274 THE WORLD OF ICE.

effectual they might have proved at Donnybrook, were
utterly worthless there.

There were four large bears and a young one, and
the gambols they performed were of the inost start-
ling as well as amusing kind. But that which in-
terested and surprised the crew most was the fact
that these bears were playing with barrels, and casks,
and tent-poles, and sails. They were engaged in a
regular frolic with these articles, tossing them up in
the air, pawing them about, and leaping over them
like kittens. In these movements they displayed
their enormous strength several times. Their leaps,
although performed with the utmost ease, were so
great as to prove the iron nature of their muscles.
They tossed the heavy casks, too, high into the air
like tennis-balls, and in two instances, while the
crew were watching them, dashed a cask in pieces
with a slight blow of their paws. The tough can-
vas yielded before them like sheets of paper, and
the havoe they committed was wonderful to be-
hold.

“Most extraordinary!” exclaimed Captain Guy,
after watching them for some time in silence. “TI
cannot imagine where these creatures can have got
hold of such things. Were not the goods at Store
Island all right this morning, Mr. Bolton 2”

“ Yes, sir, they were.”

“ Nothing missing from the ship ?”

“ No, sir, nothing.”

“ It’s most unaccountable.”