"Nothing exactly," said the old sailor, "and yet--" "Come, out with it!" exclaimed Altamont. "Hush! don't you hear a peculiar noise?" "Where?" "Here, on this side, on the wall of the room." Bell stopped working, and listened attentively like the rest. Johnson was right; a noise there certainly was on the side wall, as if some one were cutting the ice. "Don't you hear it?" repeated Johnson. "Hear it? Yes, plain enough," replied Altamont. "Is it the bears?" asked Bell. "Most assuredly." "Well; they have changed their tactics," said old Johnson, "and given up the idea of suffocating us." "Or may be they suppose we are suffocated by now," suggested the American, getting furious at his invisible enemies. "They are going to attack us," said Bell. "Well, what of it?" returned Hatteras. "We shall have a hand-to-hand struggle, that's all." "And so much the better," added Altamont; "that's far more to my taste; I have had enough of invisible foes--let me see my antagonist, and then I can fight him." "Ay," said Johnson; "but not with guns. They would be useless here." "With knife and hatchet then," returned the American. The noise increased, and it was evident that the point of attack was the angle of the wall formed by its junction with the cliff. "They are hardly six feet off now," said the boatswain. "Right, Johnson!" replied Altamont; "but we have time enough to be ready for them." And seizing a hatchet, he placed himself in fighting attitude, planting his right foot firmly forward and throwing himself back. Hatteras and the others followed his example, and Johnson took care to load a gun in case of necessity. Every minute the sound came nearer, till at last only a thin coating separated them from their assailants. Presently this gave way with a loud crack, and a huge dark mass rolled over into the room. Altamont had already swung his hatchet to strike, when he was arrested by a well-known voice, exclaiming-- "For Heaven's sake, stop!" "The Doctor! the Doctor!" cried Johnson. And the Doctor it actually was who had tumbled in among them in such undignified fashion. "How do ye do, good friends?" he said, picking himself smartly up. His companions stood stupefied for a moment, but joy soon loosened their tongues, and each rushed eagerly forward to welcome his old comrade with a loving embrace. Hatteras was for once fairly overcome with emotion, and positively hugged him like a child. "And is it really you, Mr. Clawbonny?" said Johnson. "Myself and nobody else, my old fellow. I assure you I have been far more uneasy about you than you could have been about me." "But how did you know we had been attacked by a troop of bears?" asked Altamont. "What we were most afraid of was that you would come quickly back to Fort Providence, never dreaming of danger."