were reverberating with the loud
halloos and frantic yells of the men, as they burst suddenly over the
ridge, and poured down upon the bears like a torrent of maniacs!

Bold though they were they couldn't stand this. They turned tail and
fled, followed by the disappointed howls of O'Riley, and also by his
cudgel, which he hurled violently after them as he pulled up.

Having thus triumphantly put the enemy to flight the party continued
their ascent of the hill and soon gained the summit.

"There it is!" shouted Fred, who, in company with Mivins, first crossed
the ridge and tossed his arms in the air.

The men cheered loudly as they hurried up, and one by one emerged into a
red glow of sunshine. It could not be termed _warm_, for it had no
power in that frosty atmosphere, and only a small portion of the sun's
disc was visible. But his _light_ was on every crag and peak around;
and as the men sat down in groups, and, as it were, bathed in the
sunshine, winking at the bright gleam of light with half-closed eyes,
they declared that it _felt_ warm, and wouldn't hear anything to the
contrary, although Saunders, true to his nature, endeavoured to prove to
them that the infinitely small degree of heat imparted by such feeble
rays could not by any possibility be _felt_ except in imagination. But
Saunders was outvoted. Indeed, under the circumstances, he had not a
chance of proving his point; for the more warm the dispute became the
greater was the amount of animal heat that was created, to be placed,
falsely, to the credit of the sun.

Patience, however, is a virtue which is sure to meet with a reward. The
point which Saunders failed to prove by argument was pretty well proved
to everyone (though not admitted) by the agency of John Frost. That
remarkably bitter individual nestled round the men as they sat sunning
themselves, and soon compelled them to leap up and apply to other
sources for heat. They danced about vigorously, and again took to
leap-frog. Then they tried their powers at the old familiar games of
home. Hop-step-and-jump raised the animal thermometer considerably; and
the standing leap, running leap, and high leap sent it up many degrees.
But a general race brought them almost to a summer temperature, and at
the same time, most unexpectedly, secured to them a hare. This little
creature, of which very few had yet been procured, darted in an evil
hour out from behind a rock right in front of the men, wh