Suddenly she heard in the distance a baying of dogs; then there was silence, then again the barking quite near, and a minute after, two great, powerful hounds sprang out of the forest. For one instant they paused opposite the cave, eying Blonda curiously, their handsome heads erect, their hair bristling. She rose from her seat on the stone and made a step towards them; but that moment they put their noses to the snow once more, seemed to recover the scent, and dashed past her into the inner recesses of the Grey Cave.
For a minute or two, there was a great noise at the back of the cavern: eager scratching up of snow, barking and growling, and angry grunts.
By this time Blonda had left the cave, and now stood outside, and well to the left. It was a good thing that she did so, for all at once, there was a strange, shuffling, scrambling noise, and out of the cave there rushed a huge brown bear, followed by the dogs, which were worrying him, and trying to bite through his shaggy fur. At the same moment, from among the trees, there stepped a tall, commanding form, which the little girl recognised at once as that of General Nicolai.
The bear had shuffled by him and was in full retreat, when the young officer raised his gun and fired. The bullet wounded the beast without disabling it, and, furious with pain, the animal turned before the sportsman had time to load again. Shouldering one of the hounds aside and half stunning the other with a cuff, Bruin rushed back, reared up on his hind legs, and seizing the gun, bit and crushed it out of shape with his teeth, while he fixed the claws of one great paw in the fur-covered shoulder of his assailant.
It must have fared badly indeed with General Nicolai had not Blonda at that moment, seeing his peril, thought of a way to help him. She suddenly tore off her red shawl, and coming close up behind the bear, she dexterously threw the soft, clinging folds right over the great beast's head and face. In the same instant, the dogs attacked him once more, and poor Bruin, bewildered, blinded, and entangled, rolled over backwards, madly clawing the air.
Just then loud shouts, cries, and exclamations announced the arrival on the scene of the rest of the hunting party, who had been led off by Freskel and their dogs for some distance on a new trail, before they missed the general. By them, the poor bear was shortly despatched; and no sooner was he dead, than one of the newly-arrived gentleman, an elderly man, approached the young officer, and with respectful anxiety enquired if he were hurt. But, happily, the general's fur coat was thick, and the cloth of firm, close texture, so that the bear's claws had not penetrated far.
"So calm thine anxiety, my friend," said the young officer, laughing. "In no way do I find myself the worse for this encounter, though, without doubt, I must have been but for my little deliverer. See, there she stands, my brave little maid with the blue eyes. By my faith, that was something like presence of mind! Just at the critical moment she turned the fortunes of the fight in my favour. And now I look closer at this child," continued the young man, "methinks I have seen those innocent eyes and flaxen locks before. Is it so, little one?"
"It is even so, sir general," replied Blonda. "I am Blonda, daughter of Grubert Reuss."
"And when and where did we meet, little Blonda? Tell me that."
"Last summer, sir, in the grotto by the lake, just after Philip Bexal told you the story of the Isle of Ghosts."