After gazing attentively at these traces for some minutes, the hunters looked at each other silently, and then the Doctor exclaimed:-- "Well, these are plain enough, I think!" "Ay, only too plain," added Bell, "bears have been here!" "First rate game!" said Altamont. "There's only one fault about it." "And what is that?" asked Bell. "What do you mean?" "I mean this--there are distinct traces of five bears, and five bears are rather too much for five men." "Are you sure there are five?" said Clawbonny. "Look and see for yourself. Here is one footprint, and there is another quite different. These claws are far wider apart than those; and see here, again, that paw belongs to a much smaller bear. I tell you, if you look carefully, you will see the marks of all five different bears distinctly." "You're right," said Bell, after a close inspection. "If that's the case, then," said the Doctor, "we must take care what we're about, and not be foolhardy, for these animals are starving after the severe winter, and they might be extremely dangerous to encounter and, since we are sure of their number----" "And of their intentions, too," put in Altamont. "You think they have discovered our presence here?" "No doubt of it, unless we have got into a bear-pass, but then, why should these footprints be in a circle round our fort? Look, these animals have come from the south-east, and stopped at this place, and commenced to reconnoitre the coast." [Illustration: ] "You're right," said the Doctor, "and, what's more, it is certain that they have been here last night." "And other nights before that," replied Altamont. "I don't think so," rejoined Clawbonny. "It is more likely that they waited till the cessation of the tempest, and were on their way down to the bay, intending to catch seals, when they scented us." "Well, we can easily find out if they come tonight," said Altamont. "How?" "By effacing all the marks in a given place, and if to-morrow, we find fresh ones, it will be evident that Fort Providence is the goal for which the bears are bound." [Illustration: ] "Very good, at any rate we shall know, then, what we have to expect." The three hunters set to work, and scraped the snow over till all the footprints were obliterated for a considerable distance. "It is singular, though," said Bell, "that bears could scent us all that way off; we have not been burning anything fat which might have attracted them." "Oh!" replied the Doctor, "bears are endowed with a wonderfully keen sense of smell, and a piercing sight; and, more than that, they are extremely intelligent, almost more so than any other animal. They have smelt something unusual; and, besides, who can tell whether they have not even found their way as far as our plateau during the tempest?" "But then, why did they stop here last night?" asked Altamont.