"Do you think the game has gone south too?" asked the doctor, halting at the foot of a hummock. "It looks like it, Mr. Clawbonny," answered the carpenter. "I don't think so," answered Johnson; "hares, foxes, and bears are accustomed to the climate; I believe the late tempest is the cause of their disappearance; but with the south winds they'll soon come back. Ah! if you said reindeers or musk-oxen it would be a different thing." "But it appears those, too, are found in troops in Melville Island," replied the doctor; "that is much further south, I grant you; when Parry wintered there he always had as much game as he wanted." "We are not so well off," said Bell; "if we could only get plenty of bear's flesh I should not complain." "Bears are very difficult to get at," answered the doctor; "it seems to me they want civilising." "Bell talks about the bear's flesh, but we want its fat more than its flesh or its skin," said Johnson. "You are right, Johnson; you are always thinking about the fuel." "How can I help thinking about it? I know if we are ever so careful of it we've only enough left for three weeks." "Yes," replied the doctor, "that is our greatest danger, for we are only at the beginning of November, and February is the coldest month of the year in the Frozen Zone; however, if we can't get bear's grease we can rely on that of the seals." "Not for long, Mr. Clawbonny," answered Johnson. "They'll soon desert us too; either through cold or fright, they'll soon leave off coming on to the surface of the ice." "Then we must get at the bears," said the doctor; "they are the most useful animals in these countries: they furnish food, clothes, light, and fuel. Do you hear, Dick?" continued he, caressing his friend; "we must have a bear, so look out." Dick, who was smelling the ice as the doctor spoke, started off all at once, quick as an arrow. He barked loudly, and, notwithstanding his distance, the sportsmen heard him distinctly. The extreme distance to which sound is carried in these low temperatures is astonishing; it is only equalled by the brilliancy of the constellations in the boreal sky. The sportsmen, guided by Dick's barking, rushed on his traces; they had to run about a mile, and arrived quite out of breath, for the lungs are rapidly suffocated in such an atmosphere. Dick was pointing at about fifty paces from an enormous mass at the top of a mound of ice. "We've got him," said the doctor, taking aim. "And a fine one," added Bell, imitating the doctor. "It's a queer bear," said Johnson, waiting to fire after his two companions. Dick barked furiously. Bell advanced to within twenty feet and fired, but the animal did not seem to be touched. Johnson advanced in his turn, and after taking a careful aim, pulled the trigger. "What," cried the doctor, "not touched yet? Why, it's that cursed refraction. The bear is at least a thousand paces off."