By-and-by the moon rose, and a silver light showed the scene in new and horrible distinctness. The one bear was dead. Stark and stiff he lay by his last victim, and silver light and ebon shadow were distributed evenly over the bodies of bear and stag, murderer and murdered.
A breaking bough and a quick scraping sound broke the silence.
'By Jove, that was a shave!' panted Towzer's young voice.
'What are you at, you little idiot?' cried Snap.
'Jolly nearly fell out of this tree,' replied the boy.
'Went to sleep, I suppose?' said Snap in a tone of disgust.
'I don't know about that,' said Towzer, in a piteous tone, 'but I cannot hold on to these clothes-pegs much longer.'
The clothes-pegs were the short stumps of boughs to which the boy had been clinging.
'Snap, couldn't we make a fight of it? I want my supper,' added Towzer, 'and there's only one bear now.'
'How are we to fight? I've got no rifle, and without that you are more likely to satisfy the bear's appetite than your own,' replied Snap.