There was a slight haze or mist hanging over the meadow, which hindered Alexis from having a clear view of these animals; and, through the magnifying influence of this sort of atmosphere, they appeared as large as young oxen. Their form, however, was very different from these; and from their pointed ears, long muzzles, and full bunching tails, Alexis could think of nothing else to compare them to but wolves. Their varied colours signified nothing: since in these northern lands there are wolves of many varieties from white to black; and wolves they really were—only magnified by the mist into gigantic proportions.
Alexis had not viewed them long before perceiving that they were not all wolves. In their midst was an animal of a very different kind—much larger than any of them; but what sort of a creature it was the young hunter could not make out.
Ivan, who had risen to his feet, was equally puzzled to tell.
It appeared as large as half a dozen of the wolves rolled up into one, and was whiter than the whitest of them; but it looked as if it had a hunch upon its back; and altogether more like a shapeless mass of white bristly hair than a regularly-formed quadruped. It must be an animal, however, as its motions testified; for it was seen to be turning round and round, and at intervals darting forward a pace or two, as if working its way in the direction of the river.
Whatever the animal was, it soon became clear that it was battling with the wolves that surrounded it; and this accounted for the singular movements that these last were making, as well as for their fierce barking and growling that, in confused chorus, filled the air. At intervals, and still louder, could be heard a different sort of cry—shrill and plaintive, like the hinny of a mule—and evidently proceeding not from the wolves, but from the huge white animal which they were assailing.
The voyageurs at once recognised the cry.
“A bear!—a sea bear!” exclaimed both together.
One of them stood up, and looked over the plain.
“Yes,” said he, confirming his first assertion. “An old she it is, surrounded by wolves. Ha! it’s her cubs they’re after! Voilà, messieurs! She’s got one of them on her back. Enfant de garce, how the old beldam keeps them at bay! She’s fighting her way to the water!”
Guided by the words of the voyageur, our hunters now perceived clearly enough that the white object appearing over the backs of the wolves was neither more nor less than a large bear; and that which they had taken for a hunch upon its shoulders was another bear—a young one, stretched out at full length along the back of its mother, and clinging there, with its forearms clasped around her neck.