"On which side?"
"There! There is something happening to the wall of that room."
Bell stopped his work; each one listened. A distant noise could be heard, apparently in the side wall; some one was evidently making a passage-way through the ice.
"It's a tearing sound!" said Johnson.
"Without a doubt," answered Altamont.
"The bears?" asked Bell.
"Yes, the bears," said Altamont.
"They have changed their plan," continued the sailor; "they've given up trying to suffocate us."
"Or else they think they've done it," added the American, who was getting very angry.
"We shall be attacked," said Bell.