Page:Furcountryorseve00vernrich.djvu/388

230 THE FUR COUNTRY. pathway along the snow. It was evident the poor wretch had been unable to walk farther, and had crept along on hands and knees ; here and there fragments of torn clothes were scattered about, bits of sealskin and fur. " Come, come," cried Mrs Barnett, whose heart beat violently. Madge followed her, they were only a few yards from Cape Esquimaux, which now rose only a few feet upon the sea-level against the background of the sky, and was quite deserted. The impressions now led them to the right of the cape, and run- ning along they soon climbed to the top, but there was still nothing, absolutely nothing, to be seen. At the foot of the cape, where the slight ascent began, the traces turned to the right, and led straight to the sea. Mrs Barnett was turning to the right also, but just as she was stepping on to the beach, Madge, who had been following her and looking about uneasily, caught hold of her hand, and exclaimed — " Stop 1 stop ! " " No, Madge, no ! " cried Mrs Barnett, who w5s drawn along by a kind of instinct in spite of herself. " Stop, stop, and look ! " cried Madge, tightening her hold on her mistress's hand. On the beach, about fifty paces from Cape Esquimaux, a large white mass was moving about and growling angrily. It was an immense Polar bear, and the two women watched it with beating hearts. It was pacing round and round a bundle of fur on the ground, which it smelt at every now and then, lifting it up and letting it fall again. The bundle of fur looked like the dead body of a walrus. Mrs Barnett and Madge did not know what to think, whether to advance or to retreat, but presently as the body was moved about a kind of hood fell back from the head, and some long locks of brown hair were thrown over the snow. " It is a woman ! a woman ! " cried Mrs Barnett, eager to rush to her assistance and find out if she were dead or alive ! " Stop ! " repeated Madge, holding her back ; " the bear won't harm her." And, indeed, the formidable creature merely turned the body over, and showed no inclination of tearing it with its dreadful claws. It went away and came back apparently uncertain what to do. It had not yet perceived the two women who were so anxiously watching it.