erminated, after
an hour's duration, in the British fleet attacking, fatally, the
Norwegian gun-boats at Christiansand, nemine contradicente, and the two
boors grinning from ear to ear.

At length our guides, by signs, signified that silence was requisite. A
quarter of an hour more elapsed when one of them motioned us to keep
close, and going down on his hands and feet, intimated the proximity of
our game.

We were now five and thirty yards from the brow of the mountain, and,
crawling with the stealth and silence of a cat, the principal guide
reached the summit, at the same moment levelling his gun, which made us
imagine that Bruin was in full view; but gradually lowering his piece,
till the butt reached the ground, and leaning on it with both hands, the
man turned towards us, shook his head, and smiled. We were instantly by
his side.

Round a hollow piece of table-land, tending to a swamp, we saw, standing
at equal distances from each other, three sheds, constructed of long fir
poles driven into the earth and tapering, like a cone, into the air,
covered scantily with the branches of the pine or fir, and having an
only inlet by which a man, crouching, might reach the interior. In the
centre of this swamp the carcass of a horse lay, mangled and scattered
in every direction. The trunks of trees, which had been felled for the
purpose, were piled on the dead body; and this was done that the bear,
finding it too troublesome, for he is economical of labour, to remove
the body nearer to his den, would satisfy his hunger on the spot, and
offer an opportunity to overtake him at his meals; besides, the bear,
being quick of sight and shy, and so sensitive of scent that he can
smell a man at the distance of a mile or more if he approaches _with_
the wind, will frequently leave his food and as frequently return to it;
and, therefore, the Norwegians conceal themselves in the kind of sheds I
have described above, and remain for days and nights under such
precarious roofs in order to circumvent and destroy the animal.

We felt rather disappointed at not having even seen old Bruin, but a
good laugh in some degree compensated us for the fatigue we had
undergone. For my own part, armed as I was with the rusty horse pistol,
and intent on the manufacture of my own bear's grease, I had heard so
many pleasing anecdotes of the bear's noble nature, that I did not
regret his retreat had been commenced in time. These animals, unless
severely