks, and forced a path through tangled thickets; but when he reached
the other side the sound appeared to start from the place from which he
had come. Then he had to go all the way back again, and at the very top,
where he stopped to rest, the barking was directly beneath him, and he
knew in an instant where he was and what had happened.

'Let my dog out at once, bear chief!' cried he. 'If you do not, I shall
destroy your palace.' But the bear chief only laughed, and said nothing.
The boy was very angry at his silence, and aiming one of his arrows at
the bottom of the mountain, shot straight through it.

As the arrow touched the ground a rumbling was heard, and with a roar a
fire broke out which seemed to split the whole mountain into pieces.
The bear chief and all his servants were burnt up in the flames, but his
sister and all that belonged to her were spared because she had tried to
save the two elder boys from punishment.

As soon as the fire had burnt itself out the little hunter entered
what was left of the mountain, and the first thing he saw was his two
brothers--half bear, half boy.

'Oh, help us! help us!' cried they, standing on their hind legs as they
spoke, and stretching out their fore-paws to him.

'But how am I to help you?' asked the little brother, almost weeping.
'I can kill people, and destroy trees and mountains, but I have no power
over men.' And the two elder brothers came up and put their paws on his
shoulders, and they all three wept together.

The heart of the bear chief's sister was moved when she saw their
misery, and she came gently up behind, and whispered:

'Little boy, gather some moss from the spring over there, and let your
brothers smell it.'

With a bound all three were at the spring, and as the youngest plucked a
handful of wet moss, the two others sniffed at it with all their might.
Then the bearskin fell away from them, and they stood upright once more.

'How can we thank you? how can we thank you?' they stammered, hardly
able to speak; and fell at her feet in gratitude. But the bear's sister
only smiled, and bade them go home and look after the little girl, who
had no one else to protect her.

And this the boys did, and took such