s," gasped the old man. "Help my Anjuta." And
his eyes closed.

Then something quite unexpected happened. The beast was already
preparing to flay his victim in the most approved bear-fashion from the
skull downwards, when a bright light flared in his eyes. Master Bruin's
mind became suddenly confused. He did not pause to investigate, but rose
at once and trotted away as fast as his feet could carry him.

"Grandfather! O Grandfather!" cried the child, lamenting as she threw
herself on his prostrate body. Driven by fear for him, she had appeared
with the burning pine-torch just in time to save her benefactor.

Ivan awoke from his swoon. "Water! Water!" he gasped hoarsely. Before
his eyes there danced fiery sparks: his breast felt terribly
constricted. He eagerly drained the cup which the child reached to him;
then he rose painfully and limped, leaning on his gun, to the hut,
where, covered up warmly by Anjuta, he fell into a death-like slumber.
He awoke, feeling tired and sick. There was a buzzing in his head; one
leg was badly injured, and the bear's claw had left deep marks on his
back.

"We can't do anything to-day with the hole, Anjuta! If I remain quiet
to-day, perhaps we can to-morrow."

But the next day came, and a second, and a third, and there was no
possibility of thinking of work. Not till a week had passed could he
rise from his bed. When he came out of the hurt, he uttered a cry of
surprise. The red and yellow leaves still hung on the trees, but a thin
coverlet of snow lay over the whole face of the clearing. In the air the
snow-flakes crossed and whirled in white confusion. Winter had brought
out its corpse-cloth overnight.

X

All that remained to the convict of his brief summer happiness was
Anjuta. As he lay on his bed of soft skins his burning eyes never left
the child. The unfortunate man suffered severely. In the first shock he
had not been able to judge distinctly how seriously the bear had injured
him. The deep wound in his shoulder would not heal, although Anjuta had
learnt how to wash and bandage it daily. It was soon accompanied by a
fever. Meanwhile, time went on remorselessly; the winter regularly
settled in, and the rude hut no longer afforded sufficient shelter. One
day Ivan dragged himself on all fours into the open, and with endless
trouble began to plaster the hut outside with earth. Within, he dug a
hollow in the ground, and with the help of a pole made a hole in the
roof, which