Winter Adventures of Three Boys in the Great Lone Land

by Egerton Ryerson Young

In the meantime, the storm in passing the point had spread out over the whole place, and the rain, which was now descending in torrents, began to be very uncomfortable. A rim of light was still in the distance, and with the now almost incessant flashings of the lightning it was possible to grope around for a dry and more sheltered spot under the great rock. Alec, who had volunteered to go out and try to find a drier place, and who was now groping along in one direction as the lightning lit up his path, was heard to suddenly let out a cry of alarm and then almost immediately after burst into a hearty peal of laughter.

“What in the world have you found in such a place to cause you to act like this?” said Frank, who was really annoyed at the merriment of Alec after such a narrow escape.

“Come here and you will see,” was the only reply they could secure from Alec, who was acting in a manner so strange and unaccountable.

So, waiting for the lightning flashes to enable them to pick their way over the rough stones under the sheltered place, they cautiously moved toward him. As they came within a few feet and were now in the gloom, waiting for another flash to light up the way, Alec said: “Don’t be frightened at what you will see. It is only old Napoleon, and he is as frightened as he can be, and seems glad to have me with him.”

The sight that met them as the next vivid flash blazed out was indeed enough to try older and stronger nerves, for there was Alec with his back against the dry rock and one of his arms around the neck of an enormous bear.

“Don’t be alarmed,” shouted Alec. “It is old Napoleon, and he is more frightened by the cyclone than any of us.”

“How do you know it is Napoleon?” asked Winnie, who was noted for her extreme cautiousness.

“Know him? Why, of course I know him, and he was as pleased as an affectionate dog to see me. And see, here are the two brass rings I put in his little round ears last winter at the fort, some time before Christmas.”

This was convincing proof that their comrade was a tame, harmless bear, and so without any more alarm they all crowded into what proved to be a dry and safe retreat from the fearful storm that still raged outside.

“Bears know a thing or two,” said Alec, “and so old Nap in selecting this spot was quite confident that it could stand a cyclone.”