Skene uttered an excited yelp just then, and recognising in it the little foe which had so pertinaciously hung on to it for some time past, the bear now uttered a growl, and turned toward where Steve stood with the dog. "Rin, Meester Stevey, rin!" cried Watty, setting the example; "she's coming here." But the bear soon changed its tactics, for Johannes took a few steps forward and made a thrust at the animal with his lance. The great brute uttered a furious roar, swung round, struck at the lance shaft, and rose up upon its hind legs to seize the aggressor. It was a dangerous position for the Norseman, for could the bear get one blow at him with its great hook-armed paw, his chances of being extricated alive were doubtful. But he stood firm, for he had perfect confidence in the captain, and knew that he would seize this opportunity to fire. He was quite right. The captain drew trigger, there was the sharp, loud crack of the rifle, and almost simultaneously the thud of the bullet. The bear uttered a furious roar, and swung round to meet the enemy who had struck it that terrible blow on its shoulder. This brought it into an inconvenient position for the doctor to get his shot, for the animal was now face on to them; but it gave Johannes his chance, of which he was not long in availing himself, for he rushed in and gave the monster a terrible thrust with the lance. The next instant the bear had swung round, snapping the shaft in two like a straw, and made for Johannes with a roar, when, just as it was on the point of overtaking the now unarmed man, crack went the captain's rifle again, but without checking the monster in the least, and Johannes' fate seemed sealed, when, with a sharp hiss, Steve loosed the dog. "At him, Skeny! css!" The dog dashed at the bear with a furious burst of barks, and fixed his teeth in the monster's hind leg, so diverting its attention that it stopped to strike at the new enemy. It was a fatal moment for the bear, but it gave the Norseman an opportunity to escape. For, as the brute stopped to turn on Skene, the doctor now had his chance, and fired, from not ten yards' distance, two shots right in the shoulder, and with an aim that told well of his knowledge of anatomy, for the bear stopped, rose up, and struck at the air with its paws as if imagining its enemy was within reach, and then, as it towered up far higher than a tall man, tottered for a moment or two, and fell over backward--dead. "Well done, Handscombe!" cried Captain Marsham warmly. "But, Johannes, my good fellow, you were too daring; you ought not to have run so great a risk." "I am not hurt, sir," said the Norseman, smiling gravely; "and it gave you the chance to fire." "Yes; but suppose I had not been there to fire?" cried the captain. "Ah, that would have been different, sir. Then I should not have been there to break my lance in the bear's chest." Johannes smiled as he approached the bear more closely to extricate his spear.