was close at his heels he threw down his cap. The bear at
once pulled up, smelt it all round, tossed it into the air with his
snout, pawed it once or twice, then tore it to pieces with one wrench,
and continued the chase. Very little time was lost in this operation.
He was soon up with the man again; then a mitten was thrown down for his
inspection. After that the other mitten went, the cravat followed, and
the axe went next. All that I have just related happened in a very few
minutes. Davy was still a good quarter of a mile from the brig;
everything that he could tear off his person in haste and throw down was
gone, and the bear was once more coming up behind. As a last hope he
pulled off his heavy fur-coat and dropped it. This seemed to be a
subject of great interest to the bear, for it was longer in inspecting
it than the other things. And now poor Butts went tearing along like a
maniac, in his flannel shirt and trousers. He was a miserable and
curious object, for his body, besides being very long, was uncommonly
lanky, and his legs and arms seemed to go like the wings of a windmill.
Never, since the day of his birth, had Davy Butts run at such a pace, in
such light clothing, and in such severe frost!

A long line of low hummocks hid him from the brig. The moment he passed
these he came in sight of her and began to yell.

"Wot on airth is yon?" exclaimed Joe Davis, who chanced to be looking
over the gangway when this remarkable object appeared.

"The wild man o' the North himself, or my name aint Jim," said Crofts,
turning pale.

"Why, it's Davy Butts, I do believe," cried Sam Baker, who came on deck
at that moment.

Just then the bear came tearing round the end of the hummocks in full
chase.

"Hurrah! hallo! ho!" roared the men, who had crowded on deck at the
first note of alarm.

Sam Baker seized a heavy ash handspike about five feet long, and was on
his way to meet his comrade before the others had gained the ice. They
were not slow, however. Some with muskets, some with pistols and
cutlasses, and some with nothing but their fists--all followed Sam, who
was now far ahead.

Baker passed Davy without a remark, and ran straight at the bear, which
stopped on seeing such a big, powerful man running so furiously at him,
and flourishing a bludgeon that would almost have suited the hand of a
giant. But polar bears are not timid. He rose on his hind legs at
once, and paid no attention whatever to t