"Don't fire!" again whispered P----; "take your time."

"'Don't fire!' and 'take your time,'" said R----; "but _what_ do you
see?"

"Look _there_! don't you see him--close to that old stump?"

"Oh! ah! _now_ I do. By Jove! he's a wapper!"

"Where are those fellows?" asked P----, glancing round. I guessed to
whom he alluded, and beckoned to our guides, who were sitting at some
short distance, in ignorance of our plight, but had been watching our
actions with all the attention, and listening to our conversation with
all the comprehension of persons who did not understand our language. An
instant sufficed to range them at our elbows.

P---- pointed to the spot he had already suggested as the focus of
attention, and they both saw, with the quick-sightedness of men
accustomed to live by the chase, the cause of his excitement.

"Ja! ja!" they exclaimed simultaneously, their countenances radiant with
joy, "goot."

P---- bowed his head in the affirmative; and we could not help admiring
the courage of the Norwegians, which seemed to merge into enthusiasm,
the more imminent the risk and danger of our sport became.

An enormous bear, apparently fatigued by long travel, and panting loudly
with protruding tongue, slowly stalked forth from a mound of earth which
had accumulated round the stump of a beech-tree grown to maturity, but
now decaying in the midst of rushes and briars of every sort. Bruin, no
doubt, overheard our voices, for he stopped on his way, drew in his
tongue, ceased his violent respiration; and, raising his head on high,
snuffed the air on all sides, and then placing his nose close to the
ground, kept it there for some little time. He was eighty or ninety
yards from the spot where we stood. As again his head was lifted up,
his small tuft of a tail moved quickly from right to left, revealing his
turbulence and hesitation.

"Don't let us all fire together," hinted P----, in an under tone; "but
let those Norwegians blaze away first, as we don't know anything about
their skill."

"Then, I'll follow," said R----.

"And my pistol next," I interceded.

"Very well; and I will try my luck last," said P----. "Are all ready?"

"All right," we both answered, and the two Norwegians assented with a
nod.

The bear kept moving gradually near and nearer to the bait, and
approached within a very short space of the rock where we lay hid,
thickly surrounded by the branches of the fir and beech.

"Fire!" breathed P