"Well, at any rate," he said, "I won't die of cold if I must of hunger." He set to work to hew out a hut in an iceberg, aided by Johnson, and really they looked like men digging their own tomb.
It was hard labor, but at length the task was accomplished. The little house was ready, and the miserable men took up their abode in it.
In the evening, while the others lay motionless, a sort of hallucination came over Johnson, and he began raving about bears.
The Doctor roused himself from his torpor, and asked the old man what he meant, and what bear he was talking about.
"The bear that is following us," replied Johnson.
"A bear following us?"
"Yes, for the last two days!"
"For the last two days! You have seen him?"
“Yes, about a mile to leeward."
"And you never told me, Johnson!"
“What was the good!"
"True enough," said the Doctor; "we have not a single ball to send after him!"
"No, not even a bit of iron!"
The Doctor was silent for a minute, as if thinking. Then he said:
"Are you quite certain the animal is following us?"
"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, he is reckoning on a good feed of human flesh!"
"Johnson!" exclaimed the Doctor, grieved at the despairing mood of his companion.
"He is sure enough of his meal!" continued the poor fellow, whose brain began to give way. "He must be hungry, and I don't see why we should keep him waiting."
"Johnson, calm yourself!"
"No, Mr. Clawbonny, since we must die, why prolong the sufferings of the poor beast? He is famished like ourselves. There are no seals for him to eat, and Heaven sends him men! So much the better for him, that's all!"
Johnson was fast going mad. He wanted to get up and leave the hut, and the Doctor had great difficulty in preventing him. That he succeeded at all was not through
