the rapidly decreasing pile of wood, and wondered what would take
place as soon as the fire had died down. He had no weapon with
which to defend himself.

For at least a quarter of an hour the bears and the lad gazed at
each other through the red light of the fire. The bears were
gradually moving forward, and every time the lad laid a stick of
wood on the blaze they seemed to understand more fully that his
defense was weakening.

George thought he had never seen wood burn away so fast. The blaze
seemed to melt it as boiling water melts ice.

Already the blaze was dropping lower, and the pile of wood was
almost gone. The bears sniffed at the blood stains where the boy
had lain on the floor, and turned fierce eyes on the figure by the
fire.

George estimated that his wood might last ten minutes longer. Then
there would be a rush, a crunching of bones and all would be over.

A rifle shot sounded from the outside, and one of the bears dropped
to the rocky floor, struggled spasmodically for a moment, and then
straightened out and lay still. The next instant another shot,
equally accurate, came and the second bear was dead in a moment.

The boy waited eagerly for the appearance of the man who had done
the shooting. He had no idea who the man might be, and was not
quite certain that the fellow had not taken from him one danger
only to place him in another. Still, he looked eagerly forward to