"How fortunate that we are not afoot, then," Professor Henderson remarked.
The next moment the two sleds shot around the wooded point and the river below lay before them. The bears were galloping after the party and shut off all way of escape to the rear.
"Oh, gollyation! Looker dat mess ob b'ars!" shrieked Washington White.
And there was a good reason for the black man's terror. Strung out across the frozen river, as though they had been waiting for the coming of the exploring party, was a great herd of Kodiak bears—monsters of such horrid mien that more than Washington were terror-stricken by their appearance.
There were more than half a hundred of the savage creatures, little and big, and they met the appearance of the two sailing sledges with a salvo of bloodthirsty growls.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE ABANDONED CITY
It was too late for our heroes and their friends to escape giving battle to the bears. They could not steer the sleds clear of the monsters, nor could they retreat. There were enough of the savage beasts in the rear to make this last impossible.
"Come ahead!" yelled Andy Sudds to Phineas Roebach, who guided the second sled. "Don't stop."
Jack and Mark, with the old hunter, were on the first sled. They were armed with magazine rifles, and all seized these and prepared to fight for their lives.