aw had torn
mantle and tunic and flesh into ribbons; but in some way the Viking must
have managed to turn and grapple with his foe, for now his distorted
face was close to the dripping jaws. Two bloody mangled spots upon
either arm showed where the brute's teeth had been; but if the bear's
paws were gripping the man's shoulders, still the man's hands were
locked about the bear's ears. That the pair had been down once, leaves
and dirt in hair and fur were witness; and now they went down again,
ploughing up the earth, screaming and panting, growling and roaring; one
of the brute's hind legs drawing up and striking down in a motion of
terrible meaning.

It was too ghastly a thing to watch inactive. Already every man's knife
was in his hand, and three men were crouching for a spring, when the
chief swept them back with a stern gesture.

"Attacking thus, you can reach no vital part," he reminded them. And he
shouted to the struggling man, "Feign death! you can do nothing without
your weapon. Feign death."

It appeared to Alwin that to do this would require greater courage than
to struggle; but while the words were still in the air, the man obeyed.
His hands relaxed their hold; his head fell backward on the ground; and
he lay under the shaggy body like a dead thing. The black muzzle poked
curiously about his face, but he did not stir.

After a suspicious sniff, the victor appeared to accept the truth of his
conquest. Exactly as though he said, "Come! Here is one good job done;
what next?" he got up with a grunt, and, rising to his hind feet, stood
growling and rolling his fiery little eyes from one to another of the
intruders in the brush.

"If now one could only hurl a spear at his heart!" murmured the sailor
at Alwin's shoulder. But the difficulties of path-finding through an
unbroken thicket had kept the men from cumbering themselves with weapons
so unwieldy.

Leif spoke up quickly, "There is no way but to trust to our knives.
Since I am superior to any in strength, I will grapple with him first.
If I fail, which I do not expect, I will preserve my life as Lodin is
doing; and the Fearless One here shall take his turn."

Alwin was too wild with delight to remember any-thing else. "For that, I
thank you as for a crown!" he gasped.

Even as he stepped out to meet the foe, Leif smiled ironically.
"Certainly you are better called the Fearless than the Courteous," he
said. "It would have been no more than polite for yo