All at once a distant roar was heard outside. The monster paused. The noise increased; shouts of men were mingled with the plaintive moan of a bear. The brigand listened. The cries of pain continued. He hastily seized his axe, and sprang, not toward Ordener, but toward one of the crevices in the rock. Ordener, overwhelmed with surprise to find himself thus unnoticed, hurried in his turn to one of these natural doors, and saw in a neighboring glade a large white bear at bay, surrounded by seven hunters, among whom he thought he recognized Kennybol, whose words had made such an impression upon him the night before.
He turned back. The brigand had left the cave, and a fearful voice outside shouted: “Friend! Friend! I am here! I am here!”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] M. Charles Nodier, in the “Quotidienne” for March 12, 1823.
[2] Koran.
[3] A small coin worth twelve and a half cents. The name is still in use in Louisiana.
[4] Name of the Throndhjem morgue.
[5] The Norwegian peasants build nests for the eider duck, surprise them while sitting on their young, and strip them of their down.
[6] The Odelsrecht was a singular law establishing a species of entail among the Norwegian peasantry. Any man who was compelled to part with his patrimony might prevent the purchaser from transferring it, by declaring every tenth year that he intended to buy it back.
[7] The Persian god of evil.